Over the course of American history, there have been efforts to ensure all citizens have the right to vote. However, there is still one final group in the United States that has been unfairly disenfranchised: former felons.
Category: Political Theory
Our thoughts on the theories that have shaped past and present politics
An Argument for Abolishing the New York State Senate
A famous dissenting opinion by former US Supreme Court Associate Justice Louis Brandeis once described the condition of states in our system of government as “laboratories of democracy.” If this is true, then why are they all nearly identical to each other in terms of constitutional structure?
Minting the Coin: A Debt-Ceiling Panacea or a Trillion-Dollar Boondoggle?
Could minting a single trillion-dollar coin help the Biden administration circumvent political and economic havoc?
A House Divided: Is Congress Fueling or Reflecting Polarization in the US?
If you ask any politically aware person about the state of American politics today, they will likely characterize it with one word: polarization.
SCOTUS Hears Arguments in Moore v. Harper: Independent State Legislature Doctrine May Have Implications for Federal Election Processes
At stake? Democracy itself—a broad adoption of the ISL doctrine could result in rogue legislatures stripping previously-guaranteed voting rights protections from the state constitution with no ability for state courts to protect these rights.
Referendums and Initiatives Can Hurt Democracy, Unless We Rethink How We Use Them
The international plan to increase democracy has seemingly been the introduction of direct democratic items, such as referendums and initiatives, especially in cases of contentious policies or fundamental political changes. However, direct democratic components can be dangerous to democracy in all but a few cases.
Should Corporations Care about Us?
Corporations often boast new initiatives to reduce their pollution, plastic use, reliance on non-renewable energy, or whatever else is topical in the public discourse. These corporations try to sell these initiatives to the public as corporate social responsibility—companies taking it upon themselves to help their communities and society as a whole. However, the primary motive behind these actions is likely financial. Shifts in regulations and consumer behavior have made it easier for corporations to benefit financially from doing the “right thing.”
Palestine, Settler Colonialism, and the National Question: Part I
On Tuesday, February 1, Amnesty International published a report titled “Israel’s Apartheid Against Palestinians: Cruel System of Domination and Crime Against Humanity”—officially joining B’Tselem, Human Rights Watch, and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia in condemning Israel’s systematic oppression of Palestinians as a criminal act of apartheid.
A Democratic Concept of Representation: An Analysis of the Ideal Concept of Representation in Democratic Institutions
Representation, at its core, is defined as “a making present again” or “the making present in some sense of something which is nevertheless not present literally or in fact.” However, in a democratic sense, representation goes beyond the simplistically unrefined definition above.
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