Memphis Bound!

Heading to Memphis to begin Teach for America training on the 30th

Romneycare and the Politics of States Rights- The Politicizer

Arguably the highest profile GOP Presidential candidate to not have announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2012 is former Governor Mitt Romney. Early polling from the democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling indicates that Romney is leading in the early states among most groups likely to make up the primary electorate, with the notable exception of “very conservative” voters. This trend is problematic for Romney because the primary voters he is courting tend to come from the most conservative sectors of the party. One of the biggest liabilities for Governor Romney with conservative voters is the healthcare reform package he ushered through the Massachusetts State House. The plan, endorsed by Romney, contains an individual mandate similar to the mandate included in President Obama’s healthcare reform package. This provision requires all Massachusetts residents to purchase healthcare insurance from a variety of plans approved by state regulators but provided through private insurers. Those who cannot afford a plan are able to receive treatment at any hospital in Massachusetts, however if it is determined (via tax information) that someone could afford a plan they are ascribed a tax penalty.

To read the complete article please click here

The Alternative Vote is Wrong for Britain- The Politicizer

On May 5th the people of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will go to the polls for local elections and be asked whether they support undergoing the largest change to parliamentary elections in the history of the United Kingdom. If the referendum is passed Members of Parliament would no longer be elected under a first-past-the-post system but instead by a form of alternative voting that forces voters to rank all of the candidates on the ballot in order of their preference. If a voter’s first choice is eliminated then their vote is passed along to the next indicated preference still in the running. This continues until one candidate has at least 50% of the total vote. Proponents for this change argue that this will ensure that MPs have the support of the majority of their constituents as well as make the main parties to compete for fringe voters even the safest districts. Currently whichever candidate receives the most votes is elected.

The proposed move to the alternative vote is not the right medicine for the electoral issues in the United Kingdom. In reality, this referendum was the main price paid by the Conservatives to their partners in Government, the Liberal-Democrats, in exchange for their support. Ironically enough alternative voting is actually the black sheep of electoral reform proposals in that the Liberal-Democrats originally preferred a proportional representation system (similar to the one utilized for elections to the European Parliament) and the Lib-Dems are not actively campaigning in favor of the switch to AV. The Labour Party leadership has officially endorsed the AV system. However, over half of the Labour Members have signed onto the No to AV campaign in a show of defiance against what many consider ineffective reform and a political win for Liberal-Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. The Conservatives are united against the alternative vote and have been aggressively pushing to keep the first-past-the-post system.

See the full piece here

Going (and making) Green- Internships.com, Eye of the Intern

Going green isn’t easy. At least it wasn’t easy for me. Recycling, trying to conserve water and driving less are not things you can do cold turkey; it takes time to mold these actions into habits.

Last fall, equipped with my new found environmental awareness, I started an internship with a digital communications firm in Washington, D.C. Things were going pretty well, and I really liked everyone I worked with.

After bumping into one of the senior staff members in the kitchen I noticed that he threw his Coke Zero can into the regular trash and not in the recycling bin. My dilemma: Do I make a move for the can, switch it to the appropriate trash receptacle and save an otter somewhere? Or do I play it safe, and not risk being the trash-picking intern for the rest of the semester?

I went for it — and yes, my boss happened to turn around at the exact moment my hand was in the trash. Luckily however, he actually came back because he realized his mistake and was going to recycle the can himself (or so he told me). As it turns out, I didn’t have anything to worry about. My supervisor barely blinked an eye at my trash-picking ways.

For this spring, I started looking into internships focused on environmental issues and I was blown away by the number of positions available. Between government departments and environmental organizations, aspiring “greenies” have a ton of opportunities to get more involved in promoting sustainability. The only downside to these internships is that the vast majority are unpaid, and therefore not realistic for some students (like myself).

Even if a green internship isn’t your thing, you can have a huge impact in any workplace. Reminding people to recycle and turning off lights when people leave a room are small steps anyone can take to help the environment. No matter how skeptical of the movement, your employer will surely enjoy a smaller electrical bill each month.

Don't Count Cameron Out- The Politicizer

It has been a rough few months for British Prime Minister David Cameron. As if keeping the first coalition government in forty years united wasn’t hard enough, Cameron recently lost his Communications Director Andy Coulson amid scandalous allegations that he was involved in cell phone hacking while working at News of the World. Although the student protests of the Fall have subsided and Conservative Party Headquarters is no longer under siege from thousands of tuition fee crusaders, the effects of the deep austerity measures implemented by the government have begun to drag Cameron’s Conservatives down in the opinion polls. A Com Res poll issued on February 9th shows the Conservatives now trail the Labour Party by seven percentage points.

Less than a year ago the Conservatives won a plurality of seats in the House of Commons, besting Labour by over five percentage points. So what happened? Cameron’s “full, comprehensive” offer to the Liberal Democrats to join in an official governing coalition was met with concern from party faithful and the spending cuts promised in the Conservative Manifesto have proven tough for the nation to swallow. Several British commentators are already speculating that this is just the beginning of an even bigger slide in the polls for Cameron and one that will result in the Labour Party reclaiming their majority in the Commons.

Read the rest of this piece here