‘Politics’ Archives
Rover exclusive: Cain advisor discusses 999 plan
To the mysterious ranks of GOP candidate Herman Cain’s economic advisors, the publicly revealed names of which until now consisted of Rich Lowrie, Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore, THE IRISH ROVER brings you chairman of the department of history at Sam Houston State University Brian Domitrovic. Domitrovic received his PhD in history from Harvard University in 2000, since contributing to [...]
Chris Christie tackles teachers unions, education reform
To what does rising Republican star Chris Christie attribute his success? The New Jersey governor is grateful for his parents’ decision to move from Newark, New Jersey, to a better school district and stated that education is “the single most important issue in America today for our long-term future.” “If my parents kept me in Newark, I wouldn’t be standing here today as the 55th [...]
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels addresses entrepreneurship
“I want to foster a spirit of enterprise in this state,” said Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels on November 15 as part of the Entrepreneurial Insights lecture series sponsored by the Mendoza College of Business. Daniels described the efforts he made during his administration to promote entrepreneurship and innovation in Indiana. “We are building the best sandbox in America and making the [...]
How will Obama’s student loan reform affect you?
In October, President Obama initiated an executive order to reform student loan policy. Obama’s two-part plan will enable borrowers to consolidate government loans and the plan will accelerate the existing student loan reform program Congress passed in 2010, which was originally scheduled to take effect in 2014. The 2010 income-based repayment plan reduced the amount college graduates have [...]
Don’t call it the American spring
Is there any reason for pundits to compare Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring? The recent surge of anti-corporate protests in the United States has prompted many comparisons to the Arab Spring and the protests that have enveloped the Middle East and North Africa over the last 9 months. It would be a mistake, however, to say that the two are part of a unified movement. It cannot be [...]
U.S. foreign policy…in London!
Thanks to an opportunity provided by the Notre Dame London Program, Notre Dame students are staying informed of events across the pond. On 28 October, 2011, several Notre Dame students attended a foreign policy lecture hosted by Republicans Abroad. Held at Westminister, the event was hosted by British Member of Parliament Chris Kelly. University of Cambridge Professor Brendan Simms [...]
Should Congress pass the DREAM Act?
The DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) is a legislative proposal introduced in the Senate in 2001 and reintroduced in May 2011. The DREAM Act would grant permanent residency to illegal alien-students who arrived in the United States as minors, who have graduated from high schools in the United States, and who have lived in the country for at least five years before [...]
Panelists press for peace in aftermath of 9-11
“Prior to 9/11, most Americans viewed war as an abnormal condition. Today, war is the new normalcy, a reality tacitly accepted by just about everyone,” said Andrew Bacevich, professor of international relations and history at Boston University. Bacevich spoke at a panel discussion titled “Strategies of Peace after the War on Terror.” The discussion, held in the Hesburgh Center for [...]
Congressional super-committee debuts
September 8 marked the inaugural meeting of the new congressional “super committee” charged with identifying $1.5 trillion in potential spending cuts within the federal budget deficit. The committee, a panel of 12 members of Congress officially titled the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, exists as a result of the August debt ceiling deal, which raised the federal borrowing [...]
Healthcare mandate poses problems for Catholic charities
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has issued a new healthcare mandate, “Guidelines for Women’s Preventative Services,” that will require employers to include contraceptive services in their employee benefits. Authored by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the mandate will go into effect in August 2012. Because it is part of the Affordable Care Act, the mandate will become [...]
Economics and the modern family
Divorce, single parenthood, cohabitation – and your wallet This article, the second part of a two-part series, is based on research work I did this past summer as a Washington Scholar with Family Research Council, a non-profit in Washington, DC, under the advising of Dr. Patrick Fagan. From this work, the article acts as a summary of a section of the synthesis paper I wrote on the [...]
Professor calls for community policing in inner cities
Ray Diamond, professor at the Louisiana State University Law Center, called for the revival of community policing as a means of producing safer inner cities at an April 19 lecture in the Eck Hall of Law. In many cities, “crime has long passed from being a crisis into being a catastrophe,” Diamond said. He stated that the high levels of crime chase away business, harm the youth and the [...]
Former Mexican official addresses the challenges to Mexican democracy
Former president of Mexico's Federal Electoral Commission (IFE or Instituto Federal Electoral) and political scientist Luis Carlos Ugalde lectured on elections and democracy in Mexico on April 26. Ugalde is a Reagan Fascell Democracy Fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington, DC. In 1977, Mexico went through a period of political reform with the introduction of [...]
Princeton professor discusses the original intent of the Establishment Clause
Don Drakeman, venture capitalist, lawyer, and professor at Princeton University, spoke about the original intent behind the US Constitution’s controversial Establishment Clause during a talk givenat the Eck Hall of Law April 7. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment reads, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” In the twentieth and [...]
Is marriage better for your wallet? A look at the economic evidence
Cultural and societal attitudes have recently shaped and modified the idea of the family to reflect a “modern” perception of how a household of individuals can look. There has been the growth in divorce over the past 50 years; an increase in out-of-wedlock births; a drastic drop in the number of individuals marrying. The percentage of households composed of single mothers, cohabiting [...]