Charles Adams

OPINION

Affordable Care Act solutions continue to be unresolved

By Charles Adams | Nov. 21, 2013

As you’ve probably heard, the Affordable Care Act has had a bit of a bumpy rollout. At first, healthcare.gov, the website used to enroll new customers, was having technical difficulties. Individuals were unable to sign up for the exchange through the website. Congressional hearings were held, and the creators of the website were questioned relentlessly. In addition to the website not operating as expected, people were being kicked off their existing insurance plans. This was not exactly what the Democrats had planned, and the Republicans were letting them hear it. So who really is to blame for all of these struggles and what can be done to fix them?

OPINION

There should be a cap on campaign spending in elections

By Charles Adams | Nov. 12, 2013

This past week my mother forwarded a link to an article published in The New York Times. She did not mention anything about the content of the article besides the fact that it was about the Koch Brothers funding political advertisements. I expected to read about the Koch brothers paying for advertisements in a gubernatorial election or a mayoral race in a large city. After all, these two brothers are notorious for lucratively funding conservative political action committees, and they were the second largest contributors to Gov. Scott Walker’s campaign for governor in 2010. To my surprise, this article had nothing to with the gubernatorial election in Virginia or the mayoral election in New York. Rather, this article was about city council elections in Coralville, Iowa. The article detailed how Americans for Prosperity, a political action committee largely funded by the Koch Brothers, had become involved in these races. In a town of approximately 20,000 people, the two Koch brothers, each valued at $36 billion, were trying to influence the election with their money. This was shocking to me. Typically, these elections are not highly contested and they normally go unpublicized. This changed with the Koch brothers. Outside help was being brought in to run candidate campaigns and candidates were being forced to change their platforms. One candidate had planned a campaign on smaller issues such as painting the water tower. However, after Americans for Prosperity came to town, everything changed. Central debates of the campaign were shifted toward issues that pertained to Koch Brothers’ business interests. To me, the Koch brothers’ goal was clear. As much as they tried to disguise their intentions, it was clear control was the end goal. They wished to control government and create policies favorable to their interests. Apparently, no election is too small to buy.

OPINION

NSA must stop spying

By Charles Adams | Nov. 3, 2013

The United States National Security Agency, or the NSA as it as popularly referred to, is in some hot water. On Monday, allegations came from Europe that NSA has spied and collected information from foreign leaders for almost a decade. Allegedly, The NSA collected information from 35 world leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, one of the United States’ closest allies. This espionage has left many around the world feeling uneasy and suspicious of the United States, and President Barack Obama claims not to have known about this espionage. This is not the first round of trouble for the NSA, either. Last May, former CIA employee and NSA contractor Edward Snowden released confidential documents detailing the NSA’s surveillance practices. This included the ordering of American phone companies to send extensive call records and logs to the NSA. Rightfully so, this left a feeling of unrest among Americans. Many Americans were concerned over the scope of these surveillance practices and it asks the question: Just how much do the NSA and federal government know about our daily lives?

OPINION

Middle school shooting demands reformation in gun control

By Charles Adams | Oct. 28, 2013

If someone were to ask you what happened in Nevada this past Monday, how would you respond? Would you know to what they are referring? Maybe you would have guessed a casino heist or something extravagant. You probably had no idea that anything of importance happened in Nevada. But lo and behold, something very important and concerning happened this past Monday in Nevada, and I am willing to bet a majority of people had no idea occurred. The event I’ve been referring to is the Sparks Middle School shooting. In the shooting, a 12-year-old gunman wounded two of his classmates and killed a teacher before turning the gun on himself and committing suicide. According to law enforcement, the boy had taken the handgun used in the shooting from his parents. You may be asking yourself how did you not hear about this event. The answer is: This shooting received very minimal media coverage and was not a major focus for news outlets. In fact, during the 5 p.m. news on Monday, it took almost 20 minutes before there was a mention of the shooting, and even then it was an extremely brief story.

OPINION

We should legalize medical marijuana

By Charles Adams | Oct. 13, 2013

This past Thursday, the debate over medical marijuana in Wisconsin was revived when state Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D- Middleton, and state Rep. Chris Taylor D- Madison, introduced the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuna Act. This act would legalize the usage of marijuana for patients with various debilitating conditions such as cancer and muscle seizures. Prior to Thursday, I knew very little about the usage of marijuana as a medicine. But after attending the press conference where the Jacki Rickert Medical Marijuna Act was introduced, I decided to do some research on the positives and negatives of medical marijuana. I was astounded by what I found. Numerous doctors and experts all said the same thing: Marijuana has a healing effect unlike any other current medicine.

OPINION

Embarrassment of shutdown continues

By Leah Leonidas and Charles Adams | Oct. 8, 2013

Last Monday marked another sad day for American politics. It was the end of the fiscal year, and the federal government’s budget was set to expire. The United States Congress faced a choice: pass a budget and have the government continue running or not act at all and have the government shut down. As a double major in political science and economics, this was right up my alley. The world of politics and debates was colliding with the world of economics and fiscal policies. I was extremely intrigued to see what members of Congress would decide was best for America.

Affordable Care Act solutions continue to be unresolved

There should be a cap on campaign spending in elections

NSA must stop spying

Middle school shooting demands reformation in gun control

We should legalize medical marijuana

Embarrassment of shutdown continues

More articles »