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- Jan 19
- 3 min
New Studies Demonstrate The Importance of Immigration to America's Economy
Immigrants are vital to America's economic success. There is a mountain of research to prove it and two recent studies underscore why it's true. One of the central arguments made by those that want to reduce legal immigration is that the individuals who come to the United States take the jobs of native-born Americans. The argument is based on the notion that there are a set number of jobs in the economy and that every job taken by an immigrant reduces the number available to


- Jan 10
- 4 min
Education, Science & the Growing Anti-Intellectualism among Conservative Republicans
As a long-time political science professor, the thing that worries me most about the modern Republican Party is its growing aversion to objective knowledge. Today, within the GOP there seems to be open hostility towards intellectuals and intellectual pursuits, including education, science, and the use of objective research to create public policy. This skepticism towards intellectualism seems to stem from a mistrust of experts and institutions like universities, the media, an


- Nov 20, 2022
- 2 min
Except for Evangelicals, Majority Believe Gay Marriage has been Positive for America
When I started teaching political science in 1991, gay marriage was still a very divisive topic and few college students were willing to argue openly for laws protecting the rights of the LBGT community. Gay sex was still illegal in many states and conservatives argued that allowing gays to marry would destroy the moral fabric of the nation and undermine the "structure of family life." Republican politicians like Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania compared gay marriage to bes


- Oct 14, 2022
- 2 min
GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama Demonstrates the Racism in the Republican Crime Narrative
In the final weeks of the 2022 midterm campaign, Republicans across the country are blaming Democrats for the uptick in crime rates since the end of covid-related lockdowns. At a Trump rally in Nevada last week, GOP Senator Tommy Tuberville injected some overt racism into the Republican narrative on the issue of crime. It had always been an unstated part of the message, but Tuberville said the quiet part out loud. C-span: "I have never seen like the crime in this country. We


- Oct 10, 2022
- 3 min
Biden Commemorates Oct. 10 as Indigenous Peoples' Day & Why We Should Finally Ditch Columbus Day
On Friday, President Joe Biden proclaimed October 10th to be Indigenous Peoples’ Day, "in honor of our diverse history and the Indigenous peoples who contribute to shaping this Nation." However, many in the US will continue to honor Columbus and his arrival in the Bahamas back in 1492. That's a shame because there are few people less worthy of a national celebration.
Christopher Columbus didn't discover America and he didn't prove the world was round; most educated European


- Oct 2, 2022
- 4 min
A Growing Number of Adults Don't Want Children & Some of the Reasons Why
Except for a small blip last year, births have been declining in the United States for decades and we have consistently been below replacement level [the rate need needed to replace the current population] since 2007. Currently, America's fertility rate is approximately 1.7 births per female, which is below the replacement level of 2.1 that is required for the U.S. population not to decrease without increases in immigration. And, it appears that the decline in birth rates may