As an alum, my engagement with the opinions page has been limited. But this week, Oliver Hudson '14 argued for an unpopular view - only taxpayers should vote ("Universal suffrage is immoral," Nov. 13). My Facebook feed was full of angry students decrying the classism embodied in Hudson's claim.
In the column "Universal suffrage is immoral" by Oliver Hudson '14, Hudson proposes a system in which, "the weight of a person's vote should be proportional to the fraction of total revenue he contributes to the government." We think this is a bad idea.
In the United States, any citizen who is at least 18 years old and not a convicted felon has the right to vote. Most of us accept and celebrate our universal suffrage. But is it a good idea? In my view, no. Not every adult U.S. citizen should have the right to vote. Instead, only those who pay taxes ...
One of the most memorable figures from my time at Brown was then University Chaplain Charles Adams Baldwin. "Chaplain Charlie," as we called him with affectionate irony, offered counseling, conducted discussion groups and hosted dinners for students in his home, among other important campus activities. ...
In 1880 Lincoln Field was just a swamp. Over 130 years later, Augustus has conquered it, and it is now central to our campus, serving thousands of students every year. Brown is growing and always has been. Just in the next few years, for instance, the University will continue to creep its way up Thayer ...
Coming into the 2012 elections, Republican nominee Mitt Romney most likely expected his success to be one of his strongest assets. He probably did not expect that his experience would one day become part of his greatest vulnerability, wrapped up in an ill-judged statement about the "47 percent" and ...
I was thrilled a couple of weeks ago to see that the most read article in The Herald was entitled "Why therapy is cool." At last, I thought, somebody agrees with me!
If you can, please take a moment from your espresso-fueled working binge to hear me out.
"Think like a parent. Consider the students."
The winner of this election will be one of two terrible men.
Four years ago, America was heading into the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. Today, the economy is getting better. We have ended the war in Iraq, we are pulling troops out of Afghanistan and Osama Bin Laden is dead. In these trying times, President Obama has provided steady leadership, ...
"Hope" and "change" were the key words that candidate Barack Obama infused into his campaign rhetoric four years ago. Today, with an additional $5.5 trillion in U.S. debt, elevated unemployment and no clear foreign policy, all the United States can hope for is change. If the country is to move forward, ...
While Brown students tend not to be judgmental in regard to most personal decisions, when it comes to career choices, we can be a very critical group. During the fall recruiting process, I've overheard many classmates dismiss careers in consulting and investment banking as morally bankrupt. Such blanket ...
In 2008, we elected a little-known junior senator from Illinois on the foundation of "hope" and "change," but it took less than four years for most Americans to become disillusioned. Our modern-day Robin Hood has not lined our pockets with the excess wealth of the greedy 1 percent - he has left us with ...
Like most advocates of drug prohibition, Pfaff completely ignores the enormous and innumerable social costs of criminalizing drugs. He seems unfazed by the fact that the incarceration and criminalization of drug users devastates millions of families every year, distracts law enforcement officers from ...
I suspect that Jared and I actually have pretty similar views when it comes to society's treatment of drugs and alcohol, especially the harmful effects of legal action against drug users and drug distributors. The war on drugs has definitely not done what it set out to do, and there's a frightening ...
Our drug policies should be aimed at reducing drug misuse, preventing exposure to children and making communities safer. Advocates of drug prohibition typically cite these goals when defending "tough on crime" drug laws, but the empirical data simply doesn't support their argument.
Solutions by The State News
