Symposium 2015: Should unemployment and welfare benefits be tied to community service?

Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent-More and more Americans unable to find work are drawing unemployment and welfare. The negative side of this pervasive problem is that getting paid for too much free time becomes an open invitation to an irresistible lifestyle for some. Who wouldn’t like to get paid for doing nothing?  This way of life … Continue reading Symposium 2015: Should unemployment and welfare benefits be tied to community service?

Symposium 2015: Is year round education good for student learning?

Gastonia, NC Correspondent-As the brother of a career middle school teacher and the son of a college professor, I am deeply suspicious of “fads” in education.  From New Math to Common Core, periodically some well-meaning idiot comes up with a fantastic new idea that’s going to make our kids smarter, our country stronger, our whites … Continue reading Symposium 2015: Is year round education good for student learning?

Symposium 2015: Federal and state governments are rife with fraud and waste. How do we combat this? Is there any way to stop this?

Owatanna, MN Correspondent-The only way to reduce, if not eliminate, fraud and waste from governments is to reduce the size and scope of government. With the federal government in particular, its size has increased enormously in the last 100 years. State governments are less of a problem since most have some sort of regulations requiring … Continue reading Symposium 2015: Federal and state governments are rife with fraud and waste. How do we combat this? Is there any way to stop this?

Symposium 2015: Do video games contribute to youth violence?

Gastonia, NC Correspondent-The first time I became aware of the issue of kids being influenced by violent video games was back in the dark ages, when Punch-Out was one of the hot arcade commodities. First, a quick refresher for our younger audience: Arcades were places where you would go to play video games back in … Continue reading Symposium 2015: Do video games contribute to youth violence?

Symposium 2015: Should members of the Congress be allowed to gain financially from their positions? What should we do about this, if anything?

Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent-No member of Congress should be allowed to gain financially from their positions.  The problem with federal legislators is that many come to their elected positions already wealthy from previous jobs either as attorneys, doctors, dentists, former state legislators, political appointees, business owners, or other high ranking positions and professions, which have … Continue reading Symposium 2015: Should members of the Congress be allowed to gain financially from their positions? What should we do about this, if anything?

Symposium 2015: Do drones present a threat to individuals’ privacy and security?

Prescott Valley, AZ Correspondent-Though drones have been used in a number of federal and state government surveillance programs to combat local crime, they have also been used to scrutinize southern border intrusions, terrorist activity, weapons running, and seek and destroy efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and other Middle Eastern war zones.  In spite of the … Continue reading Symposium 2015: Do drones present a threat to individuals’ privacy and security?

Symposium 2015: The last two presidential elections were rife with known voter fraud. How do we ensure that our elections remain open, free, and fair?

Gastonia, NC Correspondent-I would agree with this question’s positing of voter fraud if the definition of the term were expanded to include criminal and intentional disenfranchisement of large swaths of voters.  By tinkering with early voting rules, scrambling the ways in which college students are allowed to vote and where they have to be to … Continue reading Symposium 2015: The last two presidential elections were rife with known voter fraud. How do we ensure that our elections remain open, free, and fair?

Symposium 2015: Should the United States return to the gold standard or a similar standard?

Owatanna, MN Correspondent-The United States should return to the gold standard. Going off the gold standard, along with several other changes in banking and monetary policy in the past 100 years, has led us to the financial precipice we stand upon today. Without returning to some sort of fiscal sanity embodied by a gold standard, … Continue reading Symposium 2015: Should the United States return to the gold standard or a similar standard?

Symposium 2015: How do we more effectively promote the use of alternative energy?

Owatanna, MN Correspondent-The best way to promote the use of alternative energy is for the government to eliminate all forms of corporate welfare that benefit energy companies. This is needed to level the playing field for alternative energy producers who are at a disadvantage because their products—wind power, solar power, nuclear power—are not economically competitive … Continue reading Symposium 2015: How do we more effectively promote the use of alternative energy?

Symposium 2015: Torture or enhanced interrogation? How far is too far in dealing with terrorism?

Gastonia, NC Correspondent-In a perfect world, we (the “good guys”) would never have to resort to the tactics and methods used by our adversaries to combat them. We’d be able to wrap ourselves in our cloaks of righteousness and overcome our enemies by sheer civic virtue, right-mindedness and devotion to the American Way. We, however, … Continue reading Symposium 2015: Torture or enhanced interrogation? How far is too far in dealing with terrorism?