Social Security and Medicare are projected to be incapable of fully funding benefits by 2032 and 2033. At the same time, the American population is aging rapidly with a shrinking working-age tax base. This is the result of declining fertility rates since the baby boomer generation, meaning more of today’s beneficiaries live off money from taxpayers despite raising fewer children than previous generations. Tying the benefit levels of these programs to the number of children an adult has raised in their lifetime would lower the program’s deficits. Additionally, it would give parents a return on investment for the enormous fortune…

Conspiracy theories alleging that the Moon landings from NASA’s Apollo program were fake have virtually no evidence to back them up. For the first time since 1972, NASA’s Artemis program saw a successful return of humans to the Moon and is poised to return to land on it in 2028. The vast majority of Americans believe that the original Apollo missions were worth the costs, and have long desired a return to the Moon’s surface. The Moon landings are widely regarded as one of the greatest breakthroughs in science—albeit with significant opposition. Specifically, a small but very vocal share of…

“My Body, My Choice” is a popular slogan among Democrats at pro-abortion rallies, arguing that decisions concerning their health should be left up to themselves and individual doctors, not governments. But when the issue of vaccine mandates is brought up, the issue of personal liberties is thrown out by the majority of Democrats. Similarly, the left has long championed anti-discrimination laws to prevent the firing of employees for their race or sexual orientation, while now supporting businesses tying employment to vaccination status. As long as the Democratic Party continues on this path, it can no longer claim a legacy of…

Charter Schools have been growing rapidly in some states. But what does this mean for their students? Wikimedia Commons American education has been on the decline for the past decade. Across all subjects, school districts are reporting that test scores have been in a state of free fall for years—before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The vast majority of Americans are dissatisfied with our current educational system despite massive public spending per K-12 student. Clearly, the problem is not a lack of funding, but rather where that funding is going. Traditional public schools have long dominated education nationwide, but charter…

On October 19th, the Temporary Protected Status of over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees is set to expire in the United States, opening the risk of their deportation. This would be a massive insult to the Ukrainian diaspora’s successful integration into American society. The Ukrainian immigrant population in the United States shows significantly higher rates of higher education than other immigrant groups and native-born Americans. Ukrainian Americans have put their education to good use, as they have a civilian labor force participation rate, median income, and poverty rate roughly in line with the rest of the American population. This integration stands out…

Progressive cities like New York are known for implementing rent controls. Wikimedia Commons Rent across the United States has continued to surge, and has become a major issue for the midterms this year along with the general cost of living. In many progressive strongholds such as Oregon, New York City, and California’s coastal metropolises, the response from local governments has been to restrict landlords from increasing rents in a policy known as rent control. These governments, however, apparently fail to listen to the vast majority of economists, ranging from conservatives like Milton Friedman to progressives like Paul Krugman, who agree…

Recently, the Civil War in Yemen has gained much attention, as the Iranian-backed Houthis disrupt ships in the Red Sea. Though this war has been going on for over twelve years now, what has received much less attention is how it has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. Started by an insurgency led by Houthi terrorists in 2014, the Yemeni Civil War has resulted in the displacement and starvation of millions of civilians since then. This crisis has only worsened with Saudi Arabia’s ruthless bombings that killed hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians. Unlike the wars in Gaza…

South Africa is infamous for a long history of enforcing violent and racist policies under the Apartheid system. From 1948 to 1994, virtually all political power in the country was held by the white minority, which forced the Black, Coloured, and Indian populations to live in designated areas under squalid conditions without full citizenship rights. Consequently, South Africa was the premier example of a pariah state during the second half of the 20th century, resulting in mass economic, diplomatic, and cultural boycotts. This backlash was successful in starving the Apartheid Regime, which resulted in universal suffrage that allowed Nelson Mandela…

Have organizations like the American Teachers’ Federation prioritized their employee benefits over students’ learning?

Trump has widely criticized NATO countries for free-riding off of the United States for protection. But is this claim legitimate? President Trump’s recent deal with Denmark on establishing military presence in Greenland comes amidst years of his accusations against the Nordic Kingdom’s freeriding off of America’s defense capabilities. These accusations have been directed towards other members of NATO for years, and he has also urged the trans-Atlantic alliance’s member states to radically increase their defense spending. He argues that the United States, being the main contributor, absorbs an unfair share of the cost of defending two continents. And his anti-NATO…