Affirmative Action

Thomas Jefferson did not mean to include all men when he wrote that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." However, today's educators struggle to ensure that American citizens of all backgrounds have equal opportunity to succeed. The Chicago Public School boycott that occurred at the beginning of this year brought disparities in school funding into question. While New Trier spent almost $17,000 per student in the 2006-2006 school year, CPS spent an estimated $10,400 per pupil. This enormous difference makes it very clear that students who live in more privileged areas are receiving better educations, and therefore have more opportunities to succeed.
Neither John McCain nor Barak Obama seem to be enthused with today's affirmative action programs. McCain supports an effort to get a referendum on the ballot in Arizona that would do away with affirmative action. Obama, while not against affirmative action programs, says they are not a solution to long-term race issues because "frankly, if you've got 50 percent of African American or Latino kids dropping out of high school, it doesn't really matter what you do in terms of affirmative action. Those kids are not getting into college." America is not, by any means, a meritocracy. Because the education the wealthy are receiving is so much better than that of many minorities living in poorer areas, America's wealthy are at a huge advantage. Something needs to be done in order to level the playing field and give all citizens equal rights to the pursuit of happiness.

Guinea's Independence Too Idealistic?

When, after centuries of colonization, European countries leave African states to fend for themselves, it is extremely difficult for the newly independent state to stand on its own two feet. This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of Guinea's independence; however, few are celebrating. In 1958, when France offered to keep Guinea under colonial rule for another fifty years, independence leader Sekou Tourre responded "We prefer poverty in freedom to riches in slavery," and the French left, "taking with them their expertise, office files and even light bulbs." Now the people of the African state live in severe poverty, without reliable electricity or drinking water.
Did the leaders of the independence movement fail to plan rationally, pragmatically? Were they too idealistic in their hopes that Guinea would prosper as an independent state? While optimistic and daring action can lead to greatness, such as America's severance with England, it must be well thought out. Sekou Toure knew that it was likely that Guinea would face poverty when the French left, but went through with the independence movement regardless. And now, 89-year-old citizen Mohammed Bashir Toure would be happy to let the French recolonize, simply because his homeland is in such a state of disaster. While Mohammed's positive view of colonialism is in no way the consensus among Guineans, everyone agrees that the country is in desperate need of aid from somewhere.

Realistic Idealists

In a foreign policy speech to the World Affairs Council in L.A., John McCain referrs to himself as a "realistic idealist." He first states that he is an idealist who believes that it is America's duty to make the world a better place. Shortly after, he says "But I am, from hard experience and the judgment it informs, a realistic idealist." What I found interesting was that McCain did not abandon the world "idealist" when he stated that he was also a realist. He did not simply say that he was also a pragmatist; he emphasizes that he is still an idealist. I think this may be because Americans, for the most part, want to hear from the idealistic candidate; we want to hear how great life will be when this president takes over. McCain almost says that he is realistic with a negative connotation, as if unfortunately, he has seen some evil things in his years of experience, and is now forced to be realistic. Americans, I believe, support idealism over pragmatism. The founding fathers of our country were idealists. They took a huge risk by traveling across the ocean to a completely foreign land, bringing virtually nothing except the hopes of building better lives for themselves. Idealists are not afraid to take risks in order to improve life, and that is what the colonists did, and that is what presidential candidates try to show they will do.
Pragmatism is still very important to many voters, as it would be ridiculous to vote for a candidate who has impossible goals in mind. However, I think the idealist is the one who captures the attention.

False Confessions

It's hard to believe that there was a time where people were hung for crimes they didn't commit, where the accused had two options: confess or be hanged. But it is even harder to believe that these days of forcing confessions out of "criminals" are not over. In 2002, military trainers at Guantanamo Bay interrogated prisoners using a list of torture tactics that had been designed and used by the Chinese in the 1950s to evoke false confessions from Americans. And so, the tactics that the U.S. military have been using have been designed to get a confession, whether it be false or legitmate, out of the accused. Senator Paul Levin comments "People say we need intelligence, and we do. But we don't need false intelligence." It is hard to understand why these methods would be used because it seems as if no good can come from them, as the information gained from confessions is unreliable.

A 35-year-old Tunisian admited that while in Afghanistan, after spending two months in the dark without sufficient drinking water, he falsely confessed to having trained with militants. He later "denied having received the training, saying "he's been treated well" during two and a half years at Guantanamo and "felt there wasn't going to be any retribution" if he told the truth."

On a moral level, this torture is not all that different from what occured in Salem. Accused terrorists are tortured before they are given any sort of trial, and are then coerced into confessing to crimes they may not have committed. However, while the witch trials were the talk of the town in Salem, the U.S. goverment does anything but advertise the events transpiring at Guantanamo Bay.

I cannot help but wonder why interrogators seek confessions if they might not be legitimate. Maybe it is because they do not consider the possiblity that the accused is innocent. Maybe it is because they feel they need to rid the world of every threat to their people's safety, just as the people of Salem wanted to cleanse their society of those who were harming their children. Or maybe it is because in perilous times, people become blind to the irrationality of their actions.