The Hill December 2011

Chapel Hill Political ReviewVolume XI, Issue III

On the Road to 2012Electoral Politics as the Year Closes

Productivity in Congress

The Romney Alternatives

The We Can’t Wait Campaign

The State of US Infrastructure

& An Electoral Comparison

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Section

The Hill

From the Editor

EDITORS IN CHIEFSiddarth Nagaraj

Sarah Wentz

SECTION EDITORSAmanda Claire Grayson

Sam Hobbs

WRITERSBrendan CooleyEric EikenberryBrian Godfrey

Amanda Claire GraysonSam Hobbs

Kelly KesslerKrishna Kollu

Radhika KshatriyaSiddarth NagarajIsmaail QaiyimChris Rodriguez

Stephanie ShenigoJohn Son

Kevin UhrmacherSarah Wentz

Daixi XuRichard Zheng

BLOG EDITOREric Eikenberry

DESIGNSarah Wentz

HEAD OF ARTConnor Sullivan

ARTDaniel Kolev

Connor Sullivan

TREASURERChristie Blazevich

FACULTY ADVISORFerrel Guillory

This magazine was produced at no cost for online distribution

only.

Our Mission: The Hill is a medium for analysis of state, national, and international politics. This publication is meant to serve as the middle ground (and a battleground) for political thought on campus where people can present their beliefs and test their ideas. A high premium is placed on having a publication that is not affiliated with any party or organization, but rather is openly nonpartisan on the whole. Hence, the purpose of The Hill is to provide a presentation of both neutral and balanced analysis of political ideas, events, and trends. This means that, on the one hand, the publication will feature articles that are politically moderate in-depth analyses of politics and political ideas. These articles might be analytical, descriptive claims that draw conclusions about the political landscape. On the other, The Hill will feature various articles that take political stances on issues.

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Turning a list of happenings in the news into a coherent magazine is harder than one might think. It’s never a problem of nothing to discuss, but rather the problems which come with attempting to pull a few items from never-end-ing list of issues to analyze in new ways. For, at The Hill, that’s what we want to do. We want to take is-sues that you’ve heard about, and ones you haven’t, and present them not only from a nonparti-san position, but with a different analytical focus from what’s been done. We hope you feel that we manage to accomplish this goal as electoral politics become an even greater focus of the media, ourselves included.

This issue, we look at electoral politics on the road to 2012. We analyze actions of Congress and the well-worn critique that “noth-ing’s getting done.” We bring forth a comparison between the budding 2012 election and the 1928 election. We look at Obama’s use of executive power

in the context of the upcoming election, and similarly examine the Iraq withdrawal.

On the international stage, we look at the trajectory of Post-Gad-hafi Libya, and geopolitical strat-egy in the Arab Spring. Similarly, we examine the Arab League’s ac-tions against Syria. And in a dif-ferent international vein, we look at entrepreneurship in China and the Eurozone Crisis.

As always, we’d like to thank you for downloading and reading this issue of The Hill. We hope you en-joy, and we welcome you to give us your feedback.

We hope you’ll join us again in the new year!

Sarah Wentz & Siddarth Nagaraj

CoverWasting Time?Is Congress accomplishing anything?

2012 v. 1948An electoral comparison

Obama & Executive PowerThe “We can’t wait”campaign

Iraq: An Electoral Diversion?The Iraq withdrawal and electoral politics

The Romney AlternativesA GOP presidential candidate head-to-head

FeaturesAs 2011 Becomes 2012The big events of 2011, and what to expect in 2012

Seven Billion PeoplePopulation ballooning and booming

Libya: Post-GaddafiLibya’s trajectory after Gaddafi’s death

The State of US InfrastructureIs American infrastructure in decline?

Intellectual Property & Copyright LawRegulation of the internet?

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December 2011

Contents

Volume XI, Issue III

December 2011

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Contents

Final papers/projects/finals in general - Die. Oh wait, this fourth thing has to be political, um,

finals cut down on shopping time. Instead of doing schoolwork, I could be pumping money into our na-tions malls and buying stuff online. Time is money, people. Capitalism suffers if theses and painful-to-look-at powerpoint presentations impede our youth from consuming at economically-restorative levels. Man, Obama should really do something about this.

Eurozone crisis - Terrible thing, say you? A chance to shift the blame, say I. Imagine a worldwide recession that we’re

not responsible for. Yeah, it will most likely have a large, negative impact on U.S. economic fortunes, but we can’t control it. Genuine powerlessness and absence of accountability in the face of an oncoming crisis feels goooood. And I know it›s not just me; how happy do you think the (questionably) moral captains of industry at BoFA, AIG, and Goldman Sachs feel? Damn hip1pies will have to move all of their tents to Europe now. Also, I’ve been waiting to blame something on the Greeks for a long time (that Trojan Horse thing was so not cool, bros).

Newt Gingrich - Will the Christian right embrace a two-time di-vorcee? Will small government conservatives embrace a man who

was paid over one million dollars by Freddie Mac? Will moderates want to resuscitate the career of a man who was the face of the culture wars of the 1990s? (Wait, are there any moderates left?) All valid, yet wrong questions.

Is he NotMittRomney? Bingo. At least for the next month. (Now that GOP primary voters have cycled through the also-rans once, I’m curi-ous to see if they give some of the other NotRomney’s a second vetting. Jon Huntsman need not apply.)

Riot-control police officers - Maliciously pepper-spraying peaceful UC Davis student protesters in the face. Hospi-

talizing two Iraq war veterans. Treating the citizens they›re supposed to be protecting as enemies. Assault rifles in Cha-pel Hill. All forgivable. The outfits? Fugly. The big Star Wars convention is next year, guys. And not all of you can go as Darth Vader.

Hill-O-MeterWho’s on top of the heap? Who has fallen far? We track the

up-and-comers and the down-and-outs.

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Eric Eikenberry is a sophomore majoring in global studies.

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Notes from The Hill

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Notes from The Hill

Elections & the Arab SpringEgypt

Pre-Revolution Leader: Hosni Mubarak

Regime Overthrow: Feb. 10, 2011

Transition Authority: Supreme Council of Armed Forces

Upon taking power, the Supreme Council promised to turn over power to an “elect-ed, civil government” but stated it would remain in power until presidential and parliamentary elections could be held.

Constitutional Referendum: March 19

Millions of Egyptians turn up to vote on the nine proposed con-stitutional amendments

Parliamentary Election: November 28

The first phase of voting begins late No-vember, but the process is expected to continue through December.

Presidential Election: By the End of June 2012

TunisiaPre-Revolution Leader: Zine Ben Ali

Regime Overthrow: Jan. 14, 2011

Transition Authority: Appointed Interim Government

Upon the creation of the initial caretak-er coalition government, it was asserted that elections would be held within 60 days This did not occur.

Constituent Assembly Election: October 23rd, 2011

The election was originally scheduled for late July, but was delayed to allow more time for the preperation of electoral lists and the renewal of identity cards.

Result: The creation of the role of prime minister in addition to the role of the president, and the creation of a unicam-eral contituent assembly.

& the RestMorocco

Constitutional Referendum: July 1, 2011: Successfully Passed a New Constitution

Parliamentary Election: November 25, 2011: This election was held early in respones to unrest, coriginally scheduled for October 2012, then October 2011, before its execu-tion in November.

Libya

After the end of the civil war, a Public National Conference is set to be elected, and the Conference will draft a new Constitution. Within six months of the new constitution’s drafting, a genral election will be held.

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Timeline

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Jan.

11: Hosni Mubarak resigns in response to widespread demands for his departure from office. Mubarak’s resignation leaves Egypt in the hands of the military.

14: The Wisconsin protests against the Bud-get Repair Bill (due to some of its provisions) begin.

March11: A 9.1 magnitude earthquake accompanied by a tsunami strikes Japan, killing over 15,000 and leaving approximately 4,000 missing in the country.

17: The UN Security Council unanimously votes to create no-fly zone over Libya in re-sponse to the civil war and accounts of govern-ment aggression towards citizens.

8: An hour before the government is set to shut down, the U.S. Congress reaches a deal regarding the 2011 federal budget.

11: Former Cote d’Ivoire President Laurent Gbagbo is arrested by supporters of elected President Alassane Ouattara, ending the 2010-2011 Ivorian Crisis & civil war.

Feb.

1: Estonia becomes the seventeenth country to join the Eurozone.

14: Tunisia sees the government of Zine el Abidine Ben Ali fall after over a month of in-creasingly violent protests. The fall of the Tu-nisian regime creates and/or incites unrest in other Arab nations, leading to an increase in popular protests across the Arab World.

26: Public demonstrations begin in Syria, the demonstrations slowly build into March, at which point a long violent conflict erupts.

April

May1: President Obama announces that Osama bin Laden has been killed in an American military operation in Pakistan.

16: The EU agrees to a 78 billion Euro res-cue deal for Portugal.

26: Congress & President Obama approve a four year extension of the USA Patriot Act.

5: Yemeni President Saleh travels to Saudi Arabia for treatment of an injury he sus-tained during an attack on the presidential palace. Power is transferred to VP Abd al-Rab Mansur al-Hadi.

20: In an hour long noon address, Syrian President Bashar al Assad blames the na-tion’s unrest on vandals, radical and blas-phemous individuals, and foreign conspira-cies, though he admits of the demands are legitimate.

June

July1: Morocco votes on a constitutional ref-erendum and approves a new constitution with 98% of voters saying “yes” to the new constitution.

9: South Sudan successfully secedes from Sudan after an independence referendum held in January.

20: The UN declares a famine in southern Somalia, the first declaration in nearly thirty years.

5: Standard & Poor downgrades the United States credit rating from AAA to AA+ with a negative outlook.

20-28: In the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels take over the national capital.

Aug.

As 2011 Becomes 2012...With the end of one year comes the beginning of another. But what happened in 2011? And what’s in store for 2012?

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December 2011

Sept.

5: India and Bangladesh sign a pact to end their forty year border demarcation dispute.

17: The Occupy Wall Street protests launch, the protests’ development into a movement spreads iacross the U.S., also stirring protests beyond the United States.

7: The War in Afghanistan marks its tenth an-niversary.

18: Israel & Palestinian militant organization Hamas begin a major prisoner swap. Captured Israeli Army solider Gilad Shalit is released by Hamas in exchange for 1,027 prisoners held by Israel.

23: Three days after the death of Muammar Gaddafi, the National Transitional Council de-clares the liberation of Libya and the official end of the civil war.

Oct.

Nov.

12: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi resigns after the loss of his parliamentary ab-solute majority and in an effort to allow room for an emergency government to address the economic crisis.

21: The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Re-duction fails to agree on proposals to cut the national budget deficit by $1.2 trillion which leads to automatic budget cuts.

28: Voters in Egypt begin voting in the first round of parliamentary elections.

6: The new Belgian government is sworn in, ending the record-making 541 day process of the formation of a government.

18: The last convoy of US Army soldiers with-draws from Iraq, marking the official end of the Iraq War.

Dec.

Politics

Economics

Conflictwe’ll be talking about...

In 2012,

The aftermath of the Democratic Republic of the Congo elections. Many alledge that the results of the December presidential electionwere fraudulent, and the conflict and unrest which sprung from the results may well continue into the new year.

The Syrian uprising. Violent conflict has abounded for months now, and the inter-national community is beginning to rouse. The Arab League has already taken action, and the United Nations may soon follow.

The Eurozone Crisis. The European Union will assuredly continue to flurry about in at-tempts to resolve the crisis. We predict aus-terity measures, lots of finger pointing, and poor France & Germany ending up shoul-dering much of the costs of resolution.

The US budget & debt ceiling. The budget and US debt will continue to be concerns in 2012, and we predict lots of Congressio-nal bickering, several barely met deadlines, and a few grudging compromises before anything is accomplished.

The Arab Spring. Though it’s been almost a year since the beginning of the Arab Revo-lution, protests and reform are still being seen in the Arab World, and we don’t ex-pect the movement to end with the calen-dar year. We predict continued reform in the Arab World in the months to come.

The 2012 presidential election. We can’t avoid discussion of the upcoming presi-dential election, and we predict that it will be an interesting race as Obama’s approval rating continues to decline.

But for the rest? You’ll have to join us again next year.

By Sarah Wentz

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On October 31st demogra-phers in the United Nations Pop-ulation Division announced that at some point during the day, the world population had reached seven billion. Of course, the ex-act time the seven billionth per-son on Earth was born, or who that person might be, is far from anyone’s ability to determine. In fact, the date of October 31st is largely symbolic. Different demographic organizations use different algorithms to calculate the population growth rate. For example, the U.S. census bureau has calculated that the seven bil-lionth person on Earth will be born sometime around mid-March 2012.

It is no secret that over the past century popula-tion growth in the world has increased at an alarm-ing rate. Hundreds of in-teresting statistics and data have been brought forth to highlight this reality. One in particular that has caught the forefront of many writ-ings on the topic is that before the 20th century, not a human on the planet had seen the world population double in their life-time, but there are many alive today who have seen the world population triple in their lifetime. The rapid population growth has been seen by many as a prob-lem, but the reasons why it is a problem escapes the grasp of many. As it were, the world will not “run out of space,” as many believe. In fact, the population boom has already slowed signifi-cantly, and demographic experts that by 2050, the human growth curve will have nearly plateaued if not before. However, by then, the world population will have

already surpassed nine billion people, and that poses a signifi-cant resource issue.

For the issue is, in fact, a re-source issue. On its own, the entirety of the world population today can be placed shoulder-to-shoulder in an area no larger than the city of Los Angeles. If you were to place the entire pop-

ulation of the world inside the borders of the state of Texas, the population density would be no more than that of New York City. The rise of megacities, those cit-ies with populations of over 10 million people, have wrought the misconception that soon we will all be forced into these me-tropolis’s like sardines struggling to survive. That is not the case. Even though today there are such megacities like Tokyo, with 34 million inhabitants, or New York City, the 9th largest city in the world with 22 million people, these cities are merely represen-tative of the demographic dis-tribution of the world, and the distribution of its resources.

So the issue with the Earth’s population today and in the years to come is the distribution of its resources, which remains far from equal. Humans exhaust vast quantities of their environ-ment’s natural resources, signifi-cantly more than most species. Man consumes nitrogen, water, oxygen, and carbon in tremen-dous amounts, not to mention

other natural resources like oil and natural gas. Already, the world’s supply of oil is being strained. Clean wa-ter is inaccessible to many across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and many of the Earth’s megacities suffer from pollution problems. At the same time, the industri-alized nations enjoy plenti-ful amounts of clean water, energy, and other natural resources as compared to other less developed coun-tries. In a world where less than 1 percent of the world’s fresh water is accessible for human use, its distribution is paramount to human survival, but to this day the

distribution of fresh water has re-mained unequal across the globe.

In the coming years, many of the policy issues facing world governments will involve the resource-population problem. With a global population of seven billion and counting, there is lit-tle we can do to prevent the next generation from sprouting into the world. What can be done is mediate the response to the pop-ulation boom by making access to vital resources a commonality across the globe.

Chris Rodriguez is a sophomore majoring in political science and global studies.

A Population BoomingBy Chris Rodriguez

InternationalDome

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Just like that, forty two years of tyranny came to a decided end. Caught in crossfire between revolutionary and loyalist forces in his home town of Sirte, the charismatic Colonel Muammar Gaddafi was found bloodied and near death (or dead) in a non-descript drainage ditch. As im-ages and reports of the colonel’s killing went viral, the supporters of Libya’s revolution erupted in celebration. Across the North African country, people danced in the streets and waved around the new nation’s flag. For many Libyans, the death of Gaddafi marks a definitive end to his al-most cult-like, decades-long rule.

Despite this, the death of a dictator does not mark the end of the country’s path towards a stable and prosperous state. Al-though the open “civil war” has virtually ended in Libya, former fighters organized into militias still patrol the streets in urban areas. Now “ex-revolutionar-ies”, the gunmen have not given up their arms; most assert that maintaining a presence on the ground is necessary for the sta-bility of the fragile Libyan state. The new government, headed by the National Transition Council, still lacks strong levels of author-ity. Small clashes are still flaring up across the country, though the National Transition Council has downplayed these conflicts and assured that “everything is under control.” In some areas, abuses of power by the ex-revolutionar-ies have been reported, such as detaining civilians and expropri-ating property. Without proper control of Libya’s gunmen, the country could conceivably de-volve into a nightmare scenario of ideologically or identity based paramilitaries.

Libya Post-Gaddafi: What’s Next?

Fortunately, there is much to suggest Libya is on the right course for what President Obama calls “a future that provides free-dom, dignity, and opportunity”. The resource-rich country sits on vast reserves of high-quality oil, investors are flocking in, and the new provisional government is now tapping into millions of dollars that Gaddafi stored in foreign bank accounts. Though oil production dropped dramati-cally during the fighting, Libya’s Minister of Oil has reported that production has reached 40% of pre-war levels (ahead of sched-ule) with full production being reached again by next summer. On October 31st, the National Transition Council appointed Ab-del Rahim el-Keeb as the govern-ment’s interim prime minister. A Gaddafi critic, Mr. Keeb spent much of his life outside of Libya (including a period as a professor of electrical engineering at NC State). Originally hailing from western Libya, his appointment politically balances the govern-ment’s eastern Interim President and Council Chairman, Mustafa Abdel Jalil. Mr. Keeb and his se-lected cabinet will run the coun-try until the election of a Nation-al Public Conference assembly in approximately six months.

Libya’s wide range of politics and affiliations are coming to surface now that Gaddafi’s re-pressive regime has collapsed. Conflicting ideas between east-ern and western Libya, different tribes, secular and Islamist par-ties, and other interests may spell trouble for the drafting of a new, unified government. Indeed, a large amount of blame was at-tributed to Islamist militias last July for the killing of Abdel Fa-tah Younis, then commander of

anti-Gaddafi forces. If neighbor-ing Tunisia’s recent election is evidence of anything, it is that mild Islamist political forces are poised to gain considerable power in the future Libya. This has made secular Libyan politi-cians and Western observers un-easy. But fundamentalist politics have remained on the fringe so far; mainstream Islamist lead-ers publicly declare they want to build a nonreligious, modern Libyan state. Some observers have pointed to Turkey as a 21st century model for Libya. That is, the realities of a Muslim cul-ture should be combined with economic liberalism and social freedoms.

Up until this point, Libya was without formal parties or any substantial civil institutions. Unlike Tunisia, Libya has no existing constitution from which to build upon. The nation’s fu-ture forward must be forged al-most entirely from scratch, and though the situation is far from perfect, Libya seems to be on the right course. The National Transition Council should step up efforts to centralize and uni-fy the ex-revolutionary militias while also preparing parties and institutions for the scheduled elections. Revolutions are nev-er clean, well-ordered events—but if the ongoing reinvention of Libya continues unfettered, the country has a bright future ahead of itself.

Brian Godfrey is a sophomore majoring in political science and geography.

By Brian Godfrey

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Most pundits and schol-ars believe that the revolutions sweeping through the Middle East and North Africa do not serve the United States’ interests. The pre-vailing narrative maintains that, over the past few decades, the U.S. cultivated a system of stable working relationships with the autocratic leaders of the region that secured our interests. Dur-ing the Arab Spring, the narrative continues, this system collapsed, launching the region into turmoil the U.S. could no longer manage.

A careful examination of the American response to the revo-lutions and its current situation, however, reveals that the U.S. handled the crisis well and that perceived threats are overblown. In fact, the Arab Spring could ul-timately benefit the United States.

One clear interest in the region is oil. The Middle East and North Africa contain eight of the twelve OPEC members, all of which host-ed protests related to the Arab Spring. These countries control a sizable portion of the world’s oil resources – Saudi Arabia has the largest oil reserves in the world – and possess considerable in-fluence over an important U.S. resource.

The American response to the Arab Spring carefully balanced its oil interests; despite the revolu-tions, the U.S. maintained strong relations with major oil-produc-ing governments. For example, the U.S. never wavered in its sup-port of Saudi Arabia’s monarch; had no serious issues with Qatar, the UAE or Kuwait; and provided decisive support to the winning side in Libya’s civil war. As a re-sult, Americans should continue to enjoy access to Middle East oil.

Another U.S. interest in the region is military security. The American military has important bases in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait and Iraq. These bases serve to protect the U.S. against threats from Iran and terrorists, and they provide vital logistical support for the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. The U.S. also maintains a close relation-ship with Egypt’s military, the largest in Africa. The heavy U.S. military presence in the region demonstrates how strongly the

U.S. values its interests there.

However, the protests and revo-lutions did not jeopardize these interests. The U.S. has not lost any important military bases, and its military alliances are still intact. The U.S. worked closely with the Egyptian military to guarantee its continuing role in Egypt’s govern-ment, bolstering an important channel of influence in Egypt and the region.

A final U.S. interest is the pro-motion of democracy and toler-ance, especially in protecting Israel. Israel’s security relies on treaties with Saudi Arabia and Egypt, negotiated largely by the United States. Democracy pro-motion and peace-building in the region has been an official policy for decades, though the U.S. has

repeatedly sacrificed these ob-jectives for security, stability or trade.

The United States exercised im-pressive discretion in its manage-ment of and intervention in the Arab Spring. The U.S. seemed to intervene in the right amount in the right places. First, the U.S. recognized early on that the pro-tests were an Arab affair and gave the movements their due space. When the U.S. concluded its inter-ests and values were threatened (as in Libya), the U.S. acted multi-laterally and waited for the Libyan people and the Arab League to ask NATO to intervene.

While the U.S. did abandon sev-eral protest movements, these ultimately failed while U.S.-sup-ported protests were successful (with the exception of Syria’s Assad, whose future is still un-certain). In effect, the U.S. chose the winning side in each contest, suggesting that the U.S. will enjoy good relations with these regimes in the future.

There are fears that the Arab Spring has given rise to greater Islamic influence in the region, but these fears are overblown. In an interview with The Hill, Jer-emy Hammond, editor of For-eign Policy Journal, argued, “The protests were largely secular and dominated by political and eco-nomic grievances, not religious concerns. Granted, some of the new governments beginning to take shape in the region are more conservative than their predeces-sors, but they are part of main-stream Islam and should not be associated with the fundamental-ist extremism that produces ter-rorists and Iranian-like theocra-cies.” These new governments do

By Sam Hobbs

Geopolitical Strategy & the Arab Spring

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appear less tolerant towards Is-rael, but Israel was hardly popular before the revolution.

Once again, the U.S. proved willing to sacrifice its democratic values when they come into con-flict with geopolitical interests. In spite of an imperfect record, the U.S. did help advance democracy in a long oppressed region. The region may be more tumultuous than in previous decades, but for now, American interests appear secure.

Sam Hobbs is a junior majoring in history.

While western economies remain mired in a shaky recov-ery, China’s economy continues to grow at rates higher than 9 percent—a number the country has consistently hit for the past 30 years. Despite this miraculous growth, China’s most successful people are leaving the country en masse, according to a recent Time magazine article. A survey published by the Bank of China polled Chinese with more than 10 million yuan in assets (about $1.5 million); results showed that 27 percent have already taken steps to leave the country and 47 per-cent are considering leaving. The United States is the destination of choice for a plurality of emi-grants, according to the survey.

The phenomenon presents a challenge to the narrative com-monly told in the United States—that of an unstoppable China. This narrative also has severe im-plications for Chinese policymak-ers, who apparently are crafting policies that alienate their most

Entrepreneurs Leaving ChinaBy Brendan Cooley

successful entrepreneurs.

Successful Chinese, according to UNC Professor of Political Science Xi Chen, lack a sense of economic security under the communist re-gime. The Chinese government’s economic policy is unstable, its le-gal system weak, and its citizens’ property rights insecure. These policies lead many rich Chinese to fear for their economic well-being, and so they choose to leave the country to protect their assets. And these trends have only accel-erated over the last ten years.

With the ascension of Deng Xiaoping to the leadership of China in 1978, China began a pe-riod of economic liberalization following western growth models. The country opened its tradition-ally insular economy to the global markets, and the result has been stunning, consistent growth.

The success of global capital-ism as a growth machine for Chi-na presents some paradoxes for Chinese communist leadership. Until the turn of the century, the Communist Party justified its ex-istence through ensuring contin-ued growth. But since 2000, the Communist Party has sounded an increasingly populist tone, ac-cording to Chen.

The party’s success has led to a growing confidence among its leaders. More and more Com-munist Party politicians are ap-pealing to Chinese citizens by re-turning to their communist roots. These communist overtones lead to policies that end up hurting the wealthy. What’s more, incoming Chinese leaders appear to be even more populist than their prede-cessors. A communist China that became rich through state-driven

capitalism is now, some claim, turning on the businesses that drove this growth.

The strange actions of the Com-munist Party reflect the difficult dilemma facing Chinese leaders. Chinese citizens lack many po-litical and social rights, but the country’s economic growth has traditionally provided social sta-bility. Incidents of protest and social unrest have accelerated in recent years, and the Communist Party, rather than continuing liberalization, has used Maoist rhetoric to appeal to the masses. If the increasingly communist rhetoric continues to manifest itself in policy, it is likely that more and more successful Chi-nese will leave the country. And if this trend continues, and the engines that have been fueling Chinese growth continue to dis-appear, the Chinese economy will suffer.

China remains an economic juggernaut, but its internal so-cial and economic contradictions raise questions as to how long its growth can continue. Chinese leadership has proved itself re-markably adept at responding to problems caused by these contra-dictions, however, and the coun-try’s massive reserve of human capital ensures that there are am-bitious individuals ready to take the place of those who leave. But this recent phenomenon is in-dicative of a flaw in Chinese eco-nomic policy, one that will surely cause the regime problems in the near future.

Brendan Cooley is a sophomore majoring in peace, war, & de-fense and economics.

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Of the Arab nations, no state was left unaffected by the Arab Spring, including Syria. Garner-ing little attention initially as the media focused on Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, the unrest in Syria has increased throughout the year. With unrest has come the violence, with the death toll now believed to have surpassed 4,000.

On November 2nd, Syria ac-cepted a peace plan organized and proposed by the Arab League. The proposal demanded the re-lease of prisoners, the withdrawal of security forces and armored tanks from the streets, and the cessation of violence against demonstrators. By accepting the agreement, Syria also agreed to open negotiations between the government and opposition par-ties and to allow human rights groups, Arab League representa-tives, and international media to monitor and report on the Syrian situation.

However, Syria wavered and failed to make motions to follow through on the Arab League’s peace plan. Instead, state-sup-ported violence continued, caus-ing doubt and concern amongst those watching. It was not until twelve demonstrators were killed on Muslim holy day Eid al-Adha, however, that the Arab League decided to act, interpreting the continued violence as a refusal to implement the peace plan. With a reported death toll of at least 60 in the four days since Syria had agreed to the peace plan, and the release of only a small percent-

Sanctions & Suspensions in the Name of Peace

age of prisoners, the Arab League claimed that the state’s actions made it clear that Bashar al Assad and his government had no inten-tions of ceasing their crackdown on dissent.

In response, the Arab League held a vote on whether or not to suspend Syria’s membership from the organization. Of the twenty two states (a count which includes Syria), only Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon voted against the sus-pension, while Iraq abstained. With the support of the other eighteen members, the motion passed with overarching inter-national support. Unsurprising-ly, however, Syria’s ambassador Youssef Ahmed condemned the motion, calling the decision ille-gal and claiming it was contrary to the league’s internal charter. On November 16th, four days after the initial vote, the Arab League confirmed the suspension and gave Syria three days to end the violence and accept an observer mission or face sanctions.

After the violence in Syria con-tinued, the Arab League agreed on several sanctions that will bear a heavy cost on the Syrian state. The sanctions included a travel ban for senior Syrian officials to Arab states, a freeze on their as-sets in other states, a cessation of transactions with the Syrian cen-tral bank, an end to trade deals with the Syrian government, a freeze of Syrian government bank assets, and lastly an end of trans-actions with the government. Syria has described the move as

a betrayal of Arab solidarity, no doubt as a result of sheer panic over the potential impacts of the sanctions.

The levying of these sanctions truly contradicts any “business as usual” image the Syrian gov-ernment is trying to project and will bear significant impact on the government. The govern-ment’s alienation from its Arab neighbors alone takes away a fair bit of the regime’s might, but the economic sanctions also further weaken the regime. The sanctions have provided pressure for Syria to take action to appease the Arab League in order to get the sanc-tions lifted. As a result, only days after the sanctions were imposed Syria has come to the Arab League with a counter offer: Syria will al-low observers in, under certain conditions, if the Arab League will lift its sanctions. Currently, the Arab League is examining Syria’s proposal; however, it seems likely that provided the provisions are not too restricting on the powers of the observers, the Arab League will accept the counteroffer in or-der to get observers into Syria to help monitor, and hopefully sub-due, the conflict.

So far Syria’s story in the Arab Spring Saga is just as unique as the stories of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and the rest. Hopefully, the unique involvement of the Arab League will lead to an end to the bloody conflict which has besieged Syria for the past several months, sanctions or no sanc-tions.

Sarah Wentz is a senior major-ing in political science and global studies.

By Sarah Wentz

the levying of these sanctions truly contradicts any “business as usual”

image the regime is trying to project

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December 2011 13

International

Economic singularity, sta-bility, and even sustainability are the traditional hallmarks of the Eurozone. The Eurozone, for many EU member-states, repre-sents the primary optimum cur-rency arena, whereby economic growth and security are guaran-teed alongside political integra-tion and cooperation.

The combination of the 2008 fi-nancial crisis and the Greek debt crisis, for some, has fundamen-tally undermined the politico-economic conception of a single European currency. For others, it has highlighted the need for stricter enforcement of the Sta-bility and Growth Pact (SGP), the agreement which sets the founda-tional economic limits for Euro-zone countries, and the need for an organized response to country defaults.

Recognition of the latter led to the creation of European Finan-cial Stability Facility (EFSF), an organization tasked with protect-ing the economic integrity of the Eurozone by aiding defaulting member-states. The EESF has a lending capacity of €440 billion. The Greek debt crisis and the cur-rent financial recession under-write the complexity of sovereign debt management in economic conditions that have tradition-ally encouraged economic growth during deficits, largely due to the availability of cheap capital and low interest rates.

Just as the 2008 financial cri-sis caused skepticism about the financial system to surface, the Greek debt crisis has projected the same effect onto the Euro-zone. Greece is often character-ized as being on the economic periphery of the Eurozone and

is associated with a sense of so-cial caretaking and entitlement spending.

There have been four major austerity measures within Greece since February of 2010. The mea-sures were enacted as part of aid packages given by the Europe-an Central Bank (ECB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). It soon became clear that

Greece would need more aid to prevent a seemingly inevitable debt rollover. This led to the cre-ation of the troika or tripartite committee, enacted by the Euro-pean Commission, ECB, and the IMF. This committee was dedi-cated to overseeing the allocation of a massive loan to stabilize the faltering Greek economy.

The austerity measures that then followed were characterized by unprecedented cuts in salaries and pensions. With these mea-sures began the massive privati-zation of the Greek economy. The fourth bail out and subsequent austerity measures- over which former Prime Minster Papan-dreou called a referendum, but reluctantly accepted- furthered the process of privatization whereby many national compa-nies and bonds were sold to for-

eign companies. The social unrest from the last two austerity mea-sures severely shook confidence in both the government and the Eurozone. Overall Greece earned a new and less combative prime minister, about €110 billion in monetary aid, sweeping tax in-creases, massive cuts in entitle-ment spending, and a far less stable economic outlook. Overall government spending in Greece still outweighs revenue.

Greece is a curious case. In one sense it shows that Eurozone membership can be beneficial, but also that membership es-sentially predisposes a sovereign state to the interests of external actors that can completely alter its financial reality. If the outlook of the ordinary citizen is based on entitlement spending and early retirement, as in the case of Greece, a sudden jolt away from the status quo can result in mas-sive social unrest. The question of blame then arises both for the government and external finan-cial institutions.

Some, such as Joseph Stiglitz, fault such financial institutions for not acting to help Greece ear-lier. Many financial institutions played a role in concealing the na-ture of Greece’s economic situa-tion, and the fact that the govern-ment debt to GDP ratio matched that of the U.S. raises questions about the “uniqueness” of the Greek scenario. Is the Greek case indicative of what can potentially occur within any developed coun-try? This question will likely re-main unanswered and its implica-tions unexplored.

Ismaail Qaiyim is a senior ma-joring in history and peace, war, & defense.

The Greek Case in the Eurozone CrisisBy Ismaail Qaiyim

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With the unemployment rate and the Congressional ap-proval rate both at nine per-cent and an uncertain future for President Obama’s Ameri-can Jobs Act, it is no wonder that the House of Represen-tative’s recent reaffirmation of our nation’s motto “In God We Trust” attracted so much backlash from the media.

In 1956, Congress passed a law declaring “In God We Trust” to be our official na-tional motto. The most recent reaffirmation is the third time it has occurred. In 2002, Con-gress passed a new law that “reaffirmed the exact language that has appeared in the Motto for decades.” Four years later, the Senate reaffirmed the mot-to again in commemoration of its 50th anniversary.

Expressing many people’s reactions to the resolution, The Daily Show’s Jon Stew-art insisted, “The motto was under no threat.” However, the resolution’s sponsor Rep-resentative Randy Forbes did believe the motto was under threat. The reaffirmation can be seen as a reaction to a 2010 statement by President Obama in which he remarked, “In the United States, our motto is E pluribus Unum.” During the debate on the House floor, Representative Forbes argued that as a result of President

Obama’s statement, many peo-ple are confused about what the national motto is and that it is necessary to reaffirm it. In response, Representative Nadler criticized Republicans for placing an irrelevant issue on the agenda by asserting, “We don’t need to go looking f o r i m a g -ined prob-lems to fix. We’ve got enough real ones to wor-ry about.” As a result, the 40-min-u t e f l o o r debate over the resolu-t i o n w a s n o t o v e r the status of “In God We Trust” as the national motto, but whether discussion of the motto should even be taking place.

“In God We Trust” is not the only legislation considered by Congress that seems like a waste of time. Congress regularly passes commemora-tive resolutions and official designations, which account for about a third of legislation passed, but most of them do not receive media attention. As UNC Assistant Professor of Political Science Sarah Treul

explained in an interview with The Hill, “The American public isn’t going to get upset about them unless the media points them out.” She also described how the media has fostered the American perception that Con-gress is constantly debating and creating policies when they

are responsible for many oth-er tasks such as committee work and over-sight of other b r a n c h e s o f government.

Meanwhi le , P r e s i d e n t Obama’s Amer-ican Jobs Act has faced polit-ical stalemate in Congress. I t f a i l e d t o

pass the Senate and has not yet been introduced in the House. In light of this situa-tion, President Obama chas-tised Congress for considering frivolous legislation instead of jobs creating legislation by remarking, “You’ve been debating a commemorative coin for baseball. You have legislation reaffirming that “In God We Trust” is our motto. That’s not putting people back to work.”

Professor Treul speculates that Congress is taking up

Time is MoneySo is Congress wasting it?

Congress regularly passes commemorative resolutions and official designations, which account for about a

third of legislation passed...

Congress is having difficulty making

the tough decisions and having the

meaningful debates required to create

real policies to deal with the economic

crisis

December 2011 15

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December 2011 15

Covermany of these issues because of the political stalemate. She suggested, “It’s somewhat easier to focus on “In God We Trust” because it’s bipartisan and not controversial.” Just like it had trouble overcoming partisan hurdles in the recent debt ceiling and budget crises, Congress is having difficulty making the tough decisions and having the meaningful debates required to create real policies to deal with the eco-nomic crisis.

Despite current consider-ations of political impasse, there are other reasons that Congress takes up these seem-ingly trivial legislations. At face value, these sorts of legislation seem frivolous, but they can be incredibly useful for mem-bers of Congress. The first and foremost goal of members of Congress is to get reelected, and these legislations can be cached and used for credit-claiming and position-taking when election time draws near. The resolution to reaf-firm “In God We Trust” had 64 co-sponsors and passed by a 369-9 vote. By sponsoring and voting for this legislation, members of Congress show their constituents that they are active in Congress and support measures popular with Ameri-cans such as baseball and re-ligion.

Furthermore, many of the is-sues in these frivolous bills are a Congressional duty. About a quarter of the legislation Con-gress passes deals with naming government buildings, such as designating a post office in Dixon, Illinois the Ronald W. Reagan Post Office. Because the Postal Service is a federal agency, Congress has the re-sponsibility to name these buildings. Additionally, the Constitution explicitly grants

Congress the power to coin money, so it is appropriate that they considered a bill to mint commemorative baseball coins.

The existence of measures that “waste time” does not im-ply that Congress is not pro-ductive. The 111th Congress was arguably the most pro-ductive session since the New Deal and it still attracted ridi-cule and criticism for passing resolutions designating March 14th as Pi Day and honoring the 2560th birthday of Confu-cius. In the final analysis, these legislations are not to blame for Congress’ failure to address real and pressing problems. On the contrary, they are the only bills Congress is capable of passing – a far more unset-tling and disturbing prospect.

Daixi Xu is junior majoring in political science and art history.

2011 Legislation

Major Legislation Passed

2011 Federal BudgetBudget Control Act

Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer

Protection Act

Leahy-Smith America Invests Act

PATRIOT Sunsets Ex-tension Act

US- South Korea Free Trade Agreement Im-

plementation Act

US- Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act

US- Panama Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act

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Now less than a year away, the 2012 presidential election is shaping up to be a close contest. And with it comes the inevitable punditry and debate over which candidate is favored to win. One source analysts use to help pre-dict what will reelect incumbents - and what could help challengers defeat them - is past elections. Comparing upcoming elections to previous elections is an inter-esting, but often oversimplified way of looking at the race to the White House.

The 2012 election has often been compared to the 1948 elec-tion because of the similarities between the incumbents, Barack Obama and Harry Truman.

Like Obama, Truman was a weak incumbent as the election approached. A weak economy resulting from WWII ration-ing characterized his first term. However, unlike the current en-vironment, the economic outlook was turning by November. “The economy in 1948 as they were heading into the election was really booming,” said James E. Campbell, presidential historian at the University of Buffalo. If the U.S. economy does not begin to improve, Obama will not enjoy this advantage.

In 1948, a strong third party candidate – Strom Thurmond – took several southern states. As it stands now, a viable third party candidate has not emerged to run in the election. If one did, he or she would likely come from the center-right and take votes from the Republican candidate. This is in sharp contrast to the 1948 example, in which Thurmond won southern states that Truman would have likely won otherwise.

Both Truman and Obama over-saw the conclusion of wars, but in very different times. Truman au-thorized the controversial drop-ping of the A-bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. Obama announced the final withdrawal from Iraq earlier this fall, but he has escalated the war in Afghanistan with a timetable to withdraw in 2014. Ultimately, it is difficult to tell how impor-tant Obama’s military successes in Iraq and Afghanistan, or in smaller theaters like Libya, will prove to be towards his reelec-tion. The most obvious lesson to apply here is that domestic con-cerns, rather than foreign, often determine who wins elections.

The two presidents’ populist campaign styles are also similar. When Truman wanted to connect with the average American, he took his campaign on the road. With his “whistle-stop” train tours, Truman was able to cover a lot of ground and spread his message to many. Citizens lis-tening to Truman and standing alongside the tracks would often shout “Give’em hell Harry!” – re-ferring to the obstructionist Con-gress against which Truman cam-paigned. Truman mustered up populist anger reminiscent of a fired up Obama. Already Obama’s bus tours have resembled some form of this populist campaign-ing style.

Both presidents dealt with a Re-publican Congress that worked to stop their policies during their first terms. Truman shaped the campaign around this obstruc-tionist branch to rally voters behind his cause. Obama has already learned from Truman’s political strategy in this arena, and has made a concerted effort

to distance himself from the leg-islative body.

Even though Truman’s op-ponent, New York Governor Thomas Dewey, was in large part more moderate than the makeup of the Republican Party in Con-gress, Truman managed to lump them together. Attacking the ‘Do-Nothing Congress’ was an effec-tive strategy for Truman, despite Dewey’s never having served in Congress.

But today, unlike in 1948, Re-publicans only control the House of Representatives. Obama would find himself in a difficult spot try-ing to blame Congress, since his party controls one of the houses, says Aaron Blake of The Wash-ington Post. A campaign against Congress could be self-defeat-ing for Obama if it turns voters against all incumbent senators and representatives and results in Democratic losses. Democrats are already upset with the presi-dent for his comments about an obstructionist Congress, so this approach would likely alienate voters rather than attracting them.

While Truman and Obama faced some of the same circumstances preparing for a reelection bid, no two elections are precisely the same. Obama will need to adopt his own style to succeed next No-vember. Still, Mr. Truman could provide a vital case study for the formulation of Obama’s electoral strategy.

Kevin Uhrmacher is a sopho-more majoring in journalism and political science.

Predictions from the Past?By Kevin Uhrmacher

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Cover

In a September address to a joint-session of Congress, Obama thundered the words “Pass this bill” 18 times. On a trip to North Carolina State University, he used the same phrase 24 times. The American Jobs Act, the ever proclaimed bill, did not pass.

Then from October, the Presi-dent and his administration em-braced a new phrase - “We can’t wait.” White House Communica-tions Director Dan Pfeiffer said, “We can’t wait for Congress to act, so we’re going to take the steps that we can take.” Promot-ing the President’s executive or-ders, Joe Biden said, “We can’t wait for Congress to start acting responsibly.”

Painting Congress as dead-locked, and Republicans in par-ticular as obstinate, President Obama has ex-erted his leader-ship in embrac-ing executive orders to push for changes in many realms of American policy including mort-gage financing, education, vet-eran programs, drug regulation and more.

Certain critics, such as Ron Paul, claim that Obama’s em-brace of executive power “brings the modern presidency danger-ously close to an elective dictator-ship.” Without bluntly accusing Obama of breaking the Constitu-tion, Speaker of the House and Republican John Boehner prom-ised to keep “a very close eye on the administration to make sure they are following the law and fol-lowing the Constitution.”

In his defense, President Obama’s use of executive power has precedent. Recall that Presi-dent Kennedy used an executive order to create the Peace Corps, just as Richard Nixon instituted wage and price controls and The-odore Roosevelt unilaterally gave pensions to Civil War veterans.

What exactly has President Obama achieved in his “We Can’t Wait” campaign? For one, he has pushed for changes in the student loan program, namely by capping payments to ten percent of discre-tionary income with a provision for debt being forgiven in twenty years. Moreover, he has insti-tuted a cut on government swag – clothing, mugs, etc – claiming that it will save four billion. As the Iraq war rolls to an end, the administration has created two new websites for veterans look-

ing for jobs – My Next Move for Veterans and Veterans Job Bank. Post 9/11 veterans are also eligi-ble for the “Veteran Gold Card,” which gives them free access to half a year of case management and counseling at government-managed career centers. Further-more, he has instructed the FDA to look into drug shortages and ways to prevent them in addition to determining if drug companies have taken advantage of shortag-es to illegally manipulate prices. Moreover, Obama has pushed for a refinancing plan to benefit cer-tain qualifying homeowners who

would like to refinance to cheaper rates but cannot because the price of their homes have dropped.

Critics argue that Obama’s “We Can’t Wait” campaign is feebler than proclaimed. For instance, the administration claims that its refinancing plan will help four million homeowners; however, MF Global, led by former Demo-cratic Governor Joe Corzine, ex-pects Obama’s plan to only affect between 600,000 to one million people. Similarly, the administra-tion argues that its student loan plan will affect 1.6 million col-lege students, allowing them to save hundreds of dollars a month, while a report by the Atlantic ar-gues that people will save consid-erably less, around ten dollars a month. Even as the administra-tion touts business pledges to hire veterans, critics note that these pledges are neither committal nor enforceable. In addition, critics note that Obama’s instruction to the FDA merely “enhances” and “amplifies” steps already taken.

So what will happen with this new turn of phrase? John Boehner and the Republicans accuse Obama of “giving up” on America and beginning his campaign when he ought to be governing. On the other side of Washington, the Obama admin-istration hopes to convey through “We can’t wait” that President Obama, opposed by a horde of stubborn Republicans, is doing the best that he can do for vet-erans, students, patients, and taxpayers.

Krishna Kollu is a senior major-ing in economics and computer science.

Executive Orders & Electoral PoliticsBy Krishna Kollu

Painting Congress as deadlocked, and Republicans

in particular as obstinate, President Obama has

exerted his leadership in embracing executive orders

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On October 21st, 2011, Pres-ident Obama announced that American combat troops sta-tioned in Iraq would be home for the holidays. This action – la-beled a “foreign policy success,” the equivalent of “fixing the win-dow while the house is burning,” a “naked political calculation,” and “turning the page after a de-cade of war” – split the political pundits in an already heated and divided campaign season.

Many Republicans have specu-lated about Obama’s motivations behind the troop withdrawal, claiming the Democrat was ei-ther checking off his presidential to-do list from 2008 or aiming to divert attention from a weak economy and a soaring national debt. However, this decision rep-resents more of a political re-pri-oritization than a calculation; low public approval ratings despite a year of foreign policy successes have shown President Obama what former President Clinton capitalized on in 1992: “It’s the economy, stupid.”

The announcement came only a day after Libyan rebels killed Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi, marking a major success in the NATO-led air campaign in Libya after the momentous deaths of al Qaeda leaders Osama bin Laden and An-war al-Awlaki last summer.

However, President Obama had worked hard to avoid full troop withdrawal, as military officials had expressed the need to leave between three and five thousand American troops behind to pre-vent further sectarian violence. These plans fell through when a dispute arose over the Iraqi Par-liament’s reluctance to grant legal immunity to American soldiers and military trainers remain-

ing behind. When negotiations broke down, President Obama and Defense Secretary Panetta announced that “the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year.” He added, “After nearly nine years, Ameri-ca’s war in Iraq will be over.”

After the announcement, U.S. troop presence decreased from 34,000 to 24,000 combat person-nel in only three weeks. General Martin E. Dempsey, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of the Staff,

told the Senate Armed Services Committee that this number would decrease to only about 200 military personnel and some 16,000 civilian personnel, aimed at training officials and providing regional security.

President Obama stated, “After a decade of war, we’re turning the page and moving forward with strength and confidence.” The president has certainly shored up credibility as commander-in-chief, weakening the usual Republican edge on national se-curity. In a recent Gallup poll, ap-proximately 75 percent of Ameri-cans expressed support for full troop withdrawal by the end of 2011. However, these foreign suc-cesses have bought Obama little praise in a political environment

dominated by economic distress.

Republican presidential hope-fuls have not ignored the chance to lodge complaints about the withdrawal. Former Massachu-setts governor Mitt Romney called the decision “sheer in-eptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government,” while Ambas-sador Jon Huntsman noted the threat of “leaving Iraq vulnerable to backsliding.” However, only a slight majority (52 percent) of Republican Party members agree with the candidates’ disapproval.

Still, regardless of President Obama’s foreign policy success-es or failures, the economy will determine the next president. As foreign policy expert David Rothkopf noted, “If things go off track in the next year or so, it’s not going to matter what the military successes were.” While Bin Laden’s death increased ap-proval ratings by 11 points, they dropped back below 50 percent when the economy took another hit. Republican presidential de-bates have focused very little on foreign policy, and all signs point to a campaign season heavily fo-cused on the nation’s economic woes.

The close of America’s war in Iraq and improvements in Af-ghanistan and Libya will give President Obama some much-needed reprieve to focus on the economy as November 6th, 2012 approaches. Obama’s success or failure in improving the econo-my over the next year will decide whether he, like 9.1 percent of Americans, faces unemployment come January 20th, 2013.

Amanda Claire Grayson is a ju-nior majoring in political science and peace, war, & defense.

regardless of President

Obama’s foreign policy successes or failures, the economy will determine the

next president

Iraq’s Impact on Obama’s CandidacyBy Amanda Claire Grayson

December 2011 19

Domestic

19

The Romney Alternatives

Jon Huntsman Ron Paul

Newt Gingrich

Rick Perry

By Siddarth Nagaraj & Sarah Wentz

Rick Santorum

Hunstman’s best traits to act as a Romney Alternative are his foreign policy experience and his stance on health care. Republicans heavily con-cerned about international affairs and against universal health care are likely to cast their ballot for Huntsman.

With his Libertarian-lean-ings, Ron Paul has the ca-pability of attracting a fair number of moderate and in-dependent voters. His poli-cies are certainly enough to appeal to Conservatives, but not so black-and-white that moderates won’t be drawn in.

Who is theRomney

Alternative?

The former senator from Pennsylvania has shown strong appeal to social con-servatives, who comprise a large, highly influential bloc within the GOP and play a heavy role in determining the outcome of early con-tests such as Iowa and South Carolina.

The former Speaker of the House is laden with bag-gage related to his personal life and the bitter political fights of the 1990s. Although he has alienated many of his former colleagues, he is still seen as a leading intellectual in the party and could use his argumentative skills to woo voters.

Once believed to be a potent challenger, Perry’s campaign has endured a series of di-sasters. Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have more success-fully courted social conserva-tives and Tea Partiers whom Perry believed to be his base, and a series of gaffes leave many wondering if he could be a credible candidate in the general election.

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Amidst the harsh economic times that have befallen the Unit-ed States in recent years, it has become increasingly common to hear politicians lament the cur-rent state of domestic infrastruc-ture. Arguing that decaying pub-lic works are not only a disservice to Americans but also a threat to the national economy, various lobbying groups have encour-aged the Obama Administration to increase federal spending on projects to improve infrastruc-ture. But the word itself is broad in its application, and govern-ment initiatives to resolve the current crisis have been highly controversial.

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) defines the U.S. infrastructure system by dividing it into four categories. The first category deals with engi-neering projects related to usage of water, ranging from common wastewater treatment facilities to hydroelectric dams. In 2009, the ASCE documented over 4,000 deficient (or dangerous) dams in the U.S. Of these, 1,819 are con-sidered “high hazard potential” dams, even though most of the structures are only fifty years old. The most notorious of these is perhaps Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River in Ken-tucky, which is built on a karst foundation where there are large air pockets beneath a seemingly sold foundation of limestone. These pockets cause seepage that allows the limestone to dissolve, and creates sinkholes. If the dam bursts, it could flood Nashville, Tennessee. The consequences of poor water infrastructure are not limited to such disaster scenarios; the ASCE estimates that approxi-mately 7 billion gallons of clean drinking water are lost a day due to leaky pipes. They further es-

timate that aging treatment sys-tems cause the discharge of bil-lions of gallons of wastewater into lakes and rivers each year.

The second category, transpor-tation, deals with items like bridg-es, roads and aviation. The ASCE estimates that one in four bridges is structurally deficient, while 33 percent of America’s roads are in poor condition. Failures in this category often gain the most at-tention, as people immediately deal with the headaches from congestion and automobile acci-dents, but are not the only infra-structure-related concerns. The third category encompasses pub-lic facilities, including schools, parks and recreation areas, while the final category deals with en-ergy. The United States power grid is of particular concern, as usage has increased 25 percent since 1990 with little to no im-provement in widespread techno-logical upgrades. Experts fear the possible large-scale failure of the power grid due to excessive en-ergy demand, a possibility fore-shadowed by the collapse caused by congested transmission paths that created the Northeast Black-out of 2003. On that occasion, 10 million people in Ontario and 45 million people in eight states lost power. Altogether, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the U.S. Infrastructure a D rating, and estimated that $2.2 trillion dollars needed to be spent in the next five years to bring the system up to speed.

So if infrastructure is so bad, then why can’t we seem to get anything really fixed? A lot of this has to do with the nature of politics. While the existence of the problem is agreed upon by members of both parties, infra-structure projects are often used

as political bargaining chips and needed restorations rarely occur without delays or finan-cial waste. Recently, President Obama has drawn attention to the poor state of infrastructure through the inclusion of public works repair initiatives in the American Jobs Act bill as well as the “We Can’t Wait” campaign by arguing that new projects to fix deficient structures would help promote job creation. He has also used the infrastructure crisis as a means of targeting his political rivals, as shown through his tours of outdated bridges in Speaker John Boehner’s and former Massachusetts Gover-nor Mitt Romney’s districts. By doing so, he hopes to pressure Congressmen to support passage of the proposed American Jobs Act. He has also sought to stress Republican acknowledgement of the potential economic benefits of infrastructural investments, recalling Republican Represen-tative Paul Ryan’s remark that “you can’t deny that infrastruc-ture does create jobs.” Obama has also enlisted the support of Republican figures such as John Robert Smith, former Meridian, Mississippi mayor and leader of the Reconnecting America task-force, which helps communities solve transportation dilemmas to stimulate growth. Yet it remains uncertain whether Obama will ac-tually have the necessary back-ing to push this section of the bill through Congress in a term that has been characterized by bick-ering and impasses. Which begs the question, what is the future of U.S. infrastructure?

Stephanie Shenigo is a senior majoring in political science.

The State of US Infrastructure & Its FutureBy Stephanie Shenigo

December 2011 21

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Domestic

Following a period of many years in which Internet piracy and content sharing have prolif-erated immensely, Congress ap-pears set to consider contentious legislation regarding online copy-right infringement. The recent introduction of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) to the floor of the House of Representatives has brought greater attention to long-running debates over the ownership and use of intellectual property and has created a storm of controversy over whether the proposed law would promote the protection of privately owned content or censorship of the In-ternet.

The proposed law would let the U.S. Justice Department request court orders to block access to foreign sites that illegally display copyrighted material. Addition-ally, copyright holders could pur-sue legal action to close websites that contain unauthorized con-tent and such infringement would be punishable by up to five years in prison.

The bill has tremendous sup-port from within the entertain-ment industry, notably the Di-rectors Guild of America (DGA) and the Motion Picture Associa-tion of America (MPAA), who argue that the new bill will deter the pirating of many of the films that they produce and help them retain income, thereby protect-ing U.S.-based jobs. Opponents of the bill include the Consumer Electronics Association and the

Computer and Communications Industry Association. They assert that it would give the government the power to shut down legiti-mate commercial sites and that it would stunt the growth of one of the fastest growing sectors of the U.S. economy. They also argue that large interest groups within the entertainment industry (such as the DGA and MPAA) would exercise too much control over Internet content. Lastly, they say that the bill would also give government too much authority over the Internet, a relatively un-regulated zone of free speech.

The debate, one common to Internet regulatory laws, encom-passes the problem of how to balance copyright protection and freedom of expression. On one hand, groups such as the MPAA have lost immense revenue due to online piracy. Yet is difficult to determine the extent to which the government should control the Internet. As the Internet is still relatively young, such ques-tions have yet to be decided. The debate over whether SOPA is le-gitimate will help to clarify each side’s position.

Critics of the bill have been en-thusiastic in their determination to prevent its passage, using a variety of methods to publicize and attack the proposed legisla-tion, which lawmakers expect will pass due to intense lobbying and arguments that the Stop Online Piracy Act would protect workers in an economy with high unem-

ployment.

First, opponents submitted a statement of protest to the White House’s public petition site in or-der to publicize the bill and make the president respond to their grievances. The White House promises to publicly respond to the request if 25,000 signatures can be obtained within a month. The petition, called “Stop the E-Parasites Act,” has received 13,647 signatures to date.

Secondly, critics of the bill have drawn attention to support for their position among celebrities in the entertainment industry. The pop musician Justin Bieber has expressed opposition to the proposed law, noting that if such legislation had been in effect pri-or to his rise to fame, he might have been liable to prosecution for posting videos in which he sings copyrighted songs onto YouTube, a strategy which con-tributed to his self-promotion and eventual commercial success.

Part of the likely motivation for lawmakers to pass this bill is to protect U.S. jobs, and in doing so, increase their chances for re-election. Support for passage is greatly increased by intense lob-bying of the part of large corpo-rate groups of the entertainment industry. But should the contro-versy grow too large, the bill may not be passed. Regardless of the bill’s fate, it appears likely the Stop Online Piracy Act may be the most significant attempt by U.S. lawmakers to establish the distinction between online copy-right protection and freedom of expression.

John Son is a first year majoring in political science.

Regulating the Internet?

[SOPA]... has created a storm of controversy over whether the proposed

law would promote the protection ofprivately owned content or censorship

of the Internet.

By John Son

22 The Hill

Section

22 The Hill

Domestic

Images of crowded protesters, tented encampments, and the slogan “We are the 99%” have become iconic representations of the movement known as Oc-cupy Wall Street. Members of the movement claim to be fighting against socioeconomic inequal-ity, corruption, and the large amount of influence that corpo-rations have on the U.S. govern-ment. Although critics maintain that the movement is more of a gathering of jobless complain-ers, there is no denying that the movement is picking up speed and supporters around the world. As such, the Occupy movement looks promising as an impactful force in politics, but it still must take some key actions in order to become effective.

Occupy Wall Street originated earlier this year when people an-swered calls by anti-consumerist magazine Adbusters for a peace-ful occupation of Wall Street. Influenced by the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo earlier this year, Occupy Wall Street organizers hoped that by placing themselves in prominent public locations and refusing to leave they could at-tract enough attention and sup-port to gain political traction while making everyday activities such as commuting difficult for the corporate officials at whom the movement targets. Since pro-testers began nationwide activi-ties by settling in Zuccotti Park in New York City, other individuals have started similar occupations of public spaces in cities across the United States, all advocating reduced corporate involvement in government along with the bridg-ing of income and economic in-

Occupy Wall Street: A Reemergence of Democracy?

equality.

Occupy Wall Street has a unique organizational structure. Deci-sions within the organization come from the New York City General Assembly, which is held every evening at seven pm. At the assemblies, which are open to the public as well as protesters, peo-ple wait to speak in turn by sign-ing up for slots using a “stack,” which is a queue for speakers. In an effort to show progressiv-ism, women and individuals from minority groups are allowed to speak before white men. While speaking, because voice-ampli-fying systems are not allowed within the park, activists use a “human microphone” system, wherein people gathered around the speaker repeat what is said every few words so that every-one in the vicinity is able to hear. The speaker’s proposed actions/opinion is then voted upon in di-rect democratic fashion in which everyone present votes by using predetermined hand signals. “Up twinkles” are votes of agreement in which both hands are raised up with wriggling fingers. Simi-larly, “down twinkles” express disagreement where the wriggling fingers are pointed downward in-stead.

By utilizing these crowd commu-nication techniques, Occupy Wall Street has implemented a type of governing system that attempts to enact direct democracy akin to that practiced in Ancient Greece, wherein each individual votes on proposed measures rather than electing representatives to do so for them. In allowing anyone to voice their opinion, the Occupy

movement encourages those of the “99%” to join their cause. And this may be exactly the type of measures that a grassroots orga-nization needs to adopt in order to attract more supporters and achieve its desired results.

However, as far as tangible re-sults go, the Occupy movement has yet to achieve much. An of-ten-cited criticism of Occupy Wall Street is its lack of leadership and clear list of demands. Unlike an-other prominent populist move-ment, the conservative Tea Party, the Occupy movement has not successfully endorsed political candidates or released an official platform such as the “Contract from America.” Another criticism of Occupy Wall Street is the re-ports of violence and drug abuse that have surfaced regarding the encampments. If this continues into a pattern, the Occupy move-ment’s image could be seriously damaged, and their message will not be taken seriously. If Occupy Wall Street wishes to truly make a difference, the movement will need to organize and work more towards a unified voice.

As of the end of November, the movement has been ousted from Zuccotti Park. Only time will tell if the movement can continue to survive without its namesake “occupation.” The impact of the movement also remains to be seen, will, as some claim, a “re-emergence of democracy” be ob-served within the states in a flow from the Occupy movement? Or will, as others assert, the Occupy movement fade into the back-ground only to be remembered as a picture with a caption in the history books?

Richard Zheng is a first year ma-joring in business.

a type of governing system that attempts to enact direct democracy akin to that

practiced in Ancient Greece

By Richard Zheng

December 2011 23

Section

December 2011 23

Local

Redistricting in North CarolinaWhat you need to know

North Carolina’s number of seats has not changed, the state still holds 13 seats. However, due to the changes in population, the district lines must still be redrawn.

The ideal size for each district after redistricting is 733,499.

North Carolina is one of sixteen states which must have the final draft of the redistricting map approved by the US Justice Department. This requirement dates back to the Nationa Voting Rights Act of 1965, last renewed in 2006.

In North Carolina, the state legislature is responsible for redistricting. A ma-jority of states utilise this method for redistricting, North Carolina is one of thirty six.

Under the state constitution, all districts must be contiguous. Or rather, no district may have detached parts.

When drawing district lines, division of counties must be avoided to the greatest extent possible.

Redistricting lawsuits stemming from the 2001 redistricting cycle lasted into 2008.

North Carolina Congressional District Lines

By Sarah Wentz

2001 to 2011

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