- Who is your favorite founding father/why?
L: My favorite founding father is Benjamin Franklin. In addition to being a statesman, Franklin was an inventor, a diplomat, and, among many other things, a writer. His involvement with and contributions to the founding of the US are second to none.
R: My favorite founding father is Alexander Hamilton. When the French Revolution sprung out on the European continent, Hamilton was quick to remember the alliance of the United States with the crown of Louis XVI. When the French ambassador sought to force the U.S. to give succor to the revolutionaries in 1793, Hamilton was quick to retort that the 1778 treaty with the French guaranteeing American aid in the war was made with the monarchy and did not apply to the newly formed French Republic. Thus, Hamilton argued, the U.S. owed nothing to the obstreperous revolutionaries baptizing the streets of Paris with their citizen’s blood. In the fray of republican and democratic figures from America’s revolution, Hamilton seems to retain some of the traditional monarchism and duty of the pre-revolution era. For this reason, he is my favorite founder.
2. What should political junkies be looking out for in trends/polling/news to try and predict how the 2024 election will swing?
R: Political junkies should start doing something productive with their time instead of fruitlessly trying to predict how the 2024 election will swing. First of all, polls have been rather ineffective in the last few years at predicting public opinion toward various issues and candidates. Second, this election is, unfortunately, one of a robber versus a murderer. I would not like to be robbed or murdered, and likewise, I would not like Trump or Biden to be President. I believe the American people dislike both candidates so much that the election will be anybody’s guess until the results are in and we awake with a conclusive result on November 6.
L: When it comes to politics, news, the least objective medium of analysis, can be easily ignored. When compared to special election results or polling, news is the least objective and least informative. Political junkies should rely on a mix of polling and trends found in special election results. Approval polling shows both President Biden and former President Trump are very unpopular. Head-to-head polling between the two shows Trump with a slight lead; however, polling in other elections for Senate and Governor shows Democratic candidates in a strong position. Polling, if methodologically sound, provides an accurate snapshot at that specific moment in time for the specific election. Given how fast the news cycle changes, polling can rapidly change, and thus is an acceptable, but not the best, predictor of election outcomes. Special election results are the most accurate predictor of election outcomes because they are the only component that is both objective and free from narration. Special election results support the idea that the election will close, but Democrats have a slight advantage. Given that it is barely spring, there is much time left for the election dynamic to change, and any factors cannot be accurately trusted until the election draws closer.
3. Is the NFL left or right-wing?
L: The NFL is a microcosm of the US in that it has a large number of fans from both sides of the political aisle. The pervasiveness of mass media creates ease of access to information, but at the same time, leads to the death of a monoculture– elements of society that tie large groups or the entire group together, like Game of Thrones, Beatlemania, “Baby Shark”, the MCU, football, and more recently, Taylor Swift. To say that the NFL is either left-wing or right-wing is to ignore that elements of monoculture are so ingrained and important in society that they have fans from all different backgrounds and beliefs.
R: I do not think the NFL is left or right-wing. One of the great tragedies of modern American politics is that we must constantly try to force everything into a neat little box of right and left. Right and left are not some bucket list of policies but actual beliefs with histories of implementation and intellectual agnation reaching centuries into the past. Some things simply transcend the right and left divide, such as religion, art, and sports. Thus, the NFL is neither right nor left-wing because it is a sports organization and not a political bastion. Its viewers may hold to the creeds of both beliefs, but the organization itself is neither, for it is simply not a political group.
