by Chloe Rockow
On the global stage, no action goes without a significant reaction. Revolts in Tunisia and cries for democracy in Egypt have set off a chain reaction of protests, reforms, and unrest. As is common in American foreign policy, experts identify these reactions under the rubric of “Domino Theory: the idea that sudden change in the leadership of one nation can set off a chain reaction in its neighbors, transforming an entire region.”1 President Eisenhower originally coined the term in reference to Indochina, claiming that if one country fell …

by Lingfeng Li
When I first started writing for The Gothic Guardian as a freshman, I was full of story ideas and eager to help define the modern young conservative. But, after three years of writing mostly about fiscal policies and economics, I must acknowledge the challenges of keeping up with both news and politics.
I am apparently not unique among young Americans, many of whom also wrestle with political and news media fatigue. In a Gallup poll from March 2010, only 20 percent of Americans aged 18 to 29 were “very …

by Christina Sun
A year after the Health Care Reform Act code named “Obamacare” was written into law, its incendiary effects continue to rage on. Much of the right-wing gripe over the law has focused on the unconstitutionality of government mandates to buy health insurance. But the more important issue, from my perspective, is the system’s failure to support and create incentives for the most crucial components in the delivery of health care: doctors.
Doctors face a slew of financial and administrative obstacles today that prevent them from providing the best possible …

by Trent Serwetz
APRIL 8 – Congressional leaders have only hours remaining to pass a new budget or face an impending government shutdown. With this swollen leverage, Republicans have the President’s party by the proverbial chestnuts. Facing the crisis of a government shutdown, Congress has a singular opportunity to restore the conservative dream of American “sanity,” passing the most comprehensive budget cuts in recent history.
So what do they do with all this power? Undermining the overriding goal of limiting government spending as much as possible, Republicans instead consent to a virtually …

By Cameron Lambe
With the advent of the 112th Congress, the U.S. House of Representatives will see a Republican majority for the first time since 2006. These newly elected conservatives represent constituencies who were angered by perceived failures of the Obama administration and Democrats at large.
After years of bemoaning the Democratic establishment, this new wave of conservative leaders is under immense pressure to perform. Here, then, are some key items of legislation to keep an eye on.
John Boehner had barely raised his oversized gavel before the Republicans …

By Joey Lauer

image courtesy of http://gal.darkervision.com
Pope Benedict XV recently approved the use of condoms in cases where their primary purpose is to decrease the risk of AIDS. This is an unusual relaxation of the absolute ban on contraceptives that the Catholic Church has had for decades. Perhaps the Pope is starting to realize that condoms can prove useful, if not necessarily for the right reasons. In the face of this theological dilemma it may be fruitful to ask: what would Jesus say about the matter?
The Pope’s decision is based on …

By Cameron Lambe
The average age of Republican congressmen and women is markedly lower than the average age of their Democratic counterparts. As a recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out, Republicans are significantly younger: 54.9 (R) and 60.2 (D) in the House, and 61.4 and 63.1 respectively in the Senate.1
While the age gap in the Senate is not especially remarkable, the over-five-year difference in the House is unusual, with the age divide normally hovering around two years. And not only is this gap strange, it also …

By Christina Sun
Despite international sanctions, North Korea continues down the same threatening path regarding its nuclear program. Last November, American nuclear scientist and Stanford professor Siefried S. Hecker visited North Korea where officials showed him a large new facility they had secretly built to enrich uranium.i
The facility, which did not exist when inspectors visited the country in April 2009, is indicative of North Korea’s increasing military aggression. The country is in the midst of a leadership transition from Kim Jong-il to his son Kim Jong-un, who is the grandson …

This article is the first in a series of posts by staff writers from Alliance of Collegiate Editors publications on the subject of unrest in Egypt. These posts will recur every two days for two weeks, with The Gothic Guardian’s upcoming (date TBA). See the second installment here.
By Hihn D Tran
Authoritarian regimes across the Middle East are atremble as popular revolution threatens to engulf a second country in the space of two months. Following the fall of the Ben Ali government in Tunisia, hundreds of thousands of Egyptians have converged …

by Chloe Rockow

Tyler Clementi, a student at Rutgers University, took his own life when pressure from cyberbullying overwhelmed him in September. Megan Meier, a teenager from Missouri, committed suicide after being cyberbullied by a friend’s mother through a fake MySpace account. Duke’s Karen Owen thought her satirical “senior thesis” would be safe in the inboxes of her friends.
Even Rui Dai, a sophomore at Duke University, was ridiculed when she wrote a Chronicle opinion article on the “Engineered Happiness” of Pratt students.
Technological advances like the Internet are usually viewed as …