Billionares and Student Loans are two public controversy topics that’ll be great to cover.

Should billionares exist and should they be taxed more? This is a relatively new topic in our political climate. Democratic Presidential candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren push for the idea that billionares should be taxed more because it’s a “moral and economic outrage”. This controversy will be one that’ll be heavily touched upon in the upcoming Presidential Election in 2020 and it’ll be an interesting one. Examining and looking more into this controversy will be interesting due to the many viewpoints society has on this topic. Another interesting topic is student loan debt in the US. Many college students, present and past, relied on student loans to pay for their education. The student loan debt amount in the United States is currently around $1.5 trillion. With the amount of college costs increasing, this amount is expected to rise significantly in the near future. Many people found the problem to be more than just the increase of college costs but in the entire system as a whole with room for improvement in their repayment plans. I think this topic would be really interesting to cover due to all of us currently being college students and some of us having to repay loan debt within the next 5-10 years.

Although they might not be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (yet) they’re still quite popular. The X-Men are a group of superheroes that were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1963. This group of superheroes differ from other popular groups in Marvel like the Fantastic Four and The Avengers due to their abilities being powered by the “X-Gene”. Because they are known as “mutants” they fight for equality in a world where anti-mutant bigotry is prevalent. They are guided by Professor Charles Xavier (Professor X), who is a powerful telepathic mutant who’s abilities are controlling and reading minds. The X-Men’s archenemies are another very powerful mutant named Magneto, who’s abilities are to manipulate and control metal and magnetic fields, and the Brotherhood of Mutants.

Although both the X-Men and the Brotherhood of Mutants are a group of mutants, they have differing views on the world when it comes to human-mutant relations. The X-Men works and strives for equality and peace between both mutants and humans while Brotherhood of Mutants believes in a more aggressive approach when it comes to human-mutant relations. Despite their differences, they both work together from time to time.

Stan Lee was a firm believer of having comic books reflecting the world we live in. As I previously mentioned, the X-Men were created in 1963, which was right in the heart of the American Civil Rights movement. Lee used two of the most popular civil rights activists as inspiration. Professor X was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Magneto was inspired by Malcolm X. In other Marvel comics, you see heroes fighting criminals and such, while the X-Men fight against oppression and bigotry. Professor X (The X-Men) took a peaceful approach when it came to human-mutant relations while Magneto (Brotherhood of Mutants) took a more defensive stance against these problems. It could be inferred that Magneto is the villain in the X-Men comics however Stan Lee says, “I did not think of Magneto as a bad guy. He was just trying to strike back at the people who were so bigoted and racist. He was trying to defend mutants, and because society was not treating them fairly, he decided to teach society a lesson. He was a danger of course, but I never thought of him as a villain.”

Another interesting thing about the X-Men is that they’re very representative, which was uncommon in comics, especially in the 1960s. There’s Wolverine is Canadian, Storm is Kenyan, Colossus is Russian, Thunderbird is Native American, Kitty Pride is Jewish, Sunfire is Japanese, and Magneto was a Holocaust survivor. I personally have lots of respect for Stan Lee and Jack Kirby due to this. The X-Men can be as somewhat as revolutionary. The creators based this group of heroes on the Civil Rights Movement which speaks volumes because although many comics were sometimes political, Marvel went the extra mile. Representation, and inclusion is a staple in society and the fact that Marvel shed some light on these topics really is something amazing.

 

For my TED Talk, I will start off by explaining that bipartisanship is an essential part of democracy. It’s been a staple of our great nation since the beginning of the first political parties. For the past few decades, bipartisanship has significantly decreased, and the division between both the Democrats and Republicans has been widening since. Before the shift, both Democrat and Republican politicians, although fighting for their own goals, still supported and was open to finding middle ground with the opposing party. After the shift, both parties struggle to find common ground due to disdain toward one another and the radicalization of both parties.

My main points will include when this occurred, what other factors accelerated the shift, and how it affects us today.

One defining moment for my paradigm shift was the 1994 midterm elections. The 1994 midterm elections was the election following the 1992 Presidential Election in which led to the victory of President Bill Clinton. In 1994, Newt Gingrich and other Republican leaders came up with their plan to gain majority in Congress, which was called “A Contract with America”. Along with this plan, the Republicans also introduced scorched earth politics to us, which was a series of personal attacks and a “win at all costs” mentality. They were proven successful when they gained majority and now had control of both chambers of Congress. Newt Gingrich then became Speaker of the House and attempted to make the rest of Bill Clinton’s Presidency hell for him and the Democrats. I also want to explain how the media effected the 1994 midterms and added to the split. In the early 1990s, talk radio became insanely popular and one of the most popular radio hosts at the time was named Rush Limbaugh. Rush Limbaugh was a conservative and was not afraid to show it and was a pushing force for the victory of the Republicans in the 1994 midterm elections. The effects of scorched politics and the “win at all costs” mentality forever changed US politics by bringing an increase to partisanship in the US. This can be seen today through the obvious resentment between our current President, Donald Trump, and top Democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi.

After finally deciding on a topic for my paradigm shift assignments, I found a great amount of my paradigm shift topic very interesting. Of course when it comes to paradigm shifts, it’s important to acknowledge and understand its source and/or cause.

In politics, change obviously plays a huge part in its importance. Throughout the history of our country, more specifically in the last 30 years, we see a dramatic change in the dynamic in both the House of Representatives and even the Senate. I find it interesting and important to shed light on how drastic partisanship has decreased in Congress, which you can see visually in a infographic released by Business Insider in 2015.

Another big part of the paradigm shift that I find interesting is the Why? When it comes to my topic, you start to notice that many factors played in the decrease in partisanship. It’s safe to assume to say that the Republican Revolution of 1994 that was led by former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, was a huge turning point in American politics. The Republican Revolution of 1994 was at the time for midterm elections following President Bill Clinton’s victory in the 1992 Presidential Election over President George H.W. Bush. Newt Gingrich and several of his Republican colleagues made a “Contract with America” which highlighted every goal that they wanted to accomplish if they won majority in Congress. During this election, this is one of the first times in American politics that we saw scorched earth politics with personal attacks and the “win no matter what” mentality. Since then, this mentality has been a staple of elections.

I also would like to point out current day politics. The United States under the Trump Administration has been extremely divisive to say the least. It’s important to understand and shed light on the shift’s effects are present day.