The Worst Voter Turnout in 72 Years

Noah Colby-George, 3, http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/12/opinion/the-worst-voter-turnout-in-72-years.html?ref=opinion&_r=0

The editorial’s central claim is that not enough people showed up for the midterm elections that took place earlier this month

In 43 states, less than half the population eligible to vote did any such thing. In California, Texas, and New York, the three largest states, less than a third of the eligible voting population voted. The national voting turnout was 36.3%. Only the 1942 federal midterm election had a lower turnout at 33.9%.

I think this is much too low of a voter turnout. Yes, there are some people who are too lazy to vote no matter what the situation is, but I think this is largely the fault of the campaigning process and the recent success or lack thereof shown by Congress. The people have to be inspired to vote, and voting for people who attack the opposition relentlessly or who are tied to corporations/people who paid for his or her campaign is not exactly galvanizing. Legislative members are more concerned with making sure nothing good happens to members of their opposing party than working together to solve our nations issues. Who wants to vote for that? This is not to say that abstaining from voting is a solution to these problems, but steps could be taken by those running for government positions to make showing up to the polls more appealing to people who are on the fence about whether to vote or not.

Ian Murrin, Editorial Presentation

Ian Murrin
Lewis, 5W
Editorials keeping kids from killing. (1997, Jan 31). The Atlanta Constitution Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/413625973?accountid=17222

Editorial's Claim:
      The editorial claims that the most important problem to focus on regarding the case of homicidal adolescents is to focus on and help the adolescents and do what we can to make sure they have the help and necessities/economic owning to keep them from going down or continuing down a path of hurt and possible imprisonment. 


Significant Piece of Evidence:
      The most outstanding and significant piece of evidence that the Editorial's author used in the writing of the argument was that regarding the availability for the adolescents to get firearms. 

                    "By one estimate there are at least 200 million guns in circulation in America, almost enough to arm every man, woman and child. Without strict laws insisting that gun owners keep their firearms locked away, it's no wonder that children continue to get guns." (Keeping Kids from Killing)

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       It shows the abundance of firearms in the US, and addresses why it may be easy to get one in the house, as there were no strict laws as how to lock them up.

      My Opinion of the Claim:

             My opinion is that I agree that the problem to be addressed is the kids who are in danger of killing or have killed. Be it due to psychological reasons, or material reasons, possibly even laws against weapons or dangerous material, I think that help should be made available for the kids so that all options are open to avoid criminal actions, and that all measures are taken to make it dangerous situations less frequent.

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Birth control access, use key in abortion decline

Sabrina Caramando, 2W
Birth control access, use key in abortion decline. (2014, Feb 05). Kennebec Journal Retrieved from 

Editorial's central claim:  Abortion is not declining because of restrictions, but by birth control.  We should focus on what unites us by bettering the lives of women with easy access to birth control.

Evidence:  Maine is a center of pro-reproductive rights, and has seen a 12% drop in the abortion rate from 2008 to 2011.  In relation, use of effective birth control (IUDs and hormone implants) has also increased in the same timespan.  Also, the fairly new The Affordable Care Act has mandated that contraceptives be covered by all healthcare plans.  Finally, 89% of all U.S. adults believe contraception in morally acceptable to prevent unintended pregnancies.

My opinion:  I believe that the reason why abortion rate have gone down is because of more accessible contraceptives.  Before the Affordable Care Act, abortion rates were much higher than they are now, and was also a time when birth control was not readily available to everyone.  Abortion restriction attempts are not the reason why this safe and legal procedure is not as common today.  Men and women are being educated about and given recourses to birth control that has decreased the rate of unwanted pregnancies, and therefore, the rate of abortion.

First post

Hi all!