Rules

Last year, I took Constitutional Law, and we discussed the court case Regents of the University of California v. Bakke. Bakke, a white male, was rejected twice from med school at the University of California, even though minority applicants who were less qualified than him were admitted. The Supreme Court precedent was that racial quotas are inadmissible, but affirmative action is A-OK. When we first studied the case, I sympathized with Bakke. It always sucks to see others get something that you think you're more qualified for, and he definitely was more qualified in terms of test scores. But ultimately, I decided I agreed with the Supreme Court precedent. The way society is set up keeps the poor poor and makes the rich richer, and in order to create a society where people are truly equal, we have to try to narrow that gap.

In Con Law, I got a lot of criticism for my views on socialism and communism. I said that even though they don't work in practice, as ideas, they're pretty great. When I took Con Law, the presidential election was going on, and many people in the class said that they were worried that Obama would be too socialist. I disagreed. I didn't think any of his plans were too radical (I still hold that opinion) and that perhaps they would help. Remember, FDR's New Deal helped many people through the Depression, and while his programs were not exactly socialist, they were a great example of big government helping the people.

The recession has hit many people hard. But even though my parents aren't millionaires, we've still been living fairly comfortably. My parents even commissioned an addition to our house recently. Sure, they'd always dreamed of a sun room and a larger kitchen, but I was appalled that we were expanding (and taking out loans to do so - in this economy!) when so many others were cutting back. I wish my parents had taken into consideration all the people who find themselves homeless, all the people who are incapable of escaping poverty, and all that we could have been doing to help the dreams of others. Sure, I like the sun room. The kitchen is nice. But when I think about the unemployment rate and the numbers of homeless people, I wish we hadn't had the addition in the first place. People can condemn socialism all they want, but the rich are only going to get richer and the poor will only get poorer unless we redistribute some wealth. Humans are so obsessed with money, which I think is ridiculous. How can we be happy living comfortably in the suburbs when people are struggling to eat in the slums? We need to care more about others.