Maxwell School News and Commentary

Tom Keck looks at the possibility and the effects of the Senate's 'Nuclear option', which would change the rules for Supreme Court nominees, while triggering heavy partisan fallout.

Tom Dennison, worried about low income elderly adults who lose their jobs, wrote "What is disturbing is the number of people who won't be able to buy insurance because the tax credits won't be enough," which is quoted in the Syracuse.com article "GOP Obamacare replacement plan hurts poor, helps middle class in Central New York." 

"In response to the climate crisis we face, our leaders must not continue to merely say 'no' to climate policies proposed by others, or to hope, as we have for decades, for an unforeseeable technological breakthrough that will render fossil fuels uneconomical," write eleven scientists and professors from SUNY ESF and Syracuse University.

Minch Lewis, adjunct professor of public administration and international affairs, talks about why Governor Cuomo's proposed gondola will be a boost for tourism, as it can add a feature to the tourism industry, provide a connection between the Fairgrounds and Amphitheater, create additional jobs and bring resources to the economy, and give the community another marketing tool supporting other institutions.

"Trump has an uncanny ability, in part through his 'brute force' use of language, to force difficult conversations and get us to break through on the sensitivities and political correctness barriers that had held the public back from dealing with some basic obligations of governance,'' says Corri Zoli, director of research at the Institute for National Security and Counterterrorism.

"By voting against the repeal bill last week, Katko can maintain a fig leaf of independence, while doing nothing to actually stop his Republican colleagues from enacting policies that will be disastrous for his constituents," writes Thomas M. Keck, the Michael O. Sawyer Chair of Constitutional Law & Politics.

"The survival of our democracy requires public confidence in the country's institutions—a confidence that has been shaken by this election. Cynicism promotes resignation and non-participation and a dangerous and thoughtless acceptance of facile, misleading and false promises," writes James Roger Sharp, professor emeritus of history.

Chris Faricy, assistant professor of political science, says the modern gender gap can be traced to the Democratic and Republican split over the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, and he expects the trend to continue.