.... permitted entry. Clearly a discrepancy exists between an 18 year old adult and a 21 year old adult; however, since they are viewed by law as equals shouldn't they have the same privileges? Obviously certain laws that regulate activities by age are necessary. Voting, alcohol, and driving should not be available to people of any age because of the amount of responsibility these activities require. However the segregation between younger and older adults is unwarranted. Up until 1984 the legal drinking age was 18, however Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) spurred a campaign to raise the age limit to 21. They succeeded with the passage of the National Minimum .....

.... block. Speaking as a member it is our duty to vote for change in Social Security to ensure we will have something to look forward to when we retire. We can not wait any longer to defeat this crisis. For those who don't know the Social Security crisis is the threat that Social Security may go bankrupt. Well its more than just a threat its the reality. The common belief is that Social Security is a saving fund where the government takes a certain percentage out of our weekly pay. Then that money is put into a savings fund where it is held until you retire. When they retire money is returned to them in monthly checks plus the interest. This is where t .....

.... interests and rights may be sacrificed. I believe that political decisions should be made democratically instead of using authoritarian processes because democracy provides equality, freedom and one of the most persistent defenses of democracy is that government policies are made in the interest of the people. Authoritarian government is a political system in which the power is in the hands of a ruling elite. The rule of a few will produce a government that passes laws for the benefit of the few. Therefore, an advantage for democracy is that the supreme power is vested in the people and will satisfy the interest of the people. The rule of the many .....

.... as the largest branch in government. Some people might even say it is the most important. This is due to the roles Congress pays in our government. Congress is responsible for the lawmaking in our country as well as implementing national policy. The power to make laws was given to Congress by our forefathers when they constructed our constitution. Passing laws is very important to our country because without them we would be living in chaos. Of course, all our laws are not perfect but for the most part our Congress does a good job at keeping this country under control. The problems with lawmaking that most people see is the time involved in getting a law .....

.... careerists in both parties who seemed to have more loyalty to the system than to their constituents. As Thomas Jefferson put it, "Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct." (Oxford dictionary of quotations, p.272) Over time, career legislators are more likely to promote the interest of the establishment of which they are part than that of the larger public. This fact is not surprising. If most of a persons time is spent meeting with lobbyists, constituents, and bureaucrats, that person may actually come to believe what these influential people are saying. This is why new blood needs to enter Congress more frequently .....

.... cycle of violence and “...degrades all who are involved in its enforcement, as well as its victim.”(Stewart 1) Perhaps the most frequent argument for capital punishment is that of deterrence. The prevailing thought is that imposition of the death penalty will act to dissuade other criminals from committing violent acts. Numerous studies have been created attempting to prove this belief; however, “[a]ll the evidence taken together makes it hard to be confident that capital punishment deters more than long prison terms do.”(Cavanagh 4) Going ever farther, Bryan Stevenson, the executive director of the Montgomery based Equal Justice Initiative, has stated that “ .....

.... In the United States, smoking accounts annually for estimated fetal deaths ranging from 19,000 to 141,000, for 1,900 to 4,800 deaths during or immediately after parturition, and for 1,200 to 2,200 death from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (7). Maternal smoking has been implicated in long term deficits in infant mental development and adverse behavioral problems in children such as attention disorder. Nicotine crosses the human placenta and has direct effects on the developing fetus. Pre-clinical studies suggest that maternal smoking during pregnancy produces changes on the offspring's neural functioning, including reductions in uptake of serotonin, alteratio .....

.... in the car outside. The nightmare begins. His slimy hands casually slide an ebony cartridge into the VCR as he smiles at you seductively. You can feel his eyes worming their gaze through your clothes every time that he looks at you. You feel dirty and violated every time you think about what he does to you when you are alone. He walks over to the couch and sits down next to you. His hand slithers it way onto your knee and you cringe in revulsion. “Don’t be afraid, I won’t hurt you,?he chides. Your mind feels panicky as you feel his touch in more intimate places and you scream involuntarily. His grip tightens as he places his hand over your mouth. .....