Welcome

Dear friends of VTIPG and CCC,

We share five articles each week that we find timely and meaningful that address significant concerns related to the state of our democracy and civil society. We aim to offer pieces that illuminate a wide array of dimensions of our country's policy and governance challenges and the state of social norms that sustain the possibility of addressing them successfully. Please note, the views expressed in these essays do not necessarily reflect the perspectives of VTIPG or Virginia Tech. We also upload these articles and stories to our website. You may find the archive at News and Opportunities at http://ipg.vt.edu.

If you would like to suggest an article for consideration, please contact the series editor at the address below. Five Pieces will return in January 2024.

First up is a Reuters article that describes a number of key elections occurring across the globe in 2024 and what their results could mean for the health and fate of liberal democracies.
Our second story, an opinion piece from Cardinal News, cautions against getting too excited about the tentative agreement to move the Washington Wizards and Capitals to Virginia, given that previous efforts to bring professional teams to the state have failed.
A third piece, from Vox, contends that Americans may have to pay more attention to the federal deficit in coming years if high spending levels continue.
Our fourth article, from CNN, discusses the cruelty evidenced by the Texas Supreme Court in its decision to prevent Kate Cox from receiving an abortion despite the risk to her life. The piece also describes how that court's ruling may affect future legal decisions concerning the issue.
Last, we share a story from POLITICO that highlights the fact that many European countries have been forced to discard millions of COVID-19 vaccines that cost billions of Euros to procure and why this situation occurred.

Brief synopses of these articles appear below. We hope the perspectives offered in these pieces encourage reflection and conversation!

Best wishes,

Billy Parvatam

VTIPG Communications Coordinator

pbilly97@vt.edu.

Photo: Donald Trump. Credit to The White House.

Where is democracy headed in 2024? Trump may have the final word

This article, by Mark Bendeich, which appeared in Reuters, argues that the future of the governance of more than a quarter of the world's population will be at stake in 2024, with national elections slated to occur in the United States, Taiwan, Russia, and India. Bendeich asserts that the American elections are particularly important, as former President and GOP nomination front runner Donald Trump never conceded defeat in the 2020 election and has vowed retribution against perceived opponents should he again be elected to the presidency.

Bendeich, M. (2023, December 18). "Where is democracy headed in 2024? Trump may have the final word." Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/where-is-democracy-headed-2024-trump-may-have-final-word-2023-12-18/

Photo: The Washington Wizards play the Memphis Grizzlies at Capital One Arena in Washington on October 28. Credit to Cardinal News.

Excited about Youngkin's deal to bring 2 major league teams to Virginia? We've been here before

This Cardinal News piece discusses the NBA's Washington Wizards and the NHL's Washington Capitals tentatively agreeing to move their home games to Alexandria, Virginia. Author Dwayne Yancey stresses that while Governor Glenn Youngkin may pull off a move that eluded his predecessors, nothing should be taken for granted, and he walks through previously unsuccessful attempts to bring professional teams to Virginia.

Yancey, D. (2023, December 15). "Excited about Youngkin’s deal to bring 2 Major League teams to Virginia? We’ve been here before." Cardinal News. https://cardinalnews.org/2023/12/15/excited-about-youngkins-deal-to-bring-2-major-league-teams-to-virginia-weve-been-here-before/

Photo: The government might be in a smidge of a pickle with deficits and debt. Credit to Vox.

So it's come to this: We might have to worry about the deficit

Emily Stewart discusses the makeup of the federal deficit in this Vox piece. Although the 2023 deficit wasn't necessarily exceptionally high compared to previous years since the Great Recession, it continues to top $1 trillion due to the pandemic and related spending under Presidents Donald Trump and Joe Biden. Additionally, the government saw a decrease in tax revenue, and there are higher interest rates on US Treasury bonds, making the country's debt more expensive. Government spending is on track to continue to grow as baby boomers age, increasing costs of Social Security and Medicare. Stewart contends that the political will to solve this issue is near zero due to neither party having a true solution to fix the problem.

Stewart, E. (2023, December 18). "So it’s come to this: We might have to worry about the deficit." Vox. https://www.vox.com/money/2023/12/18/24001984/us-budget-deficit-2023-debt-tax-revenue-interest-rates

Photo: Kate Cox. Credit to NBC News.

The Kate Cox case shows the cruelty of Texas' abortion law

Jocelyn Viterna argues in this CNN piece that the Texas Supreme Court's decision to deny Kate Cox an abortion in that state was particularly cruel, given the health complications and lost fertility her pregnancy had wrought for her. Viterna contends that the difficulties El Salvadoran women have had to address as a result of that country's draconian abortion laws serve as a preview for the evolving situation in Texas. She asserts that this court decision demonstrates that the state has now de facto legalized the torture of women.

Viterna, J. (2023, December 18). "The Kate Cox case shows the cruelty of Texas’ abortion law." CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/18/opinions/kate-cox-texas-abortion-law-el-salvador-viterna/index.html

Photo: EU countries purchased 1.5 billion COVID-19 vaccines — but millions of those went unused. Credit to POLITCO.

EU countries destroy €4B worth of COVID vaccines

This POLITICO article by Carlo Martuscelli and Hanne Cokelaere reports that EU countries have now discarded approximately 215 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines those nations had earlier purchased, costing taxpayers approximately 4 billion Euros. Many of these doses were obtained during the height of the pandemic in 2021 when the EU, U.S., and U.K. were rushing to secure a supply to combat the pandemic. Martuscelli and Cokelaere attribute this outcome principally to countries being contractually obligated to continue to buy doses even as the crisis subsided. In addition, their efforts to donate excess stock to third world countries were often foiled by falling demand and logistical challenges.

Martuscelli, C., & Cokelaere, H. (2023, December 18). "EU countries destroy €4B worth of Covid Vaccines." POLITICO. https://www.politico.eu/article/europe-bonfire-covid-vaccines-coronavirus-waste-europe-analysis/

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