Phoenix McLaughlin

Bio

International Political Economy student in Colorado, with a background in environmental policy.
Editor's note: This story is part of PolicyMic's Millennials Take On Climate Change series this week. Do you like money? Do you like a steady climate? Then I’ve got the plan for you. It’s called divestment, and all the cool kids are doing it. Taking…
As a non-Romney fan, it’s been good to have a few laughs at the candidate’s slip-ups in the past week on his foreign policy tour. It’s been fun watching the retorts fly from the mayors of London and Salt Lake City. But his comments yesterday in…
In the past four days we have all seen countless articles related to Thursday night’s tragic events, many of which have been on gun control. This article is my attempt to consolidate and respond to many of the gun control arguments that I have…
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule was in the news once again when NASA announced that it passed a design review for a manned launch. NASA is expecting Dragon — and at least one other of the three capsules it selected for its commercial crew development…
“Some men look at constitutions with sanctimonious reverence, and deem them, like the ark of the covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose what they did to be beyond…
As of July 1, foie gras has been banned in California. On May 30, Mayor Bloomberg announced plans to ban soda servings greater than 16 ounces in New York City. In January, Kim DotCom’s website, Megaupload, was taken down. These are but a small…
The vote on whether or not to hold Eric Holder in contempt is likely going on as this is being published. The Fast and Furious scandal has been going on for some time now, and has gotten more attention on PolicyMic the past couple of days. Here’s…
Nine years ago today, the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Lawrence v. Texas, overturning sodomy laws across the U.S., and reversing the court’s 1986 decision in Bowers v. Hardwick. The Lawrence case began when two men were arrested in…
Taxes are an inconvenience, but are a small price to pay for the freedoms they allow citizens to obtain.  It is a given that individuals have the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (and many would argue, and I would agree, that…
This weekend, China became the third country in history to have a space base in orbit. Some say this means almost nothing for the U.S., while others insist it's time we start training our Space Marines for Operation Enduring Lunar Freedom. In…