Opinion

Looking into the crystal ball of the American economic future is a frightening prospect for a college student with less than a year until graduation.

Exactly what kind of economy are we as young Americans inheriting and where will we stand in the world marketplace in a few years?

More importantly, will we – as the country’s future entrepreneurs, innovators and workers – be allowed our chance at the American Dream? Will the United States still be the shining beacon of free enterprise and industry by the time the government is through?

The outlook doesn’t look pretty.

Every year I scoop up a glassy-eyed freshman and tell them the real rules of Cal Poly. I glanced at the survival guide this year and it’s the same thing they tell freshman every year; the same old recycled garbage that goes in one ear and out the other for 99 percent of new students.

These are the things I know about vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, in the order I learned them:

1) She is John McCain’s running mate though no one had heard of her two months ago

2) She is the governor of Alaska

3) She was a beauty queen and was recently on the cover of Vogue

4) Her husband works in the oil industry

5) Her 17-year-old daughter is having a baby

6) She is socially conservative (more so than McCain)

Politicians are now given a paparazzi-high level of celebrity status; this relatively unknown woman was thrown into the spotlight and can no longer have the luxury of a private life.

What’s in a beginning? Every year thousands of students walk into their first year of college at Cal Poly, wide-eyed and excited for the next chapter in their lives to begin. As ASI President, I am honored to welcome each of you, new and returning, to a new year.

When the Chinese government silenced the voice of dissent during the Olympics, the media and many Americans expressed outrage at their tactics.

Now, when producers of the news show Democracy Now, filming a peace march at the Republican National Convention, are manhandled and bloodied by law enforcement coordinated by the FBI, where is the media and where is the public outrage?

When a private home where protesters are meeting is surrounded by armed law enforcement and raided, where is the outrage? When a busload of protesters is stopped on the way into town, the bus confiscated, and the protesters left at the side of the road, where is the outrage?

And when Amy Goodman, reporting for Democracy Now, leaves the convention floor to ask law enforcement to release her producers, and she is strong-armed, cuffed and arrested, where is the outrage?

Is the new law of the land “don’t ask” for different policies, and “don’t tell” anyone you disagree or you may risk being arrested?

The arrest of Amy Goodman, the voice of Democracy Now, for pleading her case to authority puts our democracy in danger.

There is plenty of disagreement about how to fix the state budget this year – new taxes, less spending, or more borrowing – but we all agree that a healthy economy is the ultimate answer for future budgets. I urge lawmakers to build on that consensus to bridge partisan differences this year and help prevent future budget shortfalls, and the business community will do its part by investing in new ideas, hiring new workers and paying more taxes.

The year isn’t 1984, but Big Brother is indeed watching.

Smiling sweetly, he hands out stimulus checks aimed at getting consumers to spend more, saying it is their American duty to kick-start the economy by continually buying more junk from China.

On the other hand, he slyly tries to pass euphemistically-named legislation like the FDA Globalization Act of 2008 – a bill he claims aims to ensure “the safety of the Nation’s food, drug, medical device and cosmetic supply in an increasingly globalized marketplace.

The surest way to make a young adult do something is to tell them not to. It stands to reason that college students who have escaped Mom and Dad’s watchful eyes are ready and willing to do everything they couldn’t at home.

But what if drinking alcohol wasn’t forbidden to the pre-college crowd?

The Amethyst Initiative is a petition signed by more than 100 university presidents and chancellors nationwide that supports lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18.

Quick show of hands: how many of you have an iPod?

If you do and you’re a student at Cal Poly, then chances are, you got yours in the last four years and that little clickable interface is like second nature to you. The latest hit single has been at your fingertips for most of your adult or even teenage years and with 1,000 songs readily at your disposal, the walk between classes need never be boring again.

In a time when the “war on drugs” can be considered a huge waste of time and resources and smoking pot is considered mainstream, how does the owner of a community-welcomed medicinal marijuana dispensary get arrested and convicted of multiple felonies? As the Mustang Daily reports on the front page today, Central Coast resident Charles Lynch was found guilty last week on all federal counts for selling medical marijuana from his dispensary in Morro Bay.

As I was perusing my e-mail box the other day, another message looking like what I call “scare-mail” popped into sight from grandma. Granny is quite fond of sending me tales that have been forwarded on, warning me about walking to my car alone after leaving the mall, informing me of salmonella-laced jalapeños, telling me to call this number so the telemarketers will leave me alone, or letting me know when the next great quake is probably going to rattle California loose from its topsoil.