Skip to main content
Political Review

Emma Conde Waddoups

Staff Writer
Political Science

Minor in Music.
Can do anything with a sweet treat (or Diet Coke). Harry Potter enthusiast, Ravenclaw.

More from this author
data-content-type="article"
December 2025

You Never Forget Your First Love - It Shouldn't be AI

By Emma Conde Waddoups
December 02, 2025 04:18 PM
Trigger Warning: This article mentions suicide.
6 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
November 2025

Tired of Your Senator? Me Too, But Term Limits Would Make Things Worse.

By Emma Conde Waddoups
October 27, 2025 09:33 AM
One of the politicians I feel like least represents me happens to be my own senator. Mike Lee has been a senator for fifteen years- nearly my entire living memory! I’ve endured his comments comparing Trump to Captain Moroni, insensitive comments after Melissa Hortman’s assassination, and watched him try to sell off public lands before a huge bipartisan backlash. Term limits would prevent Mike Lee from running for Senator again. As tempting as this sounds, term limits won’t solve the problems of representation. Rather, they would equip outsiders with unintended power, impede government efficiency, and increase the executive branch’s power. Term limits are wildly popular among the American public on both sides of the aisle. A staggering 87% of Americans think that there should be Congressional term limits [1]. I argue, however, that imposing Congressional term limits would cause more problems than it would solve.
5 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
October 2025

Recommitting to Pluralism

By Emma Conde Waddoups
September 29, 2025 11:01 AM
In many American civics and history classes, Madison’s Federalist 10 is frequently taught. The thesis of the paper is that factions, which could be any kind of group, are inevitable in America. He argues that we can’t make these interest groups go away, so we need to find some way to control them. Madison’s primary fear is the tyrannical rule of the majority. One of his solutions to this fear is that a larger country with a “greater variety of parties and interests… make it less probable that a majority of the whole will have a common motive to invade the right of other citizens” [1]. In short, Madison was a fan of pluralism.
6 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
April 2025

Catan, Cobalt, and the DR Congo

By Emma Conde Waddoups
April 17, 2025 08:34 AM
During the COVID era, my family became obsessed with the board game, “Settlers of Catan.” The objective of the game is to get the most points by expanding influence through the building of villages, cities, and roads. Resources (and resource management) are the key, as gaining resources is necessary to build infrastructure, get points, and win the game. The more resources you have, the more successful you become. This principle should mirror real-life economies: countries rich in natural resources like oil, cobalt, and diamonds can use them to build infrastructure and trade for profit.
5 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
March 2025

40 Acres and a Mule: The Case for Reparations

By Emma Conde Waddoups
March 31, 2025 11:29 AM
“Two hundred fifty years of slavery. Ninety years of Jim Crow. Sixty years of separate but equal. Thirty-five years of racist housing policy. Until we reckon with our compounding moral debts, America will never be whole.” - Ta-Nehisi Coates [1]
4 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"
February 2025

No Accountability, No Problem: Israel’s Growing Regional Power

By Emma Conde Waddoups
February 25, 2025 01:59 PM
Israel has expanded its regional power substantially throughout the last year. Consequently, it has left millions of displaced people and questionable interactions with neighbors in its wake. Opportunity for this power expansion has come from the war against Hamas and widespread devastation in Gaza, the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, and a weakened Iran.
4 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Dollar General Is Not Adequate Food Access

By Emma Conde Waddoups
January 06, 2025 01:42 PM
I once heard someone claim that Americans, due to the obesity epidemic, didn’t deserve universal health care. This argument is clearly illogical, but it caused me to reflect on the role of obesity in America and how it affects our healthcare system. Obesity-related illness costs the government $173 billion a year. Does this cost reflect the American stereotype of being lazy and lacking self-control with food, or is it a product of a deeper problem?
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Our Proximity to Global Conflict as a Moral Good

By Emma Conde Waddoups
December 06, 2024 04:36 PM
Last December, I lay in my bed scrolling through Instagram reels. I wept as videos of bloodied children, mourning mothers, and fathers pulling people out from underneath rubble crossed my screen. My heart broke as I contemplated why I was home for Christmas with my family while another was orphaned and starving in Gaza.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=
data-content-type="article"

Ballerina Farms and Childless Cat Ladies

By Emma Conde Waddoups
December 06, 2024 11:27 AM
Last July, an article featuring Utah native Hannah Neeleman was released by the London Times [1]. Hannah has a large social media following where she documents her days of milking cows, caring for her eight children, cooking from scratch, and an occasional ballet video. The article critiqued Hannah’s traditional lifestyle as a homemaker and mother and painted her as oppressed by her husband. When I first read the article, I felt angry on Hannah’s behalf. She was a Julliard graduate, a successful CEO of her company (Ballerina Farms), and a grown adult. Surely, she was in control of her life and capable of making her own choices. The article, however, made her out to be subject to her husband’s goals and life aspirations.
3 Min Read
overrideBackgroundColorOrImage= overrideTextColor= promoTextAlignment= overrideCardHideSection= overrideCardHideByline= overrideCardHideDescription= overridebuttonBgColor= overrideButtonText= promoTextAlignment=