Nina Blankenship

Should voting be mandatory in the United States?

There's a philosophical problem the pro side waves away. The secret ballot exists so nobody can coerce your vote: not your boss, not your spouse, not the state. Mandatory voting is the state coercing your participation. You can say 'but you can cast a blank ballot,' and that's true, but the state is still standing over your shoulder saying be in this booth. A right you get punished for not exercising is really a duty, and we should be honest that this proposal converts voting from one to the other.

Should the federal government break up Big Tech companies?

I lived through the AT&T breakup in 1984, and the fear campaign was identical: prices will rise, service will collapse, innovation will die. What actually happened was long-distance rates fell by roughly 40 percent over the next decade and a wave of competition produced the modern telecom market. Today Google controls about 90 percent of search and paid $26.3 billion in 2021 alone to stay the default on iPhones, a fact that came out in the [Justice Department's trial](https://www.justice.gov/antitrust). When one company can buy the front door to the internet, that is not competition. The [2020 House Judiciary report](https://judiciary.house.gov) found all four giants enjoy monopoly power after a 16-month investigation. Breakups are the American remedy for exactly this situation, and they have worked before.

Should record-setting athletes receive standardized bonuses across men’s and women’s teams?

Every unequal bonus schedule is a future lawsuit with legal bills attached. Federations have spent years and millions litigating equal-pay claims that standardized bonuses would have prevented: one schedule, one formula, no discovery phase. The [U.S. Soccer deal](https://www.ussoccer.com/) through 2028 proved identical economic terms are workable, including pooled World Cup prize money. Standardization also ends the annual negotiation circus where each record triggers a fresh argument about what it was worth. Administrators know exactly what a record costs before it happens, sponsors know the story, and athletes know the deal. Paying lawyers to argue about fairness year after year is the most expensive bonus policy of all.

It worked for a 14-person marketing firm, and I believe them. But the generalizability question is real. The trials keep showing office and knowledge work, and I have yet to see a convincing version for shift work.

Business · Sep 23, 2026 · Should the standard full-time workweek be cut to four days with no pay cut?

The coach salary comparison ends the debate for me. When the head coach makes 10 million and the players who fill the stadium get a stipend, 'amateurism' is just a word lawyers use to avoid paying labor.

Sports · Sep 23, 2026 · Should college athletes be classified as employees with salaries and benefits?

The chip supply chain point is the strongest technical argument for this whole idea. You cannot hide a gigawatt data center. Compute verification gives inspectors something real to count, unlike model weights.

Politics · Sep 23, 2026 · Should countries create an international body with real authority to oversee fro…