Topic:
The idea of political correctness has gone too far in our society today. There is the growing idea that we must silence our opinions and views lest we offend others. Freedom of expression and speech is slowly being stifled as the federal government and media tries to control speech for fear of offending others. I believe that it is extremely urgent for us as Americans to fight for our right for freedom of speech and expression before it is too late.

Why is it urgent for America now:
Recently in the news, NPR analyst Juan Williams was fired for expressing his opinions and views regarding Muslims and terrorism. Although he had clearly stated that it was important to distinguish moderate Muslims from extremists, he was fired for making comments about Muslims on a plane. His comments were not only honest but also were expressing the thoughts of what many of us are thinking but are too afraid to say because of this growing idea of political correctness. To put it bluntly, political correctness is censored speech. The entire idea of political correctness, the idea that we must watch what we say lest we offend someone, directly goes against our right to freedom of speech and freedom of expression. If this concept of political correctness is allowed to thrive in this country, it will be the end of our freedom of speech and expression as we know it. Should the federal government try to control speech for fear of offending others? Should the media minimize opinions and censor different views lest they are offensive? We should not have to live with the fear of expressing our views on social issues. It is urgent that this idea of political correctness be immediately quelled and stopped.

Topic:
Extremism is never the answer. We are privileged enough to live in a country that stands for freedom of speech. Extremism has taken freedom of speech and made a mockery of it. Too often do I hear someone speaking poorly of this great country, IN THE NAME OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH! I'm afraid that so many people of recent generations are being brought up with an increasing lack of the proud American, hard-working, responsible mentality that this country was founded on.

Why is it urgent for America now:
As we move into the future we should be growing stronger as a country. This anarchistic and selfish mentality only divides us. A country divided is weak and vulnerable.

Topic:
My potential topic is about the need for resource efficient solar technology. Development of solar technology over the last 50 years has lead to high efficiency solar cells that power satellites & commercial solar cells used to power calculators, lights, ect. This technology has already integrated into your life but there are many issues to address before it can be utilized to sustain us as coal and oil do. The current problems with resource efficient solar tech. are scarcity & toxicity of materials, resource efficient material synthesis and efficient device manufacturing. I believe this is a great topic for national interest to fuel our knowledge & development of renewable energy.

Why is it urgent for America now:
There are many urgent problems facing this nation and the world as a whole. One that has an impact on your daily life is how our society utilizes its natural resources and energy. The limited supply and detrimental environmental effect of fossil fuels has helped “fuel” development of renewable energy technology. Solar cell technology has the most potential of all of the renewable energy resources to able to compete in the criteria of cost efficiency and supply with fossil fuels. Development of cost efficient solar cell technology is an urgent issue because it takes time to implement technology into an existing society’s infrastructure. First you have to develop the technology experimentally, and then lots of work must be done to make the technology able support the energy infrastructure. Then there is a transition stage when the technology is integrated into the infrastructure, needing to be able to support society’s needs. All this takes time. This isn’t a tangent thought experiment; we can see from the industrial revolution how the development and integration of technology that derives its energy source from fossil fuels took place. The reason why development of cost efficient solar cell technology is an urgent topic is because issues of that arise in our society/environment due to fossil fuel dependence cannot be easily dealt with overnight.

Topic:
The first use of the term “affirmative action” came from Executive order 10925 stating that: "take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin." The idea of affirmative action to help those who are lower socioeconomically is a good one, however, its implementation is not without flaws. Why give advantages to minorities indiscriminately? If the issue is to help minorities or those who are lower socioeconomically better themselves, why not simply give the socioeconomically disadvantaged the advantage, rather than looking solely on ethnicity?

Why is it urgent for America now:
When you apply for a job, you are not asked for your eye color, hair color or height (unless you’re applying for a job in the fashion industry) - the reason for this is because these traits are irrelevant in determining whether or not you are capable of the job. Like hair color, skin color in a truly colorblind society needs no attention because there is no correlation between skin color and intelligence, therefore there is no need for skin color to be a factor in admissions to college or in getting a job. Affirmative action brings unnecessary attention to such an issue. Additionally, affirmative action only leads to what is called “reverse discrimination.” If a poor white applicant does an outstanding job in school and both him and another more affluent minority apply to a highly selective school, it is possible that despite the hardships faced by the white applicant, the minority will still get the spot simply because they are a minority. Martin Luther King did not envision a world where “one day my children will be judged not by the color of their skin, but the content of their character” only to see decades later that the children are being judged in fact, on that very trait. Employers and schools alike need to look beyond our skin and make decisions based on our merit and socioeconomic status, not ethnicity.

Topic:
The growing prejudice against Musliums and Middle Eastern Americans is growing at a rapid rate across our country, as evidenced by the every day slurs, sterotyping, and uneducated remarks about the culture and religion of those of the muslium faith. How do we as Americans work to change the growing prejudice,become more educated,and embrace our fellow Americans.

Why is it urgent for America now:
In this country we have seen the, only negative, effects of hatred and racisim in our land throughout history. We need to act now to stop this from growing into a unstopable monster of a problem. Hatred breeds hatred and we need to come together in this time and embrace each other as American citizen, as we all came from immigrants at one time or another. We must stand united as one people, Americans.