Debate | The Ripon Society

The VA assists Veterans in a Way the Private System Cannot

We need a system that allows veterans to have options for the best of what VA can offer, as well as the best of what the private sector can offer.
To Protect Service Members and Honor Veterans, Reform the VA

Privatization of the VHA would improve health care for veterans and nonveterans alike.
Should Ukraine Be Allowed to Join NATO? Yes, Ukraine is Fighting for its Freedom — and Ours

Ukraine’s argument is essentially that because Russia has never attacked a NATO country, peace for Europe requires Ukraine’s NATO accession. It’s a strong argument.
Should Ukraine Be Allowed to Join NATO? No, The Alliance is Supposed to Enhance – not Sacrifice – U.S. Security

The promise to go to war should be reserved for the most important interests – ones that are vital, even existential. Ukraine is not one.
Should America Continue to Accept Asylum Seekers? Yes.

America has always been a land of refuge and will continue to be so. That is the easy part of any debate about refugee and asylum issues.
Should America Continue to Accept Asylum Seekers? No.

Today, the U.S. has needlessly made the administration of providing refugee protection confusing by creating two separate paths and processes: An alien overseas applies for refugee protection, while an alien at our border or inside the U.S. applies for asylum.
Hospitalizing the Homeless: For those with serious mental illness, it is compassionate to get them off the streets

We must safeguard our civil liberties, but we also must not forget abut the right of an ill person who relies on society’s conscience and protection to survive a treatable illness.
Hospitalizing the Homeless: Without affordable housing and services, the mentally ill will end up back on the streets

Mayor Adams should promote solutions that center on people, focus on connecting short-term interventions to long-term housing solutions, and promote pathways to economic mobility.
Don’t Repeal the Law That Created the Internet

Without Section 230, as one leading appellate judge (a Republican appointee) put it, websites would “face death by ten thousand duck-bites.”
Section 230 is the counter-productive U.S. policy and law that makes Big-Tech unaccountable.

As the Internet evolves, so must the law and policy regarding it.
Back to the Future for Defense

Republicans ought to take a page from the Reagan playbook and insist that we can defeat inflation and control federal spending without weakening our military.
After Failing Five Straight Audits, the Pentagon Should Not Get a Funding Boost

You don’t need to be a budget hawk to recognize it is past time to end budget increases for the Department of Defense and impose some fiscal discipline on the agency.

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