Robert Wells
Bio
Robert Wells is a freelance writer from North Carolina. His specialties include history, film and video games.
Stories (9/0)
- Top Story - October 2018
What's Wrong with Voter ID LawsTop Story - October 2018
Voter ID laws sound reasonable on the surface. We should want to protect our democracy, which means guaranteeing one vote per citizen. Since most people already have a state-issued driver’s license, what’s the big deal about asking everyone to show some identification before they vote?
By Robert Wells6 years ago in The Swamp
Overcoming Phone Anxiety Through Civic Engagement
Most of my friends know that I suffer from debilitating phone anxiety. Having to call someone I don't personally know makes all of my muscles tense up, and asking for something over the phone is often physically painful. In an effort to overcome my phobia and ameliorate the despair I've been feeling from watching the news for the past few months, I started using 5Calls.org.
By Robert Wells6 years ago in The Swamp
Why Recycling Isn't Enough
Given the rise of recycling over the past few decades, it's obvious that consumers today care about protecting the environment. In fact, according to a poll conducted by OgilvyEarth, 80 percent of shoppers in the U.S. claim that they want to make more environmentally sustainable purchasing decisions. Unfortunately, only 20 percent of those consumers actually follow their conscious; other shoppers still buy inexpensive, disposable products that contribute to pollution. However, reliance on cheap goods comes with high costs for consumers and the planet. While recycling helps cut down on landfill waste, people must start buying goods that are built to last.
By Robert Wells6 years ago in Lifehack
President Trump Is the Logical Conclusion of the Republican Party
Today’s Republican party is unrecognizable from 1865. In that year, Republican President Abraham Lincoln and future Republican President Ulysses Grant oversaw the defeat of the southern Confederacy, thus freeing African Americans from slavery. For decades, the Republicans were the progressive party while Democrats, such as Klu Klux Klan sympathizer President Woodrow Wilson, advocated for Jim Crow racial segregation laws. Today, the Grand Old Party is the purported purveyor of conservative values, and Democrats are the supposed liberals. What happened?
By Robert Wells6 years ago in The Swamp
Legacy of the Confederacy Part IV
Just southwest of the White House, a massive statue of Abraham Lincoln upon a throne sits in a building designed to resemble an ancient Greek temple. Like a god, Lincoln looms over those who stand before him indifferently. The message is clear: We are all equal, and beneath him.
By Robert Wells7 years ago in The Swamp
The Legacy of the Confederacy Part III
In 1915, the film Birth of Nation wowed audiences with its groundbreaking cinematic techniques. Critics today regard the movie as the first blockbuster, and even President Woodrow Wilson hosted a screening at the White House. The film’s three-hour run time depicts a fantasy version of the Civil War and Reconstruction that persists in the imaginations of many white people to this day.
By Robert Wells7 years ago in The Swamp
The Legacy of the Confederacy Part II
On May 19, 2017, a statue of Robert E. Lee, the military leader of the Confederate States of America, was removed from a public square in New Orleans a mere 152 years after the defeat of the Confederacy. The city workers tasked with removal wore bulletproof vests and masks to conceal their identities. Meanwhile, a congressional representative in Mississippi publicly threatened via Tweet that anyone who tried to remove Confederate memorials in his state should be “lynched.”
By Robert Wells7 years ago in The Swamp