As a history major, I’ve learned that when studying any given event or period, one should look for all possible factors or motives behind that given event: social, international, economic. Why did the French allow Napoleon to become emperor just 11 years after they started a revolution based on the ideas of liberty, equality and fraternity? The price of bread. Why did slavery persist for so long in this county when even the backward-considered Russian Empire had outlawed serfdom? Cotton. Economic factors seem to be at the heart of issues like this, with American issues in particular. I found this out recently when I received my jury summons.

I’d received questionnaires in the mail before and had always filled out: full-time student, work part-time for hourly wages. However, this time I received a summons requesting that I actually show up. Now, I consider myself an idealist where the government, and America in general, is concerned. I believe the system can and does work for the “little man” and that anyone can succeed if one applies oneself. However, I’m not na