US Policy paper/presentation - what should I write about?

I have to write a 5 page paper and make a 5 minute presentation on my choice of US domestic/foreign policy issue for a college US Govt. course.

Here's my problem: I have to come up with a topic and email my teacher about it ASAP - the deadline was the 11th, but I completely forgot about it until tonight. Shame on me.

Since I'm coming up with an issue on such short notice, I'd like to take some advice and suggestions from DUers. Keep in mind that my class is a mix of liberals and conservatives, so I want to provide both sides of whichever issue I choose, so as to not get pelted with rotten fruit by angry Republicans.

Here's what I've thought of so far:
- Multilateralism vs. Unilateralism in foreign policy
- Pros and Cons of the Patriot Act
- Free trade vs. Fair trade
- Moralism vs. Pragmatism
(is my political agenda blatantly obvious yet? :P)

At this point, I'm still just brainstorming, and may not end up going with any of the above topics. So, do you have any other topics you think would be more interesting? If you think I should choose one that I've already mentioned, what are some important points you think I should make in the report?

Changes to Environmental policy.

Tons of good ones.

I can't believe the pre-emption doctrine wasn't one of the first things that came to mind for me... that's a good one.

Thanks!

and I got an A...Bush Doctrine's real easy to rip apart.

How about the total cone of silence over the WH? You could compare & contrast how various administrations either hid from the public or let it all hang out.

You could talk about what the WTO does to developing countries and how we profit from breaking the backs of others.

I'd like to see you talk about the PATRIOT Act! And provide a full report, including exactly what kinds of rotten fruit your thug classmates throw at you.

Rock on!

:dem:
RV

Your topics are much too broad for a 5 pager.

How about getting a copy of the patriot act and find one small part of it to focus on? That way you'll have a much more focused argument with with fewer holes in it. The more specific your topic, the easier it will be to support your arguments with examples.

When I was in college, I found it useful to choose topics dispassionately with an eye on what topic might produce the best paper, rather than someting I was particularly interested in or felt strongly about one way or another.

Good luck bro!

strategic choice
good to have an opinion but you need the documents and some relevant discussion of those documents

That was one of my reasons for bringing the issue here - I (correctly) thought that you guys would help me out by getting at some more specific issues involving some of the things I mentioned.

I figured I wouldn't be able to write about the entire Patriot Act, having heard that it's about 1000 pages long. Any idea how I could get my hands on a copy? I've been looking on the internet, and all I've found so far are overviews and opinion pieces.

And by God, it's long!

If anyone's interested, here it is: http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/hr3162.html

Having looked over it briefly, I think I might write about the "Enhanced Surveillance Procedures" section.

It's a timely topic and falls into your free trade category.

After all, sex slavery was such an important issue to Bush that he dedicated his UN speech to it rather than making a case for international support in Iraq. And what has he done about it since then, anyway?

That would be a great topic for pissing off the Republicans in the class.

that is being covered by foreign governments and how it could be detrimental to us in the end.