Turning Point USA’s “Exposing Critical Racism Tour” website incorporates imagery and language to purport an alternate reality of critical race theory (critical race theory) in opposition to intellectuals in order to incite an ideological war against teachings of intellectuals. In order to create a sound argument and analysis of the historical and political framework constituted within their page and advertisements, I introduce a bridge between the largely political theory of anti-intellectualism and the rhetorical theory of rhetorical narrative. I propose Anti-Intellectualist Narrative Theory (ANT) as a new theoretical lens for analyzing the nationalistic and populist rhetorical frame created by an extensive history of oppositions to individuals who purport an intellectual authority over the common people. In constructing ANT, I aim to recognize how anti-intellectualism functions as a rhetorical narrative through three rhetorical strategies: anti-rationality, anti-elitism, and unreflective instrumentalism.

This paper examines the possible ties between social media influencers and their potential impact on the rise in affective polarization in the United States. With the growth of social media, its transition into a primary source of news, and with the open political atmosphere, one is left to wonder about the potential impact social media and its influencers may have on American affective polarization. The survey presented within the paper was designed in hopes of drawing a connection between the two, and to what extent it might be happening.

In 1974, with a relatively young and fast-growing city in front of them, the City Council of Phoenix, Arizona charged the Phoenix Planning Commission with studying potential plans for urban form. Through the help of over 200 citizens over the next eight months, the village concept was born. Characterized by an emphasis on community-level planning, unique neighborhood character, and citizen input, the village concept plan provides an compelling lens into decentralized planning. In 1979, the Village Concept, as part of the “Phoenix Concept Plan 2000,” was officially adopted by the Phoenix City Council and has remained a component of the city’s long-range planning ever since. Each village features a core of dense commercial and residential activity, with a surrounding periphery featuring varied densities and land usage. There were nine original villages outlined in 1979. As of today, there are 15 villages. Each village has a Village Planning Committee (VPC) made up of 15 to 21 citizens, each being appointed to the committee by the Phoenix Mayor and City Council. This exploratory study was born out of an interest in the Village Planning Committees and a desire to understand their function as a mechanism for citizen participation in urban planning and urban governance. Similarly, with the rapid onset of the automobile and freeway expansion in the decades after WWII, once-insolated communities in the Valley have become connected to each other in a way that raises questions about how to maintain neighborhood’s unique character while promoting sustainable growth and expansion of the city. Phoenix’s Urban Village Model attempts to answer those questions. The efficacy of the model can be considered from two perspectives––how does it aid in making land use decisions, and how does it promote citizen participation? While there is an extensive body of literature on neighborhood councils in the United States and plentiful analysis of the merits of such models as participatory mechanisms and devices of urban planning, there is a lack of discussion of Phoenix’s Urban Village Model. This thesis aims to include Phoenix in this growing body of work.

This paper analyses key papers in audience cost literature and proposes a direction forward in audience cost literature by examining how an audience gets influenced and or how the audience's preferences are created. The paper posits that by looking at how audiences are influenced a leader's decision structure can be further clarified. The paper places an emphasis on how information and agenda-setting are crucial to developing a framework for the task of elucidating audience costs.

This paper is an in-depth analysis of the actions and rhetoric of Donald Trump’s presidency from the perspective of Machiavelli’s most famed work, 'The Prince'. Its premise is born from two articles claiming Donald Trump was either the American Machiavelli or the Anti-Machiavelli, and sets out to find out which title is the most accurate. The end findings suggest that President Trump did not follow enough rules in 'The Prince' to be Machiavellian, but that Trumpism as a political doctrine has the potential grow into a modern day Machiavellianism.