Top 10 AC Op-Ed Articles of 2006

Associated Content is a great place to get original opinion articles from everyday people around the world. While my favorite opinion pieces on AC are the ones that deal with current political and foreign policy issues affecting the United States, the range of topics covered in the Op-Ed section of the library is guaranteed to provide subjects of interest to even the most varied preferences. The articles that follow here are my picks, not in any particular order, for the top ten Associated Content Op-Ed articles for 2006.

No. 1: Debunking the Myths by Steph Bairey. Written back in July, this is a well-written, easy-to-read article about how we mature and learn as we go through life. Ms. Bairey talks about how as she grew older, she realized that some of the more popular myths in society were not necessarily true, and that if a person is willing to put forth a real effort and work responsibly for what they want, then truly anything is possible.

No. 2: Laws That Help Children, Hurt Them Instead by Linda. This article is written with a passion that strongly comes through in the writing. Passion aside, Linda makes a great point: in society's rush to punish those among us who commit crimes, the laws passed often have unintended consequences. While the original goal of a particular law may be met, we too often fail to consider secondary and tertiary effects in our effort to enforce societal standards of decency and behavior.

No. 3: The War on Terror: Protesting the Liberation of Iraq by Manda Spring. Ms. Spring devotes a great deal of space in this article to venting her disapproval of war protestor Cindy Sheehan and questioning her motives. But once you get past that, the basic premise of the article is that the liberation of Iraq was, despite all its shortcomings, a positive achievement for the world.