Good answers. You've done your homework.
The article would benefit if you supported your points with some of the sources you posted here.
No room to do so... I plan on submitting this as an op-ed, and I need to preserve my space for as much actual substance and argument as possible.
If this, on the other hand, were an academic assignment, I would put the sources in as footnotes. Can't exactly do that in an op-ed where you have limited space to make your points.