Children in the Government

We have all seen it happen before. We have all been in a public place and witnessed the bad behavior of grown men and women. We have seen the couple that decides to argue in public, the mom who bribes her children with treats, and the grown men who who strike up a yelling match over opposing beliefs. What do we think of these child-like displays? Most likely you roll your eyes or shake your head in disbelief then go about your day wondering how any grown person could behave in such a manner. So why are we letting this type of behavior happen within our government? Why do we write off these displays of immaturity as political moves?

Recently the Democratic party had to specifically request that the GOP stop behaving like children, of course it was phrased a little differently. Apparently the GOP senators have been putting up secret holds in order to prevent a list of administration nominees from moving forward. This seems to simply be a political ploy however, no statement as to why the GOP oppose any of the candidates will be issued making this hold charade nothing more than a childish game. Only one GOP representative has voiced an opinion and exposed his hold while every other Republican senator is hiding behind their holds and not being "grown-up" enough to actually express any well thought out reason for behaving in such a way. How are we going to complain about the Obama administration when the inner workings of our government are the source of most of the delay. If we want to government to run efficiently we need to work together as opposed to sitting and childishly keeping our opinions to ourselves while at the same time sabotaging any success or progress that we could be making.

This situation reminds me all too much of the childish men and women whom we frown upon when we see their foul behavior in public. So why haven't we spoken up nation? It is clear that acting in such a way is only working against us in the long run and the only thing left for us to do is to step up and express our distaste for the kiddy games that are currently being played within our government. America I beg of you, speak up. I know we can make a difference!

My Thoughts on Your Thoughts

The thoughts expressed in this blog on the removal of the space technology programs in the United States make me also being to wonder why we haven't learned from "police actions" in other countries, over-eating even balancing imports and exports in trade. I don't understand how we can be such a great nation yet still lack the ability to critically look into the past and say to ourselves "Damn...we should probably not do THAT again!". Instead we seem to insist on putting ourselves in the same sticky situations as before and I'm sure that Neil Armstrong would be singing his agreement!

I feel that the removal of this program and the repercussions it will have on the United States years from now will leave us baffled and most likely wondering "Why did the government put us in this situation?!". The truth of the matter is, as American citizens it is our job to provide input on what will happen in our country and if we stand by and allow a small portion of our population to be the only factors in decision making , we are partially at fault. If we can take the sidelines and leave decision making up to a few, when mistakes from history are repeated in our own time, we don't have much room or reason to complain. This is all very unfortunate and makes me wish for a more engaged and informed nation that would take the past into account, yet maybe that is just something we will never learn.

This post was well worded and effective in urging the reader to take a second look at what is going on right now and I thank the author of this blog for encouraging that type of proactive behavior.

Apidiocy

Is it apathy or idiocy that our nation suffers? While so many of our nation’s good citizens remain in a supposedly skeptical state we somehow manage to remain disengaged and ignorant of large scale national issues as well as local political events and continue the tradition of complaining about and criticizing the government. This is a problem America! Many of us will feel compelled to distrust the government yet at the same time we sit in our Lazy Boys and munch on potato chips because we aren’t directly affected by what the government does at every moment of our monotonous days.

Why don’t we see that this type of inaction and lack of involvement we are putting more and more unchecked, unmonitored and un-scrutinized power into the hands of the government and government officials? I’m not suggesting that we should entirely distrust the government’s intentions however, we must play an active role in protecting (as well as knowing) our rights and currently, as we stand, the general public is in an extremely vulnerable position for being entirely stripped of rights. Has nobody read Orwell’s 1984? We have to find a happy medium. A place in the middle where we can actively play a role in holding up Constitutional values, which may mean criticism to the government and political actions, and trusting that the people who we allow to hold such a great deal of power will do the right thing, the majority of the time, for the sake of the nation.

Open your eyes people! The government will continue to gain power at the state and national level, particularly the executive branch, and I honestly don’t know one person, Republican or Democrat, who would say that giving the President an unrestricted amount of expanding power is a good idea. Not every person who we vote into office is going to be a good a person. A perfect example of this expansion in power can be seen with unwarranted wiretapping and the justification that in times of “extraordinary” danger, “extraordinary” measures must be taken. This type of “protection” is argued as a power of the Commander-in-chief to provide and deliver safety precautions for the sake of the nation however, the president is only “Commander-in-chief” during times of declared war, which we have not been since World War II. Does this mean that the president is now able to exercise extreme war-time power during times of “peace”, or non-legal, undeclared war-time? What about the fourth amendment? While we are so eager to use the Constitution to defend our school-yard dramas and petty family-get-together political arguments, we can’t take a moment to look at how we are actually throwing away our rights because of our own disengagement, laziness and apathy? Most of us won’t even realize that we have sacrificed a huge right in order to obtain the protection of trained snoops until one day it we have nothing left.

As stated before, while we don’t necessarily have leaders with ill-intentions, that may not always be the case. We as a nation must wake up and take necessary steps to ensure our rights and protect our future. We must attempt to stay well informed, involved, reasonable and we must protect our rights or forfeit the right to complain about our government and our nation while we lay around our homes picking lint out of our belly buttons. We don’t suffer from solely apathy or idiocy America; we suffer from a deadly combination of both and it is far past time to cure ourselves. Good luck.

Writing on politics can be a very dry and boring task and can often yield virtually unreadable and uninteresting articles, especially in the eyes of the average citizen. It seems that in order for a political article to even seem mildly interesting to our attention deficit riddled, caffeine addicted, fast-paced and ever moving citizens that it must do one thing, entertain. If an author can deliver a message and make point while simultaneously entertaining the reader, he is bound to be successful in our little world. I believe that the author of this article has mastered this art. He is very aware that in order to make a point to the general public, he must first catch their attention and somehow cling to it, this he does through satirical undertones and witty stabs at the issue he is presenting.

This author is a little more left leaning, obviously; however he is bringing up an important issue that, no matter which direction he leans, will affect future politics until the end of time. In this particular article the author is pointing out the follies of our two great American parties, the childlike behavior that is occurring in our media and being broadcast to the general public to witness. Media should reflect a professional institution and especially when dealing with politics should carefully monitor how they portray political news.

The media needed to be called out and that is exactly what this article has done. In this case the article directs the spotlight towards right leaning media, and holds them accountable for behaving irrationally and making absolutely ridiculous claims while on air in order to bash democrats and current legislation. Is this how we should expect media (news reporters even!) to behave and report? Should we continue to let them make a mockery of our system through their unprofessional reporting styles and by acting like children who lost their very YMCA soccer game?
The article is very effective in raising all of these questions in the readers' minds and because of the entertaining yet professional way of reporting what is happening within our media this article also maintains its grasp on the attention of the average American reader. Very well written in my eyes!

Global Weirding:The Deniable Phenomenon

The coldest winter, the hottest summer, the wettest rainy season; what exactly does this mean for global warming? Are all of our efforts to save energy and become more independent and free from the bonds of our oil addiction null and void because of our crazy weather? Apparently that is exactly what this severe weather change means. According to skeptics, cynics and oil addicts, global warming is simply a plot dreamed up to increase governmental control. Really though America, let's cut the crap and stop denying that with such inconsistent weather and climate changes and all with all of the data supporting global warming, or "weirding" as this article phrases it, it's time to admit that we must change our ways.

This article excellently states and explains the issues behind global weirding and calls for us, as a nation, to accept the truth and take action. Rather than simply denying the problem for the sake of being right let's be proactive and look and the facts. This article lays it all out pretty simply. The author states that we should learn from the history of climate change, cut our ties to the oil driven dictators who are spoon fed power and funds through our addiction, become more independent and self-sufficient as a nation while at the same time save our planet, our home. As well as accurately and simply explaining the issues with global weirding, this article effectively creates a stream of thought that the average American can relate to and understand. By calling on Americans to "send fewer dollars overseas to buy oil" and stating that "...China is quietly laughing at us right now. And Iran, Russia, Venezuela and the whole OPEC gang are high-fiving each other." the author of this article plays on American pride in hopes that by pointing out how much we spend as well the fact that other countries see us as a joke, that we will unite under a mutual cause and actually accept the global weirding issue.

I do believe that this article was very well written and backed up with facts also, this author does a pretty good job of not bashing people who have opposing views. This article makes sure to carefully and level-headedly address the opposition which is a very effective way to get a point across to people who do not necessarily agree.

Aim the Blame

This article to me, is hilarious. Not because it points out the current state of our job market but that it specifically calls out young voters for voting Obama into the presidency. This article is also entertaining to me for the fact that because it is from a conservative website the publisher makes a point to directly blame President Obama for our job market. Our economy has been on the decline since before Obama was in office and it is interesting to watch as people become so involved in the idea of political parties that they focus on who they should blame as opposed to actually fixing prevalent problems. The issues with our job market and the fact that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to find jobs is something that we will all have to work towards fixing however, this problem will take years to correct itself. It baffles me that people can so out rightly point the finger because they haven't stopped and withdrawn from political affiliations for long enough to see that although our current president is trying to address the lack of jobs change like this takes time. Just because Obama promised change does not mean that he claimed to be able to work miracles. Liberal, conservative or otherwise can't we put aside our political labels, stop blaming and start working on a solution for the common good?