2012 Election

This is an official blog entry for the YourLocalSecurity.com Blogging Scholarship. If selected, I'll receive $1000 towards my college expenses in 2012. This scholarship is sponsored by YourLocalSecurity.com

As Obama's presidency comes to a close, citizens across the nation, and around the world, will be carefully observing the 2012 electoral race. Many of the topics that we focused on during the last race will continue to come up, hot topics like health care, gay rights and abortion. We might see that others, like the war on terror, will simmer down, especially with the recent end to the war in Iraq.

The main topic of contention in the upcoming race, however, will have to do with economic policy. With our current national debt at 15 trillion (48,500 per person, according to Brillig.com) it's hard to imagine a bigger problem. But the debt itself isn't the root of it. The poison economic culture in the United States can be seen in a variety of different aspects of American life. The rising rates of obesity, the amount of waste we generate, the social and educational gaps that are apparent across towns and states, all these are products of an unstable economy.

History has shown that money affects culture more than we know. The fluctuating cost of gasoline causes families to reevaluate not just the cars they drive, but the routes they take, the schools they attend and much more. As the price of fresh foods spikes, so do the sales of cheaper meals from fast food restaurants. Poor diets, forced by low-incomes, lead to heart disease, diabetes and other health risks. When companies see drops in dollar signs, an obvious reaction can be to layoff employees, which presses even more stress on families and businesses nationwide. If we want a nation of healthy, happy individuals, we need to fix the economic standing of our entire country.

And so, we need a president who is going to lay out a plan. America needs organization. It needs a dynamic proposition that has one central target (economics), but a multitude of effects (health, environment, crime, family, business). The candidate who brings up convincing and clever solutions to strengthen our brittle economy will win. The individual who looks after the entire nation, and who does not divide us up by class nor region, will have the most success. The United States needs a president who does not see the colors red and blue, but rather someone who recognizes the interconnectedness of our nation. The best candidate will be the one who lays a groundwork for the future by proposing a plan that creates jobs, that invests in green technologies, that supports education, that brings back to life the prospects of an American dream, a dream we can achieve by getting off the couch, by getting our hands dirty, by working our own futures and by extension the future of our entire country. Our next president will realize the power of collaboration and cooperation,

We're not so different afterall

        We may be extremely advanced here in America. Our currency (though its weight not so heavy) may be the universal exchange currency. We may have opened our arms to immigrants in the past, allowing our lands to be a melting pot of culture and prosperity.

        We may be fighting wars in the middle east right now, in some vague attempt to stick up for what's right. We put down Muslim nations for treating their women poorly. We react with disgust and outrage at stories like the one of Sorya M., about whose stoning both a book and movie have been written. We're too blinded by the red-white-and blue banners, and luxurious freedoms in America, to ever think that situations just as pitiful as those in the middle east could occur on North American ground.

But they do.

        I just read this article about a young girl in Missouri, a special ed kid nonetheless, who was kicked out of school for accusing a boy of rape. She was forced to apologize to his face for her "finger-pointing." A few years later, the former incident recurred. She was afraid to speak up and say something, afraid of being dismissed from school again. After investigation, police found that she had been assaulted sexually by the same boy, twice. And as far as I can tell, no one is taking the blame for this scenario.

        Now this doesn't just happen to girls and women. Just over a decade ago, Matthew Shepard was tortured and murdered in Wyoming because of his sexual orientation. Two years ago, Dr. George Tiller was shot down in his church, because he refused to stop performing abortions.

The list goes on, I'm afraid.

        This post isn't meant to be cynical. I don't intend to step on the integrity of America in any way. I merely want to recognize the fact that culture doesn't define behavior, as much as human tendency does. I don't know why we're so mean or cruel to one another, but I know that as a global society, we let these injustices slide. Genocides happen. Murders, homicides, theft, and assault happen.

        I'm not sure how we can squash these problems. I guess one start would be sympathizing with the victim, hearing their side. This could have prevented the Missouri case, and the Sorya's case as well. We preach freedom of speech, and so we must ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to exercise his or her voice. The other option, I guess, would be a world-wide law...just be nice. That would do the trick. Now just how to go about enforcing it....

Turn up the noise

Highly entertained tonight by the GOP debate tonight,  followed by The Daily Show, which gave me some perspective.

I learned a lot tonight:

• Michelle Bachman has had more foster kids than were in my elementary school class
• She also thinks that submission is equal to respect
• A pizza delivery man wants to lead my country
• You can preach equality while still refusing to pass a bill legalizing gay marriage on the federal level
• Iowans deep fry butter.

Furthermore,

        Mitt Romney believes that the "ideal place to raise a child is in a home with a mom and a dad." However, our very successful current president was raised by his mother and grandmother. In fact, the idea of a traditional family is rapidly changing these days...there is no such thing as a cookie-cutter family in this country.

        When Santorum stated [on abortion], "To be victimized twice would be a horrible thing. We should surround these women and help them," I agreed. We should support women who cannot support their children. I'd like to see Santorum himself going around and handing out blankets, diapers and food to every pregnant woman across this nation who cannot raise her baby, and could not get an abortion. Once I see him do that, I'll begin to consider his candidacy and validity.

        I could go on and on about the ridiculousness of politics,

but I'd rather not.

        I'm going to read some more of my Joshua Foer book, and get some sleep.

But before I do that, I'm going to watch the Colbert Report...

And you should get your dose of Steven Colbert too:  click here!

Stephen Colbert Super PAC

http://www.colbertsuperpac.com

 

        I love Stephen Colbert for making such a loud point about pacs, money and politics. He's proving that money talks, loudly. But that's all it does, talks.

        I went online and wrote in 106 characters or less what I stand for (and you should too!) I think words and conversations beat out silence, but immediate action beats out words. We need to spend less time arguing over the debt crisis, and more time making actual changes. Only by doing can we get things done. Now, this philosophy may appear naive. Surely we can't just jump into action whenever we feel like it, otherwise we may find ourselves treading water in the middle of a decade long war that's taking more than it's giving. Surely laws need to exist to prevent bold decisions- But what about the not so bold decisions? People can't talk about anything except the debt crisis these days-- So why not make a radical change in policy and see what happens? Nothing can be worse than what we're facing right now, so why not take action?

Creme Brulee Finger & Stupidity

        Had a minor finger surgery today. They pumped a ton of anesthetics into my middle finger, and removed some strange foreign object that I don't remember ever entering my poor hand. The doctor used some strange fire-related tool to "seal up the wound." The process reminded me of creme brulee, although not as appetizing.

 

        As I was driving home, I ended up behind this tiny, beat up automobile with all of these heinous, right-wing bumper stickers. Now, I can try to understand Republicans and hear them out if they present their ideals sanely. What I don't understand is stupidity. One of this woman's stickers read "When Liberals ask you for change, say you don't have any." Tell me how this is cooperative, kind, or hopeful. When I read that, I felt sorry for her. All I could think was Wow, you really have no sense of spirit, and no desire to help bring about change.  

        I'm not a fan of party politics. I don't think having a wing-system brings us any closer to accomplishments, because the game of politics itself detracts from the issues we face as a nation. When we all sit around and complain about the administration, or slap meaningless stickers on our bumpers, we simply feed the problem and make it larger. The only way to make things better is by finding representatives who will act instead of speak, who will go out in do instead of dwell on mistakes.