The writer for this article is very unhappy with Obama going back on what he said during his campaign about not keeping government secrets, However, this is just another example of a President having to change or go back on his word as soon as he gets into office. A candidate cannot know everything that the President knows and so when he or she gets into office he or she finds out, oh, can't do that. This is why I have a problem with candidates making promises during their campaign, they do not know everything.
As for the problems with anti-secrecy, I think there needs to be things that are kept secret for the good of our country. In this day and age, information can be more deadly than a bomb. The more information made public, the more we put ourselves and others at risk. However, this applies to national security information.
When it comes to policies that are applied to the public, we should be completely informed. If there is a bill that is being written or a policy that is going to be amended or made, all that information regarding these should be made public. If it is anything that will affect us, the people of America, we have a right to know.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Should a person be required to take a literacy test to register?
Some people believe that there should be a literacy test or some other way to prevent uneducated people or people they call "dumb" from voting. This way the right choices will be made about things like who will run our country and who will make the laws. However, if this is a democracy, I do not think there should be such a thing.
If you think about it, the only way uneducated people would be able to effect the outcome of an election is if they come out in a majority and vote for the person they want. If this is so, than let them because obviously, they would be the majority and the person now in power is the person the majority of people wanted to be in power. The other educated people may not like the outcome, but they are not the majority in this situation.
Plus, if the uneducated people did come out in mass to vote for someone completely incompetent, but they are not the real majority, it was just that more of them showed up to vote, the educated people who sat back and let their country get taken over by uneducated people will hopefully see that not voting got them in to this mess and hopefully they would have learned that if they want a say, they have to vote. Democracy can be helped by not having a test to measure intelligence.
Furthermore, if the majority of the population is uneducated, they should have a say in who is running the country because they are still citizens. If we cut out the majority because they are unintelligent, and leave it to the minority of educated people, we will basically reserve the right to vote to a few elite which is a step backwards from the many struggles we had to overcome in order for peple to get the right to vote.
If you think about it, the only way uneducated people would be able to effect the outcome of an election is if they come out in a majority and vote for the person they want. If this is so, than let them because obviously, they would be the majority and the person now in power is the person the majority of people wanted to be in power. The other educated people may not like the outcome, but they are not the majority in this situation.
Plus, if the uneducated people did come out in mass to vote for someone completely incompetent, but they are not the real majority, it was just that more of them showed up to vote, the educated people who sat back and let their country get taken over by uneducated people will hopefully see that not voting got them in to this mess and hopefully they would have learned that if they want a say, they have to vote. Democracy can be helped by not having a test to measure intelligence.
Furthermore, if the majority of the population is uneducated, they should have a say in who is running the country because they are still citizens. If we cut out the majority because they are unintelligent, and leave it to the minority of educated people, we will basically reserve the right to vote to a few elite which is a step backwards from the many struggles we had to overcome in order for peple to get the right to vote.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Is the two party system good or bad for America?
The framers of the constitution had a goal of strengthening the government yet limiting the government's potential strength at the same time. However, I do not think that they anticipated that there would be a tradition of two parties dominating the government they carefully designed.
The Democrat and the Republican parties have grown and currently dominate the political world. Two parties, two choices, that is it. We are supposed to be a representational democracy but how representational can it be if there are only two parties? The people of America have more than two ways of thinking, more than two ways of believing. With a nation the size of ours, there are bound to be differences in beliefs from one person to another and the only way to represent everyone as accurately as possible, there needs to be more than just a two party system. There should be a multi party system, like that of most of the European Democracies.
However, many people are opposed to this saying that it will make things more complicated and it will cause more disunity. As for the first part, it has become somewhat of a tradition to chose convenience over what is better as a whole. As for the second part, we are already severely devised between the two parties as it is.
Both parties have grown so strong and keep loosing power between each other that they keep trying harder to obtain power and keep power. This makes it so that they are divided to an extent that they do everything in their power to stop the other party. If there were multiple parties, they all would be limited in their power. No party would be large enough to succeed on their own so they will be forced to work together to achieve their goals.
Along with the parties being forced to cooperate, they would also be just small enough so that one wrong move and the public would have enough to do something as opposes to the public trying to fight one of the massive parties that exist today.
The Democrat and the Republican parties have grown and currently dominate the political world. Two parties, two choices, that is it. We are supposed to be a representational democracy but how representational can it be if there are only two parties? The people of America have more than two ways of thinking, more than two ways of believing. With a nation the size of ours, there are bound to be differences in beliefs from one person to another and the only way to represent everyone as accurately as possible, there needs to be more than just a two party system. There should be a multi party system, like that of most of the European Democracies.
However, many people are opposed to this saying that it will make things more complicated and it will cause more disunity. As for the first part, it has become somewhat of a tradition to chose convenience over what is better as a whole. As for the second part, we are already severely devised between the two parties as it is.
Both parties have grown so strong and keep loosing power between each other that they keep trying harder to obtain power and keep power. This makes it so that they are divided to an extent that they do everything in their power to stop the other party. If there were multiple parties, they all would be limited in their power. No party would be large enough to succeed on their own so they will be forced to work together to achieve their goals.
Along with the parties being forced to cooperate, they would also be just small enough so that one wrong move and the public would have enough to do something as opposes to the public trying to fight one of the massive parties that exist today.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Blog number one
1. I think my family has had the greatest impact on my political views. I was raised to have a more conservative personality so that transfers into my political views. But it is not just what we agree on, but also what we disagree on. My dad is very consevative and i do not always agree with what he thinks so i see myself as more moderate.
2. I think my cultural background has had an impact on my political views. Being half Mexican, i relate to a lot of other Hispanic people whom many of which tend to have less, including that half of my family. This is also what makes me more moderate because it makes me want something to be done to help the welfare of the common citizen.
3. Considering our current economic status and high unemployment rate, outsourcing is bad for America. Even before the recession, everything was being outsourced to China, especially factory jobs, because it was a lot cheaper to make consumer products over there. Countless jobs being created over there could have been made here in America, jobs that millions will be willing to take in order to support their families and keep their houses.
It is not just jobs though, is is also about public safety. Because products are being made over in another country, there are not going to be inspections and safety precautions to make sure the products are going to be safe and that they do not contain any dangerous chemicals. So then the products come over here and after a few weeks and a injuries, the products have to be recalled. I'm not saying that we are he best at doing this and that there are never recalls on products made here but we do have safety regulations for the products being made and for how they are made.
There are no regulations on pollution control for the factories in China so they are pumping out so much pollution for products for America and then that pollution gets carried over across the Pacific to the entire west coast to deal with. but it is not just America that has to deal with the pollution. The villages of China have to deal with factories dumping waste into the rivers killing the fish they live off of and making the water not safe to use. Also the pollution made by transporting the goods across the world just adds more to the problem, not to mention it also adds to our dependency on foreign oil.
But it is not just us it hurts. Often times the working conditions in factories in other countries are inhumane and we are essentially to blame.
2. I think my cultural background has had an impact on my political views. Being half Mexican, i relate to a lot of other Hispanic people whom many of which tend to have less, including that half of my family. This is also what makes me more moderate because it makes me want something to be done to help the welfare of the common citizen.
3. Considering our current economic status and high unemployment rate, outsourcing is bad for America. Even before the recession, everything was being outsourced to China, especially factory jobs, because it was a lot cheaper to make consumer products over there. Countless jobs being created over there could have been made here in America, jobs that millions will be willing to take in order to support their families and keep their houses.
It is not just jobs though, is is also about public safety. Because products are being made over in another country, there are not going to be inspections and safety precautions to make sure the products are going to be safe and that they do not contain any dangerous chemicals. So then the products come over here and after a few weeks and a injuries, the products have to be recalled. I'm not saying that we are he best at doing this and that there are never recalls on products made here but we do have safety regulations for the products being made and for how they are made.
There are no regulations on pollution control for the factories in China so they are pumping out so much pollution for products for America and then that pollution gets carried over across the Pacific to the entire west coast to deal with. but it is not just America that has to deal with the pollution. The villages of China have to deal with factories dumping waste into the rivers killing the fish they live off of and making the water not safe to use. Also the pollution made by transporting the goods across the world just adds more to the problem, not to mention it also adds to our dependency on foreign oil.
But it is not just us it hurts. Often times the working conditions in factories in other countries are inhumane and we are essentially to blame.
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