Comment on a Colleague's Work #2

Governing the United States: USA Today, or USA in the 1960s?

Carlos brings up a very controversial and sensitive subject for Americans of all races. I too feel that black people in America are treated far more differently than other races. I believe that white privilege and male privilege exist in this country so if you're a white guy, you definitely have it made. I have witnessed this firsthand on many occasions because I grew up in south Dallas where a majority of my friends were not white. Police officers and teachers treated my friends far more differently than I whenever we had got caught skipping class or getting into trouble despite ALL of us being guilty. As an American, we should feel shameful and disgraced to allow such blatant racism to thrive in a land that we front as "equal". Despite our shortcomings as a nation, I hope that this mentality dies out with the older generation and that my generation can abolish this kind of behavior through acceptance and understanding because we are all people.

U.S. defense secretary, Chuck Hagel, resigns 

Chuck Hagel has been the U.S. defense secretary for less than two years and is already giving up the top defense position in the country. He is a former Vietnam vet and U.S. senator who came to power in 2013 with the goal of narrowing the defense budget and withdrawing troops from overseas. However, once ISIS had become a threat to the American people then Mr. Hagel and President Obama found themselves at odds about what to do with the situation. There had been a clear lack of strategy whenever ISIS had come along and after mid-term elections it was apparent it wouldn't work out. It is believed that Mr. Hagel was asked to step down by the President whenever he had opened up discussion about his possible departure.

I understand why the President and Mr. Hagel would decide to part ways but I also feel like it may have been a mistake having a lone Republican be a part of an entirely Democratic staff. Yet, President Obama is going to lose a potentially critical component based on his experience in the military and deeper understanding of the situation overseas because of his involvement with the Senate. Despite their differences and uniqueness to this particular issue, we are seeing the classic lack of communication and planning whenever dealing with complex issues that need attention to detail and strategy. If the threat of a group like ISIS had been discussed, then the issue would be fairly easy to resolve. Unfortunately, when Mr. Hagel had come to his position he wasn't aware of Obama's stance on how to deal with a threat of this nature despite it being one of utter importance.

President Obama is expected to announce Chuck Hagel's resignation on Monday afternoon. He most likely won't announce a nominee to replace Mr. Hagel on Monday but once chosen they will still have to be approved by the Senate. This may prove difficult for Mr. Obama due to a shift in a Republican majority following mid-term elections earlier this month.

Blog Stage Six: Comment on a colleague's work #1

Ignorance is not an Option: Weak President, Strong Government: What Would the Founding Fathers Think?

To answer the title of the post: yes. I feel that the Framers of our Constitution would be amazed to see the amount of informal powers that have been given to the president.

However, I disagree with the amount of scrutiny that is being placed on our current president. Our country is over 200 years old so it is without doubt that he, like other presidents, have inherited a slew of problems when entering office. In class we had discussed how legislation can continue to have an impact on events up to 30 years after and I feel that faulty legislation is why our veterans' programs are so ineffective. A broken health care system is also to blame as to why veterans aren't able to gain access to their supposed guaranteed benefits. Yet, the proponents of the Affordable Health Care Act fail to see that the Obama Administration was trying to solve a more widespread issue and hopefully veterans wouldn't have to see a 'broker', the V.A., to have healthcare because it would be one's right as a citizen and not just a veteran.

The redistribution of wealth is a completely different issue and his main stance was on changing tax brackets and definitely not giving 'hand outs'. Even if he were to provide more funding to social services there would be no giving 'entitlement' because anyone and everyone deserves to have food, education and a safe place to live regardless of the situation they are in. These are basic human rights that unfortunately aren't met without the help of our government, plain and simple. In fact, these programs desperately need to be expanded because the disproportional distribution of wealth in this country has most of its population in the clutches of poverty or right on the edge of poverty.

Should your vote matter in a national election?

Every 4 years Americans vote for who our next president will be without knowing that their vote might not matter depending on the state they live in. In Maine and Nebraska there are laws in place that require the members of the Electoral College for either party to vote depending on the result of the popular vote and not based on their party affiliation or endorsement for either candidate. However, that still leaves 48 states that have processes in place that allow people to decide for them and essentially our votes may not ever be seriously considered. This is because even if there is a tie for president then the House of Representatives decides on who will win. I understand that these procedures are in place because it took much longer to count the votes and come to a conclusion in general when the constitution was written. This isn’t the case anymore because the exchange of information is exponentially greater than in 1803, when then 12^th amendment was written putting this policy in place.

Why do we still conduct elections this way? I believe that our country could see drastic changes in voter participation and involvement if we let people directly decide in national elections and not to mention policy and direction. Most people don’t vote because they feel like it doesn’t matter and to some degree that is true and not true. Local elections have a much greater impact on daily life and your vote truly counts, as opposed to a national election. The original creators behind these ideas knew our society could change rapidly and wrote accordingly. However, law can always be changed when it is dated and no longer serves a greater purpose.

Will I be able to afford a home when I graduate?

Study: Student loans are killing the housing market

I already knew that my generation isn't like my parents in the sense that one graduates high school, goes off to college, meets someone then gets married and buys a house. However, I had chalked it up to that my generation wanted to explore life and not be so quick to start families because they had lives to live too. It had never crossed my mind that no one could afford a house because of wanting to pursue an education that we're told is the 'right' thing to do.

It makes sense to me after reading the facts of life for a college graduate in today's housing market. If someone has just a monthly student loan payment of $250, reduces a household's buying power by $44,000. This isn't typical though because most people pay $750+, so only the people who are in the highest earning brackets are able to comfortably pay a mortgage.

The writer gave great insight as a college graduate who once had $60,000 in debt when all was said and done. They advised to take the high earning jobs when they are offered as opposed to working for a non-profit or something similar while you still have student loan debt. I think this is good advice because it's true. We are living longer so there will most likely be a right time to have a job where you feel like you're making a difference.

However, the real problem is that higher education is simply overpriced. Families shouldn't have to make financial suicide by taking out high interest loans in order to maybe ensure a better life post-graduation. The only solution would be to conduct a seriously drastic overhaul of the way we treat higher education and how it is paid for. Without solving this root problem, we're bound to never have stability for a majority of people once who attend and graduate college.

Is Perez the right choice to replace Attorney General Eric Holder?

Why Perez is a good choice to succeed Holder

The author doesn't touch too much on why Holder is resigning, however, he provided a brief history into who Perez is and why he would be a good fit. Obama has made the decision to not move forward with his immigration policy plans and has made the Latino community feel unimportant when they had been a strong core of voters who had helped him be elected president. Perez is from Dominican descent and grew up in the U.S. where he attended Brown University and Harvard Law despite his father dying when he was 12. This is something that the author may have thought other immigrants would relate to and I believe that it helped his argument by making Perez more relatable. His legal background alone should be a qualification to be considered for the next attorney general and the author brought on more evidence to support this. His experience working in the government would give him leverage because he is currently the Secretary of Labor. The author made sure to bridge his personal, political and legal backgrounds all together to form a solid foundation for replacing Eric Holder. His argument is free of any holes and I completely agree after reading this article. I would even go as far to say that it is not so much an ‘opinion’ piece and more of a ‘persuasion’. Unfortunately, the attorney general position is appointed and approved by legislature. I am not a member of the Senate or House of Representatives but if I could vote to have Thomas Perez be the next attorney general, I definitely would.

Kein mensch ist illegal. = No one is illegal.

'Refugees Welcome' is more than a slogan in Germany

In Germany, people are doing more that just saying that they accept immigrants by actually providing social programs to help families from places such as Syria. Most Syrians, and other immigrant groups, who come to Germany rely on the youngest members of their families for translation because children are able to learn languages much faster than adults. 'Abseits!' is an organization that aims to provide transitional education materials to adults, such as German as a second language classes, financial and higher learning opportunities. This program was started from an immigrant herself and felt like she wasn't allowed her childhood because of having to adjust to being a liason to her family in an equally foreign place. This article is worth reading because it is a snapshot of what Americans could be like. We should be empowering people who come to this country for better opportunity instead of making sure the porch light is off when they arrive. If our nation, as a whole, could demonstrate the compassion and understanding that Germans exercised then the world could be a little bit nicer place to live, especially for the people who were already trying to make a better life for themselves and their families by moving to another country.