An Open Letter to the American Government

 

Dear American Government,

You have failed us. Not just me, not just the next generations (or previous ones), but you have failed even yourselves. With your micro-focus on what was “going to be in it for you”; only you have failed America. While I am quite aware there are numerous statistics about voter turn-out, political involvement declining, and even the justification for major business funding campaigns, these are still no excuse for the lack of morality, character, or just simple intelligence.

Let me start with an area I am quite familiar with: Being a millennial. Not only do we get labeled entitled, coddled, and even whiny, we stepped into the worst trifecta in memorable American history. The trifecta (with some bonuses) includes, but is not limited to: Inflation of college costs (still rising!), Crashing home market (hope you didn’t want to own a home until you’re ready to retire), Big banks crashing (cue Capitalism rant), obvious corruption in all levels of government with no consequences (remember that constitution you swore to uphold? Oh yeah. That silly thing.), the highest divorce rate in history, Autism in children spiking, massive health care failures globally, and even sprinkle in (a lot) of racial unrest just for social significance. I could continue, but I wanted this to be constructive.

I just sometimes laugh to myself (if not then I would weep for days) at the idea that we are the entitled ones. The generation burdened by all of your “good-intention” social programs (i.e. Affordable Care Act), moronic leadership decisions (i.e. Patriot Act), and lack of basic financial accountability (i.e. Goldman Sachs). Somehow, you’re right, even though we’re the most civic generation since World War II. Meanwhile you removed American government, political science, and American history from the curriculum in public schools. Are you going to supply brown shirts for my children’s school uniform and constantly force feed them “America is chosen nation of God” propaganda too?

It’s not just millennials. The world around you is showing you the wrongs you have committed and yet, you still continue with the same mentality. For example, over 80% of voting Americans are dissatisfied with Congress. Yet, you spend half of your term fundraising so you can come back and actually complete what you halfheartedly promised the first time. “Term limit” is not even comprehensible at this point so you decide to ignorantly brag about how you have been on the hill for twenty years. Which means you are more to blame than most since you have essentially allowed these laws to be passed, or decided to skip the vote that day, meet with some donors from the Teacher unions, and then go to the next vote where you subsequently remove American history courses from the curriculum so that same Teacher’s union will keep donating. All the while future generations will not know how the American government functions and you can keep on keepin’ on for another twenty years.  Clever. Incredibly despicable, but clever.

Since it is an election year, we cannot forget the most bizarre menagerie of candidates this election season. The American governments actions have left people so hopeless, they turn to: A narcissistic megalomaniac billionaire, a known and reputable liar with a knack for deflection, and a 74 year old socialist with 1960’s era ideals in 2016. This is not a drill, warning, or satire. This is our nation. The one that used to believe in justice, freedom, and work ethic. Other nations used to look to us as beacon of hope and now we are punchlines are their late night shows. Gallup polls, participation trophies, and crippling student loans aside, you have failed everyone. The unintended consequences on society of what you have done and will continue to do will never cease.

I majored in political science and public policy, because the system it self is a symphony. I recognize all of the parts, and that when working correctly, make beautiful things happen. It is poetic, hard, raw, and real. Even with a few hypocritical bad apples, it could have been something golden. Your dirty hands have forever tarnished whatever music that could have been made. You bent, broke, and flat our demolished any chance we ever had. Morality can be debatable, but pure malice and selfishness is not.

 

Donald Trump & The Bad Guy Persona

 

First and foremost, my apologies for not posting in a while. Also, I did not want to contribute to the bashing and mudslinging of American Politics yet, after much thought… I feel a strong need to explain Donald Trump.

Please note, I say explain, not justify or defend. Maybe bash, just a little. Donald Trump is by far the publicized candidate currently. With the outlandish, sexist, racist, and all together universally offensive statements it causes someone to wonder “How are on earth could he still have a base of supporters?” Let’s break it down the best we can, shall we?

1. The idea that Donald Trump funds his own campaigns is a start. If he did not, then backers, special interest groups, and other financial donors would most likely pull their money from him. Unfortunately, Donald Trump does not have to tip toe around his supporters for hefty checks for his campaign. He doesn’t have to worry about the financial consequences of his campaign ending due to his large mouth.
2.  Strategy. It’s all about strategy. There have some recent articles in Washington post and other media outlets claiming that Donald purposely times his “practice of his first amendment rights…” to continue to stay in the polls. As they say, Negative press is better than no press. Considering most polling data at this point in the campaign is not whether people truly support his ideas on policy, but whether they are just paying attention to him. Well, one could say he definitely steals the spotlight (cue sarcasm)
3. I say this with a heavy heart, but people actually like his brash tone. It’s unfortunate considering most people did not like President Obama in the 2008 primary because he did not have any “real political experience.” Now, American views are shifting. They like his political incorrectness and may even see it as a fight against the massive establishment known as the American Government. (The Irony: He’s running to be in command of said establishment…) So he says something about building a wall or banning a certain religion and people think or even say “At least he’s telling it like it is” — when in reality, there is little to no data backing that up. Fivethirtyeight.com reported:

“It’s not obvious what Republican voters will think of Trump’s proposal — no pollster, as far as we can find, has directly asked about a “total and complete” ban on Muslims entering the U.S.”

(http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-republicans-and-polls-enable-donald-trump/)

 

SOME IDEAS TO RESTORE THE FAITH THAT YOU’RE TOTALLY NORMAL FOR DISLIKING TRUMP: 

His own party, The GOP, does not condone his behavior. They also don’t condemn him for his comments, but they never back him 100%… which is slightly comforting. Also, MANY Presidential candidates in history had a strong lead early and never made it to the primary, let alone the Oval office. On specific issues, such as building the wall, Congress has the purse strings and does not have to fund it (nor should they really since we’re spiraling in debt, but that’s another post entirely.  And lastly, you cannot ban one religion. There is not a way to identify one religion, unless they self identify or teeter on Hitler-like behavior (i.e. Lists of Jews, Jewish stars on coats… Ringing any bells?) The United States also has agreements of the International sort that wouldn’t allow us to reverse to mass segregation. And the biggest of them all… THE FIRST AMENDMENT. That one thing in the Bill of Rights that give Donald Trump to say what he pleases can also be applied to freedom of religion. Therefore, it goes against America’s very FOUNDING and VALUES AS A NATION (the one that he wants to represent no doubt) We simply just don’t do that. Literally, by law. (cue Millennial tone) And in reality, I truly believe people will realize (hopefully the media as well) that he is using fear to manipulate people into liking him. Kind of like a bully. A tragedy happens and he monopolizes on it (deplorable) and eventually people will stop looking at the train wreck he is and start moving on to something else.

Sincerely, Savannah

Gun Control: the smoking debate

Gun Control. The word on everyone’s lips in the United States. People are truly outraged, passionate, and extremely vocal when discussing it. Therefore, I will not add to that noise. I believe that the no one can truly know what it means to lose a loved on regarding such a horrific and incomprehensible act of terror and violence. It is very easy for politicians to use gun control as a talking point in interviews, but not even in the same ball park as getting that visit or call that you have lost a loved one. People may discuss mental health or glorifying the villain when it relates to a mass shooting, but again… You cannot fathom the loss. The nation as a whole continues to feel this. When we hear about a mass shooting whether it be a college, elementary school, or church, we hold our loved ones a little tighter. We think, “How can I explain this to my child?” or “what would I do in that situation?” or even “Why does this keep happening?”

Gun Control… De-mystified: 

HISTORY: The Second Amendment of the United States Constitution reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

To think back to the time of our founding fathers would mean with their view. in theory, the Revolutionary War. Most people could recognize that this is to mean that if for any reason the citizens felt the need to rise up and defeat the government, like a revolution per say, they would be armed and the state could not do anything regarding that. Therefore, the government could not induce a hostile take over of it’s own people. After all, this is America, which one could recall…
“by the people and for the people”

The Second Amendment and rulings regarding the second amendment:

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment

PRESENT: With a surge in the last twenty years alone of mass shootings that could occur any where and without any warning, everyone is barking up the “gun control” tree. This does not necessarily mean to remove our right to own guns. Technically, each state has it’s own rules currently. Such as, in the city of Chicago you cannot legally own a hand gun. In New York city, you cannot own a hunting rifle. In most states, it is required to get a background check if you purchase your fire arm from an authorized dealer (think gun shop or gun show). In the state of Georgia for example, you do not have to have a bill of sale even when selling from one individual to another.

State Gun Law reference link:

http://smartgunlaws.org/search-gun-law-by-state/

WHY IT MATTERS: People feel as if nothing is being done, to put it bluntly. People continue to acquire weapons, legally in the cases of the following mass shootings: Aurora, Colorado. Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut. The Community College in Oregon. The Charleston church shooting. All men purchased the guns legally. So the ideas being thrown around are as follows: Mental health screenings, tougher background checks, the smaller clips (this actually was passed post Sandy Hook), and the list goes on… what has not changed is that people keep dying. Families keep losing loved ones and it seems there is nothing the nation can do.  Except, you can vote. That is where everything changes.

CNN released this graph:

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/02/us/oregon-shooting-terrorism-gun-violence/

THE FUTURE: You can vote. That is the magic of a democracy. If you support gun control you can look up someone’s voting records or campaign financing (See previous post.) You might be wondering.. “campaign financing?” Yes. The NRA or National Rifle Association is large special interest group in Washington D.C. They advocate for gun rights and more importantly, fund candidates to run for office. Which means, that if you support gun rights and your candidate receives funding from the NRA, then you may be ok with this. If you do prefer gun restrictions, you may have an issue with your candidate being funded by the NRA, who  is an non-governmentaly organization who openly supports less gun restrictions. The choice is yours to make. Just be prepared for a lot (I mean a lot) of research.

Sincerely, Savannah

2016… and the no good, horrible, bad campaign season.

In all honesty, I feel as if I shouldn’t even give this topic the time of day. Unfortunately, every major news outlet has been giving it what seems to be all its air time… While the 2016 campaign is very important, that is not what the media discusses. They spend 99% of talking points on polling data and 1% talking about the actual policies and issues.

Voting is challenging. There is a lot of educating your self to do from policies to procedure.

• How do you know where the campaign funds come from?
• What is a trustworthy source for someone’s previous voting record?
• Where do I find out who my representatives are locally?
• Where can I register to vote?
• Where is my polling location?

Source for Campaign Finances (nationally and by state): 

http://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/campaign-finance-database-2014.aspx

Candidates Previous Voting Records:

http://votesmart.org/

Local Representatives:

http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/

Registering to Vote:

http://registertovote.org/index.html

Polling Locations:

http://registertovote.org/faq/how-do-i-find-my-polling-place.html

---

PLEASE keep in mind that CONGRESS makes the laws on a national/federal level and Your LOCAL STATE LEGISLATURE makes on them on a local/state level. While Presidential elections are important, they DO NOT effect us like local government elections. I beg of you to not only vote in the upcoming 2016 election, but also in your local elections as well.

Sincerely, Savannah

The Foundation: Tools of Understanding

So I realize I may have jumped straight in without laying a little ground work.. and I apologize. Understanding the Government in the United States of America may be helpful before we plunge headfirst off the cliff of international issues… Again, I apologize.

Generally, without giving a lesson in American Politics 101, you’ll need to know three basic things…

1. The Bill of Rights- the first 10 amendments and what they are

(http://billofrights.org/)

2. How the three branches of government work & what they are

(http://www.house.gov/content/learn/branches_of_government/)

3. The Consititution

(http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html)

These three things, in my opinion, are the tools. 1. The Bill of Rights are what every citizen should know as our undeniable rights. That means that government officials, other people, and so forth cannot deny anyone the right to have these… Not cops, not judges, not the President.  2. How the government works can be pretty tricky, but the basics are simple.  The three branches are Judicial, Legislative, and Executive. They each “check and balance” one another which means one cannot hold all the cards without the other two weighing in on the play. 3. The Constitution (I will save you the living, breathing, document lecture…) is our law of the land. This is what every law or action decided by our government is based on for it’s legality. Personally, I am a big fan of it. It’s broad enough to cover basics rights, but flexible enough to be applied to modern society.

 I provided links to sources I find helpful. I cannot stress the next point enough… DO NOT BELIEVE TV, TEXT BOOKS OR WORD OF MOUTH (easier said then done, but seriously try on this one). 99% of laws, bills passed or denied, news story based off of the government  can be found… ON THE GOVERNMENT’S WEBSITE (unless it’s classified) That’s right. You don’t have to rely on any 24 hours news network… I don’t care what paper you read, channel you watch.. it’s all biased. And it’s supposed to be. The actual content on these things you’d like to know more about (i.e. the gay marriage ruling from the Supreme Court) can be found in it’s entirity on the Supreme Court’s website! You can read it for your self.. skim it.. or just glance at it as opposed to taking someone else’s word for it. Thinking for yourself and understanding on your own is priceless.

Sincerely, Savannah

The Number One Human Rights Abuse – The Carter Center Presents…

July 8, 2015, 12:15 pm

President Carter Champions Women’s Human Rights at TEDWomen 2015

By The Carter Center

At a recent TEDWomen 2015 conference, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter spoke out against violence directed toward women and named abuse of women and girls as the number one human rights violation in the world.

“I hope you will join me, being a champion for women and girls across the world and protect their human rights,” he said.

Watch his TEDWomen2015 Talk below.

http://blog.cartercenter.org/2015/07/08/president-carter-champions-womens-human-rights-at-tedwomen-2015/

Première

This is my inaugural post which seems slightly intimidating. First let me introduce my self…

My name is Savannah (like the city, but not named after the city) and I am current majoring in Political Science at Georgia State University in Atlanta (this sounds like a resume already…) I am inordinately passionate about politics and the current system we operate under; a representative democracy. In this word press I hope to convey headlines that are both, domestic and international by nature, in a simple way. When first starting school, I could not fathom how people weren’t talking about the news or issues that affect them daily. I believe this is due to the fact that media, government and other entities make it challenging to understand, unless you’re a student of the art of politics (or drone over the three CSPAN networks daily… no one? Exactly.) How can one nation be a representation of all people if a high percentage cannot break through to even become interested?

THIS. This is my goal. I want to take stories that are dominating headlines and 24 hour news networks and break them down, make it easier to comprehend and most certainly make it relatable. While trying my hardest, I will give any amount of background information and/or sources cited as to be transparent as needed in the muddy waters of issues that plague the world today. Also, I will be forced to add sarcastic/witty anecdotes and maybe even possibly song lyrics… It’s only natural.

Enjoy reading. Enjoy sharing. If you’re feeling really up to it then comment below and give me any form of feedback. Unless you’re a troll… then please go outside, take a deep breath and reevaluate your choices. Thank you!

Sincerely, Savannah