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.

 

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

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