Caught Up in the Past?

The blog entry Caught Up in the Past discusses a very important issue being the compromise of past intentions and the betterment of the future. I feel that the founding fathers intentions are very important because they helped get us where we are today. I also think that traditions should be preserved and respected as much as possible to produce a more united and patriotic nation. I understand that times are changing and we should make some necessary changes in our government to accommodate for that but at the same time the focus on the words of the constitution is more for government consistency than being stuck in the past.

The issue of selective incorporation is more of a matter of the past government disputes than how we deal with cases now. While that points out that past legislative officials were not efficient in the way they conducted government it doesn't reflect the constitution in present day America. It could, however, possibly be an indicator that they were incompetent in their practice and were possibly incapable of creating an effective constitution that could be used for generations which was their intention.

In terms of legal concerns with new and unforeseen innovations such as stem cell research I definitely believe that we should be thinking more so about how we feel now than on words in the constitution that weren't meant for these contemporary issues. While the focus should be on current thoughts and ideas there is some legitimacy in the words of the constitution because they were meant to be effective in all conceivable situations. That being said, I think a carefully crafted combination of old and new methods is the best solution to the nations concerns with the constitutions use.

Conservative Views Inflicting Personal Beliefs On a Free Country

In voting on issues such as gay marriage and abortion many people who are against the legalization of the two are acting on a personal note rather than an objective legal stance. Seeing as how America was founded on the premise of being a free country and having equal rights it is in my opinion outrageous that these people are even having any sort of effect on the legal system. Even if i were for myself not fond of gay people or if I were to think that abortions were morally wrong I wouldn't take that decision away from other people who have different beliefs.

The institution of marriage may to some people be between a man and a women in terms of religion or personal belief but same sex marriages wont be in any way affecting those people other than them not being comfortable with the idea. Whether these people get the legal paper that says they are married or not will not stop them from having commitment ceremonies which in their minds ties them together for life so whether or not to give them the same rights that opposite sex couples receive shouldn't even be an issue.

On the issue of abortion I believe that it should be a choice made by the mother who is the one who would have to go through the pregancy. There should definitely be restrictions on the time frame in which the abortion is legal so that the fetus is not developed for instance the first trimester or earlier could be the only opportunity for the decision to be made. The potential mother of the child would in that case feel free to make the decision early and prevent possible real damage that could occur if they panic and try to perform the abortion themselves much later on in their pregnancy. This issue is very similar to the gay marriage issue in that whether or not it is legal many pregnant women will find a way to abort their pregnancy if it is unwanted.

Raising Gas Prices

In response to the blog entry Gas price average: Arm-and-leg US $/Gallon, some very important issues and solutions are brought up. I feel that the most important focus should be on alternative energy solutions rather than bringing the gas prices back down to where they used to be. While our gas prices are much higher than they were several years ago if you compare them to many European prices they are actually not very high at all. Taking the worldwide high gas rates into account makes it apparent that we should be looking elsewhere to fuel alternatives. Also if there are fuel alternatives the oil industry will no longer be able to charge such high prices for gas because no one would buy when they have other better for the environment and possibly cheaper options.

The fact that oil companies are banking while United States citizens are dishing out all their money is an important issue. There could possibly be government mandated restrictions on gas prices which could take into account the price of getting the oil and reasonable salaries for the oil employees which would keep them from excessive gains. The prospect of actually getting legal restrictions on salaries is most likely out of the question which is why we should, again, be focusing on alternative energy solutions.

As talked about in "Gas Price Average: Arm-and-Leg US $/Gallon" the lack of a vast and efficient public transportation system contributes highly to the problem. If we have more convenient bus routes and more subway systems it would cut back emensely on the need for fuel as well as pollution. The suggested four day work week isn't, in my opinion, a good sollution to the issue because people still drive on the weekends and many places are open every day of the week. This would be good for commuters who have to drive long distances to get to work but overall I don't feel it would have a great effect.

Universal Healthcare

The prospect of universal health care has been a topic of debate among politicians for quite some time now and if done right this system would be very beneficial to American citizens as a whole. Obama is universal health care in his presidential campaign whereas McCain is not only not in support of it but doesn't seem to have any better ideas as to how to deal with the lack of good medical care in America, that or he doesn't find it to be an important issue. I feel that health care should be one of the top concerns to politicians and the government and our money should definitely not being going to places such as Iraq to fund a war that doesn't have any reason for existing when it could be going to help Americans receive better health care. Taking funds and military out of Iraq would not only leave more money to fun health care but it would also result in less war injuries which would require medical care.

Many are concerned that issuing universal health care would mean poor health care for citizens who otherwise would have been able to afford better. If the system is done right then this shouldn't be an issue and if it were to become an issue there could possibly be some sort of system which allows people to pay more to get better health care. This way at least everyone would have some health care even if it's not all equal which is better than we can say about the current circumstances.

Extending health care to all citizens would stimulate the economy by creating a healthier population capable of being much more productive and able to give back to the community. America is ranked among the highest compared to other countries for many different aspects of government and populations so the very low standard for medical care in our country is outrageous and in need of some serious change.

Obama was selected, not elected

In Ann Coulter's blog "Obama Was Selected, Not Elected" she generalized that liberals as if they all were exactly the same which already discredited her opinion as being at all objective. Coulter pointed out that the situation with Obama having one the primaries but with Hillary having won the popular vote for the primaries is very similar to that in 2000 with Gore and Bush. Her argument is that liberals will twist the situation in order to prove their point in the moment but that they don't have a solid argument in the first place. According to Coulter, liberals don't validate the constitution's purpose to put forth liberty, prosperity and security in the way they think the constitution validates gay marriage. Coulter has a strong stance on the process of electing president in which each state chooses electors who pledge their vote to certain candidates. She most likely could have shown her stance without being so condescending and arrogant for example when she makes the comment about the possibility that liberals might understand the rules of American Idol but not the process for selecting the president of the United States. Throughout Coulter's blog she uses many pop culture references which are at times helpful but it comes off more so that she doesn't trust America's knowledge of the government system in America. There is probably some legitimacy in her apparent claim that those voting for Obama and Clinton don't understand the process but she seems to take it a little beyond the possible evidence and more towards patronizing. Coulter supports Hillary's desire to take the primaries election to the Democratic National Convention because of the difference between the rules on the presidential party primaries and the actual presidential elections. In dealing with party primaries there are no rules in the constitution stating that they have to be done in a certain way in contrast to the presidential election where there are constitutional rules. I feel like the lack of constitutional rules is irrelevant and the two processes should work in the same way going, as is now, by the electoral system or changing to popular vote but that there shouldn't be a disparity between the two.

Unravelling Al Qaeda

Austin Bay Blog comments on the Al Qaeda's information warfare loss by noting that it's also becoming a physical loss. Austin Bay forsees an attack of some sort, be it chemical or nuclear/radiological in nature, as a possibility based on the possible terrorist population in Iraq. Fighting and defeating Al Qaeda in the Middle East was seen as essential to ensure American power and safety according to Austin Bay. This action created an alternative to terrorists and weapons of mass destruction for Americans. Destruction was brought to Al Qaeda's home land because the Arab-Muslim war was an intra-Muslim issue. Austin Bay sees that issue as something that was utilized by the Al Qaeda defeat on home turf. Lots of close calls when it comes to terrorist attacks are seen to be existent in our recent history after 9-11 by Austin Bay. The offensive strategy against Al Qaeda and the "military-legal" approach are seen to be most effective in dealing with terrorist issues over just the "legal" approach. Austin Bay Blog emphasizes that its long standing viewpoint on these foreign relation issues is slowly starting to be seen by TNR.

I believe that evidence supports Austin Bay's take on the matter of foreign relation and terrorist attacks against the United States. At the same time the exact mechanisms were not specific enough to determine if these policies are fully effective because of the lack of detail on the different approaches or what exactly it is that Austin Bay supports about the "military-legal" approach. It is described as using not just legal but also military force to protect Americans but the exact use of force is not fully explained which leaves room for possible fault.

The U.S. and Iraq are in the process of negotiating a long-term security agreement and there is speculation that the U.S. plans to enslave Iraqis through this security agreement. Because of this possibility, there is talk of the Islamic world stopping this negotiation to preserve the Iraqi people's freedom from American's.

As discussed in the article Iran: U.S. Security Deal Will Enslave Iraqis, other speculation is that this agreement would result in permanent occupation of American troops in Iraq. With the finality of this agreement, the legal basis to keep U.S. troops in Iraq would be established despite the end of the U.N. mandate at the end of this year. Support of this deal comes from the belief that it will ensure that the Iraq's Shiite-led government will not become a satellite of the Shiite-dominated Iran as American occupation decreases in Iraq. The hope is that the final decision on this deal will be resolved by midsummer of this year.