Current Events: NSA Reform

In January of 2014 Obama acknowledged the corruption of the NSA security monitoring. He said in a quote from the article, "Our system of government is built on the premise that our liberty cannot depend on the good intentions of those in power," Obama says. "It depends on the law to constrain those in power.". This quote shows that Obama actually cares that the system that was in place was broken and gave way too much power to the security system. This connects to our studies by violating our core democratic values. The value of privacy was invaded through our government violating our personal information. I think that it has had an impact on the people of the United States by degrading their trust in the government.

Is the president honest with the People of the US

Does the president of the United states have to be honest with the people all the time? In my opinion no. As much as I would like to say that the president should be honest, it's not realistic or practical. We elected the president to lead the country, so it is his or her choice whether he or she thinks we can handle the information. Based on this, the president should be able to lie about things to either soften the reality of some things. While this is true there are also things that could be bad to lie about. For example, if some sort of huge disaster was to occur, then it would be the job of the president to notify their people of what has happened and take measures to assure the people that they are safe, or find a way to protect them. That is my opinion on how honest the president should be.

North Korea report Current events

Recently, the UN sent individuals to investigate some of the injustices going on in North Korea. According to an article I found titled "Your guide to North Korea's Crimes Against Humanity", by Timothy McGrath, the individuals gathered testimonies from 80 people and  interviewed more than 240 people. According to the article some horrific events are occurring in Korea. The homes have fixed line televisions that have to be registered with the government. What this means is that the government can broadcast any announcement, at any time of day. Children start working as young as the age of 5 in some forced labor camps. In the prisons, the facts get even scarier. Most prisoners don't have any idea about what they are in jail for. In some prisons, they have underground prison cells where the doors are 3 ft tall and so the prisoners have to crawl to get in and out of their cells. To quote the article,"...he was told by a guard 'when you get to this prison you are not human , you are just like animals, and as soon as you get to this prison, you have to crawl just like animals,". Another part of the article mentions that forced abortions by exhaustion, rape, torture, and deliberate starvation are common prisons. These findings are completely contradictory to our core democratic values. While we have life, liberty, and happiness, they have starvation, government monitoring, and brutal secret prison camps. Through these examples it is proven that  North Korea needs to be punished for their actions.

Does "Trickle-Down Economics" work?

In my opinion, trickle down economics don't work. Giving a small portion of the US population tax cuts so that the whole country can benefit makes no sense. Bottom-up economics is much more logical. Bottom-up economics gives the majority of the country tax cuts. This helps out our economy giving those who need the money they spend on taxes back to buy consumer goods. The effects of bottom-up economics are much more positive than that of trickle down economics. By letting the lower class and middle class have larger tax cuts and placing more taxes on the rich makes the lower and middle classes economically closer to the upper class making less social prejudice based on wealth. This is my opinion on trickle down economics.

How has media affected societies ideals

                Media has affected societies ideals in many ways. In the media today we see celebrities with addictions to drugs and committing crimes. But because they have money and everyone knows and loves them, they get away with much more than average person Also, with everyone seeing their celebrity role models doing drugs and disobeying the law, it makes teenagers want to be more like them and in turn raises crime and drug rates. It also affects what people think is socially acceptable. When some famous person somewhere does anything new or undiscovered the whole world immediately focuses attention on them. In my opinion it is unhealthy to idolize someone you haven't met or had any relations with because you don't know them. They could be a terrible person off screen but whenever there are cameras they are an angel. But there is also a positive side to media. There are the educational programs that can teach people a lot about the topic of what they are on, there are people who help others and are shown to people which inspires them. Those are some ways that i think media affects society.

Why people cared about Clinton's scandal so much

People cared about Bill Clinton's scandal more than any other president's. This could be attributed to the fact that the people of the '90s viewed the scandal as entertainment-like. This has changed from the previous belief of people. The old way was to seperate the personal lives of presidents from their professional duties. When Bill Clinton had a scandal during his presidency, I don't think it should have gone as far as possible impeachment. The president was elected by the people based on skill at running a governing body, not at how well he looks as a figurehead. In conclusion Bill Clinton's scandal should not have gone to the brink of impeachment.

What Would Have Happened if JFK Hadn't Been Assassinated

What would have happened if  JFK hadn't been assassinated? I think that the Kennedy administration would have helped the U.S out of poverty and the U.S would not have the debt now that it does. With a full first term and a second term, Kennedy would have been able to handle domestic issues and debt to a manageable level by placing funding in a profitable area. With this, many future disasters could be avoided  With LBJ never becoming president Nixon would not have become president because without the Johnson administration the people of the united states would still be accepting of liberal values and they would have elected another Democratic president. Because Watergate would have never have happened, the citizens of the US would not have much mistrust towards the government or the president. The value of one leader to nation could make the government, economy, and overall success of a nation skyrocket, or fail, and John F. Kennedy had the potential to greater the nation in many different ways.