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.

Presidential Factors

There are many factors that contribute to a president's overall success. First, there is leadership. Leading through a tough time make a president very respectable if they deal with it well and make few mistakes that would damage the peoples' lives or how they live them. A positive version of this would be FDR being a good sturdy leader during World war two. A negative portion of leadership was Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression, while he did try to create jobs, he will always be remembered by how he let everyone further and further into economic depression. Second, is connection with the citizens. A president who leads from the streets and not from a pedestal behind a wall of security is a very likable one. To me a president that shows they understand what struggles even the lowest class is going through is one that should be in office not one born into a privileged family and has never seen the struggles of poverty. Third, the ability to withhold a good economy when a stable or profitable economic environment is present then the whole country generally is more accepting of the president. A;though no president is perfect, these factors could get a president very close to it on my list.

Age Group to Politics

I think that our generation needs to know more about politics. Many of the students in my grade are not knowledgable in politics or what is going on, myself included. But I also think this is not totally our fault. Our education needs to incorporate more current events into lessons. The education we are receiving is more focused on historical events than current events and things that are more relevant to the "real world" and what we should know when we vote for a president. If our curriculum leaves out some current issues and what future presidential candidates are planning on doing and how it could affect us then we are going to either not vote, or make a misinformed decision. I'm conclusion, our generation is not knowledgable about politics but the education system needs to cope to the needs of the future voting body.

War Protest Music

1.      The Government takes from the people to support a war that they don't support in the first place 

2.      That people shouldn't support the war and 

3.      No ,they can be taken from other time periods that the government was against the people on a decision of how to handle something

4.      There are very mysterious and strange lyrics which could refer to psychedelic things 

How does a population of people agree with radical ideas

In World War II many radical ideas appeared in the countries involved with the war. One of the more notable, of course was Hitler and the genocide of the Jews and "political enemies" of his. The way that Hitler convinced the people of Germany that it was OK to kill the Jewish population, in my opinion was a gradual increase in giving false and some true reasons for the majority of the population to have prejudice towards the Jews. A true reason for the German population to dislike the Jewish population in Germany was that most of their wealth was owned by a Jewish population meaning that while most of the country was in poverty, the Jewish population was well off.

     

While this was true, most of the reasons were false and lead to kristallnacht which could be marked as the start of the Holocaust. Kristallnacht, or night of broken glass, was on the 9th and 10th of November 1938 and was the coordinated attacks of Jewish shops, synagogues, and homes by the Nazi secret police.During the events of those nights 1,000 synagogues were burned, and 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed, 91 were killed, and 30,000 were arrested and taken to concentration and forced labor camps. In conclusion, when a population agrees with radical ideas it is a gradual movement fed at first by facts then transpires to lies.

 

Norman Rockwell

 

1. I selected this picture because it reminds me of when my family would have thanksgiving at my house.
2. What stands out to me is that no one is un-happy and everyone is conversing which is unusual for a family gathering
3. The values that this represents are how family was the center and how respect for elders played a big role in family life.
4.  Yes because most people do have large family gatherings to eat a good meal and catch up with relatives.
5. I think that a core Democratic value that this picture represents is life because it shows that everyone appreciating the meal and living life with family
6. Yes, I think that America has changed. I think the rising divorce rates are making a tightly knit family life less common
7. I think we are good. This painting shows we are good because without us the world would most likely be speaking German right now so I do believe the US is good