Post 11

The top Republican in the US Senate reported that the bush era tax cuts and unemployment benefits that are due to expire will likely be extended. I think that if these seem to be efficient ways of keeping a balance in the economy, then we should extend them. However, I feel as though they could have the potential to be a bit outdated, as times and the situation have changed since Bush was president. It kinda seems like they just dont want to deal with the potential consequences of changing up the policies. Therefore, I am not really sure about how I feel about extending these policies.

Wikileaks

Today, tons of thousands of confidential reports were leaked on a website called Wikileaks. These lifted a curtain on our foreign policy, making private reports commenting candidly on foreign leaders and how to deal with situations in Iraq public. These papers were intended to be solely for those who were granted privilege to see them, and certainly not for the public or other countries to see. This has the potential to be harmful to our national security and relationships with other countries. Although I think that the American people have the right to be informed of certain things that happen within our government, I think that there is a point when the safety of our country and the security of our position in the world is more important than our right to be informed of what our government is doing, and so it is vital that the government has certain powers to keep certain things private and confidential.

TSA Body Scanners

The TSA chief said on Sunday that enhanced pat downs and full body scanners are neccessary for now. I think that the TSA is just trying to do their job and ultimately protect our lives. Personally, I would much rather have an overly thorough search that prevents me from being killed than a failed attempt to make sure that all those boarding my plane were not dangerous. Although some say this is way too invasive and not respectful of travelers' privacy, I think that everyone also has the right to feel safe and protected in a situation like this.

New Poll Communicates Reactions to Midterm Elections

A new poll just released indicated that just under half of all Americans are content with last week's midterm election results. I thought it was interesting that these results were interpereted to mean simply that more people were unhappy with the democratic policies, rather than they were actually enthused about the comeback of republicans. I think that, especially today, people are not happy with the state of our country, which is under primarily democratic rule. I think this poll is proof that politics seem to be focused on the negative, especially these days.

Filibuster

I think that this idea of a filibuster is a little ridiculous. I guess that in one sense I suppose it brings justice to the idea of democracy because it allows citizens of the country to voice their opinions and allows them to act on their beliefs. But on the other hand, this idea of someone literally standing up and reading out of the phonebook to postpone action on a bill is absurd to me. If used appropriately, I think this tool could be beneficial to democracy, but when this right is blown out of proportion, I think it harms the system.

Post #6

I think that in some aspects, our government has implied too much power, however in others, they need to be more involved in the issue. For example, government could be less involved in over regulating certain policies, but there are probably more in which they should increase their involvement, such as education. I believe that education is one of the most important things a government can invest in, because if the next generation is unattended to, the same mistakes will be repeated, leading to disastrous consequences. Therefore, I think government needs to attain a certain balance between doing too much and being overbearing, and not paying enough attention to the most important aspects and needs of society. This is a difficult thing to accomplish, and something I think our government needs to improve and work on.

Post #5

Even though one of the most important informal requirements seems to be having lots of money, I think that the middle class majority of our country is somewhat represented by these candidates. These days, it is basically imperative that a candidate have money-and lots of it-in order to simply run for office. I also think that women were somewhat represented before women were elected to h old public office, but ultimately increased their representation by having officeholders that were women themselves. The population of poor or middle class members of Congress is basically nonexistent, and although I think it is unfair and somewhat unrepresentative, I also think that it is just the way things in our political world work today, and so it must be accepted and made the bet of. I think that some informal requirements are worthwhile for candidates to have such as familial situations and their fundamental morals, however some are rather unfair, such as monetary situation and gender.