Immigration

In class we discussed a topic that has never really effected me, this topic is immigration. It wasn't until I thought about it that some of my friends have immigrated here from other countries. I realized that it effects me more then I could imagine. I always knew that America was one of the best places to live in the world, but I did not realize how many push factors their were from other countries. Their are push factors like the standard of living, an oppressive or corrupt government, religious freedom and many others. All of these contribute to the effect of immigration. I believe that immigration should be made alot easier. I tend to view the world in its entirety, not as individual countries but as a massive one. Although immigration makes it harder on the citizens of countries that people immigrate too I believe it is better as a whole. If somebody wants to immigrate, they should do it the right way. It should not be done illegally. I hate the idea of illegal immigrants takeing jobs away from hard working citizens. I do think it is a good idea for the world to try too immigrate less and help their own countries. I think that this way it will get more countries up to par so their wont be as many push factors, and possibly even some pull factors. If people keep immigrating away from their own countries, they will stay undeveloped and their pushfactors will continue to get worse and worse. I also think that it is sad that so many people are completely against immigration when they are oblivious to the conditions that people live in. They think that immigration is another reason as to why americans are loosing jobs. They dont even think about the situations that they are coming from and why they are immigrating. These are my personal opinions on immigration, peace.

Globalization

I think that globalization is one of the best things that can happen to the people of earth. It makes is so that communities, countries, and nations have to be dependent on each other. Since everybody is dependent on other countries around the world it makes it so that everybody must communicate with each other. When countries are independent it makes it so that they don't have to communicate with other nations which can never be a good thing. When people do not communicate, it makes them seem more foreign and not as friendly. Truly, I believe that for all of the negatives that globalization may seem to have the positives out number indefinitely. The world would be such a better place if everybody communicated with each other. In a few hundred years it wont be different countries or nations, eventually it will be just the world. People will realize that we are all living in the same place, just some people are farther apart from each other. Once that is realized their will be less wars, less hate, less racism, and more peace through out the world. Also, globalization isn't something that can be stopped, it will progress as our communication progresses. I believe it is going to happen weather one wants it to happen or not, it is just a matter of time. Another plus for globalization occurring is its effect on the economy. Globalization will force more companies to compete, in which case prices will drop. I think that when globalization fully occurs their will be a law placed for minimum wage through out the world. Their should not be sweat shops in Africa having people payed 2 cents for the entire day. It is just not right. If this law is not created then the same thing will happen with companies moving from the U.S. to places with cheap labor. Eventually companies will go to a different place with cheaper labor, then a different place once labor gets to be too expensive, and the cycle will repeat it self. For these reasons I strongly am in favor of globalization. It will force countries and nations to communicate with eachother. This will enable more peace through out the world. As I said before it does not matter if I, or anybody else, wants globalization to occur, it is something that will happen as time goes on.

Interest Groups & Thank You For Smoking

The movie Thank You For Smoking was surprisingly, very good. I was not sure what to expect from it. Well, that's not true... what I was expecting from the movie was a boring, informational, documentary that has to do with smoking. That is only because those are the types of movies we watch during school. I was happily surprised to watch a comedic movie discussing the minuses as well as the pluses to smoking. Is their really somebody like this right now, at this very moment that is doing what Nick Naylor is doing. Advocating for the distribution of a poisonous substance? And doing it so successfully? (Not to mention having a continuous monologue describing the major events of his/her life) It is weird to think that their is. It is weird to think that their are hundreds of people just like Nick Naylor advocating for guns, alcohol, smoking, and probably all different types of drugs. The idea of an interest group is interesting. We discussed in class today how the people in the interest group try to bend the truth and deceive the majority of the world with the tittles of their group. For instance in the movie Thank You For Smoking the name of the big tobacco company that Nick Naylor was working for was called The Academy of Tobacco Studies. This sounds like a very productive, studious, formal group that studies the effects of Tobacco. In reality (or the movie's reality) it is a group made to show the benefits of tobacco and deny the negative affects of it. What we also discussed today in class is how money pretty much rules the world. The money that the big tabacco companies make is used to fund research, hire scientists, and premote the good things that smoking can do for you. It is the same for any interest group. The more money it has the more power it has, and that means it has more influence over the public. If I was to start an interest group it would most likely have to do with video games. All I ever hear about them is how they are bad for you in some way or another. I want to find all of the good things that video games can do for somebody. Personally, I think they can do wonders for ones self confidence and many other things. So in conclusion Thank You For Smoking is a very good movie. Interest groups are somewhat scary. The world is ruled by wealth. And last but certainly not least, Videogames are awesome.

The Race: The Remaining Few Fight

The presidential election of 2008 is one of the closest elections in over thirty years. On the Democratic side the remaining canidates are Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. On the Republican side the remaining canidates are John McCain, Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul. On a national level Barack Obama had 927 pledged delegates. Hilary Clinton has 880. McCain has 710 and a commanding lead over Huckabee, 231, and Paul, who only has 14. If their is no clear front runner for both the democratic and republican side it goes into sub delegates, or something like that. I am not quite sure how the process works, and neither are my parents. Only a few days ago Mitt Romney dropped out of the race to be come the next president. He said that he was just a distraction. Romney who is very wealthy, used his own money for the election. I think this is rather funny, and also quite sad, that he would spend millions of his own money just to drop out of the race. It would of been better if he spent that money on charity or something that would benifit society. Instead he wasted it on flyers and "Vote For Me" pins. He put so much time and effort in to the race, i dont understand why he would drop out. It wasnt even as if he was doing poorly, or was completely out of the running to becoming the next president. He just gave up, which doesnt make much sense to me. For our goverment project, the group i am in was assigned John McCain, who i didnt really like. Previously i had only wanted Obama or Clinton to win, but the more research i do on McCain the more i agree with his policies. The only policy i dont agree with is his war stance. He beleives that we shouldnt pull out of Iraq until the job is done completely and correctly. He also doesnt want to support Israel, as much as bush did. I really think that Obama would be an amazing president. I also think that Clinton would be a good president as well. Especially because she would have Bill Clinton behind her. He was a good president and has alot of experience in office. Overall i think the next months will be extremely interesting. Their will be major changes and hopefully they will be for the better.

Democracy Or Dynasty???

In "The Talk Of The Town" it displayed a point that I hadn't even thought about. How in a democratic country with hundreds of thousands of different families living in it, two of them have ruled the country for 20 now, possibly even 28, years. That is a scary thought. If Clinton wins the 2008 election then becomes reelected it would mean that the United States of America has had been run by two families for 28 years. How could this be? Has it just been luck? Or knowing the right people? I believe it is because the name is familiar. This is not the first time in history that this has happened. It happened with the Adam's for 2 and 6 and Harrison's for 9 and 23. As well as the Roosevelt's for 26 and 32. Why does this keep on occurring? Maybe it is not so complicated. When a parent does something it seems really easy to accomplish that goal. My father is a doctor and it seems easy for me to do that and follow in his footsteps(Although I don't want too at all). When somebody you know accomplishes a goal it makes it seem all the more feasible to accomplish your self. In ordinary kid would think of running for president and think of it as an impossible task. When George Bush saw his Dad could do it he realized it was possible and did it himself. As this article states the factor is dynasty. The second to last sentence in the article is "Bush's failure to learn much of anything for the past six years suggests a deficit of character, not of experience: his unwillingness to employ his father's skills and advice on behalf of the nation shows a disrespectful disregard for a dynasty's biggest advantage. " I believe this sentence sums it up. If you are put into office because you are a link in the chain of a dynasty use all the knowledge that your previous "links" used to create the chain. By doing this it makes the chain and the nation stronger.

Blog Numero Uno.... again: The Election

This was one of the harder Blogs to write, mainly because I did not know what to write about. I have never taken a liking to politics or government. Seeing as how I will be eighteen by the next presidential election, this would be a good time to start taking an interest in those things. My mom is a democrat, and my father is a republican, and I have no clue what I am. I find it interesting that a person is one or the other. Almost always if a person is a republican they will vote for the republican candidate even if they agree with a candidate from a different party. The same is for every other party. What I believe decides who will be the winner of any election, is the few people that are extremely unbiased and the number of voters. The people that always vote republican or always vote democrat, those numbers will not change. The people that vote based on each candidates policies and thoughts are the votes that truly count. Also the number of people that vote is a large factor. I am extremely new to the system of voting and I don't really get how it works. For a long time I thought everybody votes, they total up the votes and who ever has the most wins. But this is not true, it is a lot more complicated. I feel as if it is too complicated. I also believe that voting should be open for up too a week. So if people are busy or if an emergency occurs they may still have time to vote. Another option is that the day the vote occurs it should be a sort of holiday and their should not be school for seniors or work for adults. This way everybody is able to vote and does not have much of an excuse. By doing this alot more votes would be calculated and everybody feels as if they were able to contribute in the election process. But I am not sure if everybody's vote really does matter. In the last presidential election Al Gore wont the popular vote but lost the electoral vote and ended up losing the election. This makes absolutely no sense to me. How can the majority of citizens in a democratic country vote for somebody then have a different candidate win. I have asked people to explain this to me but when ever I ask them they give me a very vague answer, that only complicates my thoughts, and makes me believe that they don't know the answer them selves. Either way, it has been eight years since that occurred and it is time for a new president to move into the oval office.