I have talked to many people about political issues and through these I have grown to become more centrist. I am taking Economics at my local community college and have become a lot more centrist than I used to be, but also have found that some policies make sense, regulating health care, not being afraid of intervening in the economy through a Stimulus or New Deal, or looking over banks, keeping them from doing shady deals that put the economy of the entire world in danger.
There are many threats, Terrorism, drugs, shady deals, there are too many to count! But when you get down to it, the one threat that I think is the biggest threat is two closely related threats, 1. The distrust of all elected Politicians regardless of party, and 2. The fear of knowledge.
I define my first one is the belief that no matter what you say the politicians will always only do what they want and will not listen. The second one means being afraid of Websters, meaning not looking things up, which means when you reach a big word you won't expand your vocabulary.
This threatens us all because it makes so that the corrupt politicians really can do whatever they want because the average American will not look up what their Representative, Senator, Governor, or President are doing beyond the corrupt news media on both sides of the aisle. (the only American sources I have seen that are neutral are NPR, and CNET.) People honestly believe that the politicians are out to get everyone, and they don't care about the people at the bottom and the middle. They need to look at what their representatives, senators, and the President are doing from an open mind, and listen to any addresses that they might have.
One prime example is someone I love. He/She said that Obama isn't for bipartisianship. He/She said listening to the State of the Union was a waste of time, and doesn't listen to the Weekly Addresses. He/She frightened me by his fear of Democrats. He/She decided to look at summaries of the State of Union and assumed he/she heard everything. By not doing this he/she is worse than a slave because he/she is being manipulated every day by Fox news spreading only the things that make Obama look bad. He missed one important detail from the speech and I quote: "That's why I've called for a bipartisan fiscal commission, modeled on a proposal by Republican Judd Gregg and Democrat Kent Conrad." ~Barack Obama State of the Union. The summaries wouldn't report this because it makes him look good. It isn't the President who is locking out Republicans, it is the Senate and the House. They should be ashamed. He didn't hear that or any of the Weekly addresses, which means that he doesn't hear this message. When Rush Limbaugh, or Fox quotes the President they will quote "We want the taxpayers’ money back, and we’re going to collect every dime." which makes it sound like he will hike taxes up. What he really said was, "Many originally feared that most of the $700 billion in TARP money would be lost. But when my administration came into office, we put in place rigorous rules for accountability and transparency, which cut the cost of the bailout dramatically. We have now recovered most of the money we provided to the banks. That’s good news, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s not good enough. We want the taxpayers’ money back, and we’re going to collect every dime." The first one makes it sound like he will hike up taxes on families, when in truth, he will actually be having Banks pay back the stimulus, just like a loan.
Second, I hear people say that someone proposed an amendment, but they won't look and see if it passed the vote. You can propose as many pork amendments as you like, but if they don't pass the vote it won't happen.
Finally, there is the problem, but how does it hurt our freedom? It makes it so that when Congresspeople vote on a bill without anyone reading it they will all be fired if they do enough serious offenses. When the media says that Congressman Joe Bob from Mecca made an amendment that would give all Meccans a tax break on said tax, they will assume it is part of the bill. They do not go to the bill, download the text, and then press ctrl-f and type in Mecca, and then see that the amendment isn't part of the bill because it was voted down! This makes it so that good legislation is shot down when it could save the economy. Yes, I am talking about the Health Care bill. We need to not be afraid of long texts and know that we can pull a single uncommon word out of Ulysses on a computer in less than 10 seconds if it runs. We must do this. If we don't than lobbyists that are not there for charity will continue to rule Capital Hill. If we do, than we will not shop at those places, they will close, which means that the purpose of lobbying has gone away.
America, please do not be afraid of your politicians. They are literally your servant and if enough people look and report the truth of what they are doing they will have their careers ruined, which solves the problem of corruption because it will not benefit anyone. If every able American spent at least 5 minutes a day, watched the speeches, looked into the bills, than they would be unable to do the amendments because their in-boxes would be full and then be voted out at the next election. Democracy is strong and beautiful, and good votes rely on information, but as the display at my local fire station says "The Majority Rules, but only if the Majority Votes."
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