Democracy's Future

 

Thomas Jefferson once said: “I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.” From wasting the labors of the people....All around us the government has made promises for our well being.  Many of those promises have not been followed through, it was more like an effect of "thank god the government cares." Fake.  There is other examples to back up this opinion:"The Bush administration made no secret of its intention to deal harshly with individuals, groups, or states who challenged U.S. global dominance"(p.325). I am so over this world dominance stuff. Sorry I will be blunt this time in my blog. I don't have any religious basis, but the government apparently is supposed to. Did the bible not thump that equility is a virtue? Why does the U.S. have to be dominant? Why can we not work with the better sources of life to create a better world? Unanswered questioned. Do not tell me its politics. The people running our politics are only people. Same Ivy league school as any doctor or lawyer, why can they not think for the better?  The media entirely plays into it as well:

"...The media and corporate interests more generally have vigorously tried to shape public opinion"(p.327).  Now we touch on the sense of greed. The president is a human. He is not all forbidding god or such. They are becoming greedy of their power as of the blogs I have previously posted show proof. I am both scared and disgusted by how "the people" have let things get this far. "Critical engagement can be both politically effective and politically infectious"(p.328) EVERYONE if you want your life to be the better and the best for your children then please vote. Go to conferences. Attend Colorado One. Talk to the people who control our government face to face.  I hope I live to see the day we become a whole nation once more.

Economic Policy

This week I want to take a more humorous look since we are talking about the economic policy.  John Vaillant can help me there: "Our listeners asked us: 'What is chaos?' We're answering: 'We do not comment on economic policy.'  Economic policy is hard to bring into a good light especially after the well known spoils of President Bush.  Fiscal policy is a major factor of the economic policy.  "Fiscal policy envisions government budgets as thermostats, adjusting automatically to counteract the economy's ups and downs...It also establishes the priorities and values of the government"(p. 302). Through fiscal policy I believe we can make a judgment on how the government operates.  Fiscal policy shows exactly what the government prefers to value even when they make promises on many fields and don't follow through. "President Bush offered the largest tax breaks to the rich and provided only modest relief to working the middle-class families who were most likely to spend it"(p.305).  Again I ask the question of why the heck did the American people vote bush in for two terms?  I can't even answer that myself.  Bush placed our economy into major debt in deficits.  It's sad to think that a student can take courses in micro and macro economics to understand the supply and demand base of the market and better understand how the system works more than the president and other officials. Along with this issue: "Firms must comply with fewer regulations, and those regulations that exist are not often vigorously enforced"(p.318).  There are not enough regulations on firms to restrict their doings. Placing us in further ground of no control. 

The Welfare State

"The welfare state is not really about the welfare of the masses. It is about the egos of the elites."  The previous quote made by Thomas Sowell known as an American economist and social critic, makes a point in how Welfare is a control of the government. Through the reading there are points made at the start of how low American welfare percentages are.  Almost like a race to be better in one more thing.  However, when welfare becomes a problem and taxes are raised and the domino effect of the economy starts, employers will find a new means to meet their end. "Employers are tempted to move their investments to locations where tax rates are relatively low and welfare states are relatively small"(p.273).   This causes jobs to move out of our economy, making the unemployment rate sky rocket. With unemployment comes more need for welfare to support those who have lost their jobs. "Poverty rates are sensitive to political choices governments make about the welfare state"(p.294).  Can I blame the government then?  Every election year we come across the same talk such as lowering welfare and bringing jobs to the country.  Then once the president is placed in office they are distracted by all the other things that are required of him then to keeping their word from their campaign's.
"The economic boom of the 1990s has been replaced with stubborn unemployment...Where the opposite, states are eliminating programs, making eligibility requirements stricter, cutting benefits, and enforcing administrative rules more strictly in an effort to reduce spending"(p.291). During the age of Clinton, our economy was at its best. Then when hands where changed over to  Bush everything came falling down on our heads.  Is it poor government that holds us back? I believe so, the first time Bush stepped into office the economy began to fall. Then we vote him into office again? Are you kidding me? Did we not learn the first time?

Foreign Policy

There are two major forms of foreign policy taken to American expansion abroad: "economic penetration by multinational corporations into Europe and the  developing world, and political and military influence exercised by the American government" (p.246).  Through the American timeline, foreign policy has been growing and growing to create and American superiority.  "The goal of American policymakers for well over half a century has been to maintain U.S. global superiority" (p. 259).  There is some major problems with keeping this thought process. One is that many nations do not like the fact that the United States has held such a strong hand in military and economic welfare such as imports and exports, controlling a major amount of the worlds supply.  This led to a major mistake by a power hungry President, this mistake is known as Unilateralism. "The president [Bush] also decided that the United States would reject a UN treaty banning land mines, despite its upport by most nations of the world.  Another example of unilateralizm was the Bush administration's decision to reject the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, a tribunal created to try cases involving genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity" (p.260) By rejecting these courts, Bush put the American people in a horrible position of losing popularity.  It made us seem like a godly country instead of taking aid from the nations we considered to be allies.  Now the Allies are not very happy with our actions especially with the facts of us posting camp in Iraq's backyard.  American's are now more despised more than ever in mostly every country. William G. Hyland, the deputy national security adviser to President Gerald Ford states: “Protectionism is the ally of isolationism, and isolationism is the Dracula of American foreign policy.” The following statement is only a mere metaphor of Foreign policy but I felt it fit because America has isolated itself, which to me is a very big mistake.
My question: what was Bush trying to make a point of by throwing the American people into isolation instead of at least establishing a hand of help with allies? We are not a godly country, that is not why we fought the revolutionary war or the civil war. We wanted to create our own state of freedom and we did, getting help from Allies is not a contradiction to what this country is about. Actually denying the help is more disasterous than accepting.