Don't Ask, Don't Tell..Don't Repeal?

"Obama has made choices identical to those that would have been made by the Bush Administration." Jon Turley, a law expert at George Washington University, stated after hearing about Obama's decision to not repeal the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. It certainly is confusing how Obama is acting towards perhaps one of issues he most advocated for in the past. Obama pledged to end the policy, and once the opportunity came he turned it down. Many debate whether it is important or not how a person goes about accomplishing a goal, just as long as it is accomplished. I would say it is important. I would argue that yes, morals and reasoning are very important behind reasoning when it comes to reaching a goal, such as repealing this act. Yet, one must make their reasoning clear. Hopefully, Obama does come to justify himself and bring about clear reasoning rather than more confusion like he has done thus far.

Jerry Brown vs. Meg Whitman

After learning that a police group was considering endorsing Meg Whitman, one of Jerry Brown's staffords accused Whitman of being a "whore". Was this said because the news was a shock to Brown's team? It seems interesting to me because with this particular police group Whitman promised protection of their pensions, where as Brown promised little. So to say that response was appropriate is clearly wrong. That vile language should never be used in politics. While Brown apologized in the debate, Whitman answered no when asked if he had previously apologized which shows how little he cared on a personal level. As result of this slur though, Brown must fire any person on his staff who uses that derogatory language. So overall how has this incident effected the election? This incident has nothing to do with important issues that need to be addressed by future governors. If this incident has swayed many votes though, we must pay closer attention to how much of elections are based off of public perception rather than who is more fit by their actions and views..

Gerrymandering

How can gerrymandering (dividing voting districts so as to give an unfair advantage to a certain party in  elections) be justified? While i understand that this is just another way to advocate for a particular party, i believe that the manipulation used in this process is just short of fraud..to be put rather bluntly. I just feel as if this issue is often overlooked because it has become hard to hold politicians accountable for their underhanded actions..but we must. We need to stop the power grab and protect voters and the electoral process. To do so i think it would be smart to vote yes on Prop 20 so that the voter-approved Citizens Redistricting Commision, not politicians, will draw congressional districts. For example, Sacramento politicians still draw California districts so that their friends in Congress are basically guaranteed reelection. We need to pass Prop 20 to prevent this. Furthermore, it would also be wise i feel to vote no on Prop 27, because it is another blatant example of a political power grab. Overall, i think it is obviously unfair for politicians to draw their own election districts because they do so only to protect their jobs.

Blog #1 (p.84)

I believe that my family has affected my approach to politics immensely because they have in no way pushed their political views on me or held certain expectations for my opinions. Rather, they have always given me freedom to think what i want and believe in what i want. That said, they have always encouraged me to find reason for such thoughts and beliefs as well as be mindful of differing views. That has probably been the most encouraging thing they have done for me because that is what has caused me to be constantly mindful of differing views and open to expanding my own.

One issue that particularly interests me is the environment. Right now it is known that is declining, but i wonder sometimes if we are doing enough to make it evident. I just feel as if we , as a country, could do so much to help it and take care of but a lot of us continue to neglect it for very plain and simple reasons such as laziness. In order to resolve an issue, we must care enough for it. So for now, we should be conscious of our actions towards the earth because of the detrimental damage we can do and also, we need to do our best to care and bring about more awareness and alternatives.

Voting Age

After a lot of consideration, i have come to the conclusion that maybe it wouldn't be that terrible if voting age were to be lowered. While i think we must be mindful of how young is too young, i think if it were to drop by one or two years that would be acceptable. If you think about it, most teenagers around the age of 16 or 17 can legally drive, be charged for a crime, go to work and even get married with parental consent in some cases. I think that lowering the voting age has a greater potential of helping our country rather than hurting it if we take into consideration the falling voting rates of people between the ages of 18 to 25 that have occurred recently. Maybe by starting earlier, people will find voting to become more of a habit and on top of that be more encouraged to seek out their political opinions.