| JuryFury.com
Now Every 15th of the Month ! Online School of Politics |
|||
| Areas of Interest THE USA American Foreign Policy US House and Senate US Presidents State & Local Politics Regional Politics Politics of China The British Commonwealth Indian Subcontinent Middle East The European Union Africa Latin America ASEAN NATO United Nations The Non-aligned Movement Eastern Europe New Nations of the 20th Century General Topics Constitutional Law Human Rights Nuclear Disarmament & Treaties International Warfare Environmental Law Peace Treaties Economic & Social Alliances International Organizations Journalism & Media Racism and Democracy Women in the Workplace Family Law Courts and Practices The Judicial System Higher Education Education and Government Health Care & Insurance Rights of the Disabled Copyright & Working Online Legal Representation Legal Insurance Pornography Domestic Violence Religion & Law Workers Rights Employers Rights Prison & Life after Social Organizations Welfare & Poverty Taxation and Democracy Third World Aid Programs Space Exploration Alternative Energy Petroleum Industry & Cars Nuclear Power Programs for the Arts Sports Education Policing the Internet Privacy and freedom Immigration Food and Regulation War on Drugs War on Pharmaceuticals Public Housing Pollution and Control Sexual Harrassment Discrimination Electoral Process Consumers Rights Investors Rights Abortion Death Penalty Social Security Gender & Sexuality Grassroots Organization ACLU World Watch Oxfam UNICEF United Negro Fund Ford Foundation (suggestions welcome at our chatsite) Law of the Economy Join I-Traderschool, our sister magazine, for debates and news. |
Self & Society
Sleeping America: What Did President Bush Decide For You Today? by Jane Callahan As a young American citizen can you name the departments of Government, from President to Congress to your local representative? A good 80% of you probably can not. Many young Americans are becoming increasingly aware of injustices around them, are discontent with our government’s policies, and don’t know how this came about and who's to blame. The unfortunate truth is that to a significant extent, we must blame ourselves. A few years ago I remember reading an article about an area in Africa where the citizens were allowed, for the first time, to vote for their representative. The article detailed the infinite line of people, waiting hours upon hours in the hot sun, to cast a simple vote that would take all of 3 seconds. Every single person in that village was present to vote. That kind of story makes this commonly known fact even more shocking: only 50% of Americans vote. That’s one half of our country. Therefore, in reality only one half of country is being represented. Only 1 out of 2 of us are telling the government what we need, want, and care about. Then I ask myself, how many of that 50% are fully educated about who and what they are voting for? This is my second time living outside the United States for an extended period of time. I can tell you from first-hand, diverse experience: Americans are not very popular at all. Maybe you don’t care about that, and that’s fine too. But its important to realize that because our country is so powerful, what we do can deeply affect the rest of the world. When I have encountered anti- American sentiments, I say “Don’t you think its unfair to making sweeping accusations? To say just because you don’t agree with my country’s policies and leaders, that that makes me responsible as well?” And the answer is YES, to an extent, you ARE responsible. Because truth be told, up until that point, what had I EVER done to express my disapproval over the state of my country? Nothing. Things wont fix themselves. As both a citizen of the United States and as someone who is living abroad, I hear a lot of complaints about the actions of President Bush. And by a lot I mean more than your normal dislike of a political figure by others. Many say he is a “bully” who pressures other countries to assist or silently condone his actions. That is because we have become a nation of people who have made the choice to employ such types. Both Americans and non-Americans alike are shaking their heads at our President. But how many of you who are reading this now went out and cast your vote? Sure, it’s a shaky example. Thank you Florida. Regardless of whether the choice was for Bush or for anyone else…did YOU vote? Half of you reading this did not. I’ve heard passing comments, posed as jokes but possibly based in truth, that JFK won the election because he was good-looking and his wife was a fashion icon. With our cultures obsession with celebrities…would you really be surprised if that were true? How many of you care that you can be drafted, fight, and die in war defending our country…but you can’t sit down and have a beer? How many of you have been denied truly needed financial aid for a continuing education and don’t know why? The attitude of our country is that we just “live with it”. Well, its time to stop enduring it and time to start making changes! Most of us would say “I can’t do anything, I’m only one person. So there’s no point.” That is the sentiment throughout our country, and that is why all the power is being transferred from the people to the Capital. This country is slowly representing more of a dictatorship than a Democracy. The terms “Republican” and “Democrat” are beginning to be one in the same. Remember, Rosa Parks was just one person. One day she chose to fight a war that seemed impossible to win. She was one person, and because of her, our textbooks have been forever altered. The election is quickly approaching, and chances are Bush will sit another 4 years in the throne. I dare you to ask ten people on the street this questions: “A lot of people think Bush is heading for a second term. Why do you think that is?”. Well, for those Americans who have any idea what you’re talking about, the answer will probably resemble: “who else is there?” “I don’t know any one else running” or “the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t know.” Is that the motto you want when it comes to who decides where your money goes? These higher-ups are deciding if you can see good doctors, if your children can have valuable textbooks at school, and how much of your hard-earned money you can keep! Don’t you want to use your ability to speak up? You have been given the chance to say yes or no, or even maybe. But only half of us are saying anything at all! And what about those of you who aren’t 18? You should still care. Not just because you should be aware about the place in which you are living, but also to prepare you for that time when you are given this special responsibility. Events that are taking place now are still going to be relevant ten, twenty, and thirty years from now. And just because you can not vote yet, doesn’t mean you can’t have an opinion, or ideas, or to still take action if something concerns you. Once you learn about other countries as well, you may realize that maybe you don’t want to live in a Democratic nation. Perhaps you want to be a Socialist, or a Militant, or a Communist, or even a Nihilist! But the wonderful fact is, it is YOUR choice. Of course, in such a large country, anarchy and wholly unlimited choice is not a reasonable option. Naturally, our nation’s security takes precedence over being ‘allowed’ to do certain things. However, there are still regulations which serve no constructive purpose. are you aware that as a citizen of the United States, you do NOT have the freedom to take a vacation to Cuba if you wanted? That’s right. Unless you have permission from the government for an educational or charitable cause, you can not honeymoon by the Cuban moonlight. Don’t you think that you should have that freedom? The government is not telling you this for your safety, as it is safe to go there. Rather, this stems from the temper tantrum called an embargo that the U.S. imposed on Cuba. In order to weaken Fidel Castro’s office, we cut off trade relations with Cuba. The idea was to particularly wound the trade of medicine and food. Instead, this has proved to hurt American farmers who had large exports to Cuba than the Cuban citizens. It has also impoverished Cuban citizens simultaneously, when meant to be directed at Castro. After all, the U.S. continued to preach that Castro was the “bad egg” and that Cuban citizens were merely innocent victims. For 39 years now, from the peak of the Cold War, the Presidential office has continued to believe that the trade embargo we slapped on Cuba in 1961 would free Cuba from Fidel Castro’s power, thus spurring Democratic sentiment. Regardless of whether you originally agreed with this decision, time has put forth the results; the results being nothing. After all these years, our wielded influence has yielded no results. As a citizen, you are participating in this. Did you speak up otherwise?? The answer to these conundrums is awareness and participation. Educate yourself. If your time is limited, then find something that interests you. Our culture is a working culture…sometimes it feels as if we barely have time to sit and breathe. But if you have the time to go about your daily lives, you have the time to decide HOW you go about your daily lives, and even the quality of every one day. It’s important to make sure you know what you’re talking about when the time comes to cultivate your research. Much of your opposition will be just as knowledgeable about the points in these issues as you will be. Make sure you can fight for and believe in something that you are fully educated about. The more we know about our country, our lives, and our laws, the better we can make ourselves heard, and the quicker we can see the results. Looking at immediate issues, it seems all too overwhelming. Recent headlines include “California Declares fiscal emergency”. Schwartzenegger is taking out a $15 million loan in order to make $40 million in payments so that facilities are not shut down, and so that a police force and fire fighting force can be maintained. What was the cause of such debt? There was an “unpopular” car tax in California, so the tax for what is for most people a luxury was nixed. How is Schwartenegger going to pay this loan back? The good old Republican way: cutting healthcare. The other headline that I think sums up much of my concern in this diatribe is “Paris Hilton gets more TV ratings that President Bush”. I feel that speaks for itself. Environmentally, there is the ever-present concern of air pollution. It contributes to lung disease, including respiratory tract infections, asthma, and lung cancer. Lung disease claims close to 335,000 lives in America every year and is the third-leading cause of death in the United States. Over the last decade, the death rate for lung disease has risen faster than that of any of the top five causes of death. As I mentioned, events that take place today can affect you years from now. If you’re planning to have a family some day, it might interest you that Texas cut $428 million in child health care funding. Because of this 170,000 children had their healthcare taken away from them. And Texas is by far not alone. Such massive cuts took place in Oregon, Connecticut, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, New York, and Georgia. And that’s to name a few. It doesn’t end there. Dr. W. David Hager, appointed by the president as head to the Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee, received a "Hit" from the women’s organization NOW (www.now.org), for “denying unmarried women access to mainstream reproductive health drugs and medical technology because of his personal religious beliefs.” Now you must live as if those were your beliefs as well. In conclusion, I found one book particularly inspiring and truthful in researching first-hand the problems our nation is facing. Nickel and Dimed: Undercover in Low-wage USA by Barbara Ehrenreich is well-written and entertaining; do not expect your run-of-the-mill dry political writing. She puts her lucrative journalistic career on hiatus to work minimum wage jobs throughout the U.S.A. She states: “The barely reported truth about the American dream is that it exists in a country of widespread, growing and inescapable poverty, where the essential work is done by people paid below subsistence wages.” While conversing with a fellow waitress, she says “Reflecting on her career, Gail tells me ruefully that she swore, years ago, never to work for a corporation again. ‘They don’t cut you no slack. You give and you give and you give and they take.’” The very people that fill our gas tanks and serve our pancakes have neither the time nor the resources to climb out of poverty, much less do anything about our political environment. Most of us do not currently find ourselves in that situation, and therefore, it is inexcusable to do nothing and simply ride the coat tails of the great revolutionaries that have come before us, those that speak today, and those that will rally tomorrow. About the Author(s): See under Our Contributors to find out about the Author(s) of this article. |
Yahoo! World News Headlines Our Winners Club Our Contributors Research Links Legal Advice ALL Awards & Internships Become an Activist Join an Organization Get Volunteerism Alert Write Letters to a local Politician Start your own Group Applied Politics Projects Suggest a Project Start your Yahoo Groups Get Internship Credit Funding for Projects Encourage Discussion Join Juryfury Chat Promote Juryfury.com Join online discussion Groups Be In the Spotlight Let us Interview you : Authors of political books Activists Journalists Lawyers Law Enforcement Politicians Politican Scientists Be A Columnist Get Internship Credit Write twice a Month Get Heard Start a Yahoo Group Advertise with Us Books (Free) Political Our Staff & Contributors Our Magazines Quietpoly.com I-Traderschool Juryfury.com The Company Our Address: QuietPoly Inc. 240 W. Saunders. Dr. (#146) Flagstaff, AZ 86001 Tel (928) 214-7365 quietpoly@yahoo.com |
|