Realistic Democracy

What is the future of democracy? Is it a realistic option?

I am concerned with the future of democracy. I feel like instead of making leaps and strides we are taking 3 steps behind. Our country has a foundation, but we have lost that foundation and trying to help and support so many countries that the U.S. is struggling and losing focus on what is important. We need to keep things into perspective and find a way to build this economy again.
In my mind I do not agree with not drilling oil, and I think that with that concern our country and leadership is not being realistic. Obama’s response to the increasing prices in gas was “people need to buy smaller cars and fuel efficient cars.” The last time I checked our unemployment continues to increase, people are still losing their houses, so how can people afford to buy a fuel efficient car when they can barely survive to feed their family each day. It astonishes me that our leadership responds with something that is almost impossible for most people right now. That is not a realistic answer. There are thousands of people who are commuting an hour to and from work just to make $10 an hour and save their family from being homeless. Being realistic is coming up with a response that gives Americans hope and changes our future as a country.

 

Here is a video I have attached about how Democrats and Republicans worked together this past week in Colorado to give 90 million back to Education.  If these two parties can come together like this more often then I think our democracy will grow together in the future, ad I believe it is realistic.

 

http://www.9news.com/video/#/Education/K%2D12+cuts/49906872001/50624635001/910576749001

 

Can both parties come together and make decisions as one for our future in America?

 

 

Economic Policy

What is the process to develop an economic policy that provides services and sustainability?

Looking at the process to develop an economic policy we need to dig deep into what this really is. The economic policy should have an impact on natural resources, like ecosystems and the environment. This would provide sustainability for the stock and flow of benefits and costs that come from these assets. Another thing that creates services and sustainability is the distribution of costs and benefits amongst people. In other words and economic policy is put in place by having each citizen pay taxes. If Americans did not pay taxes how would we pay our teachers to teach our children? How will Americans receive welfare or government assistance? How will be pay for street repairs or city clean-up? This is why I look at the economic policy as social welfare. I change my mind many times when I think of our health care for example. At times I do not think it is fair that there are illegal immigrants that U.S. citizens are paying for their health bills through taxes when that tax money should be used for seniors, or hard working citizens that have lost their insurance and benefits. This is why we need to develop a policy that creates sustainability by distributing taxes evenly and using taxes for our schools and unemployment befits and other benefits for the people.

How will the new budget plan discussed this week help the American people and how will it hurt American people?

I have attached a video that talks about medicare that is a HOT topic in the 2012 budget cut.

http://cnn.com/video/?/video/bestoftv/2011/04/15/exp.tsr.bash.budget.cnn

Equity

How does a government facilitate comprehensive care for its constituents without sacrificing equity?

This question brings up many mixed emotions. I think it is a wonderful thing that our country has the opportunity to give assistance to those who need it. What I do disagree with is that there are many illegal immigrants that get free assistance and do not pay taxes while people like my grandma who is 76 years old and still working today who has to support illegal immigrants and barely gets any assistance. What about the women in this country that keep having babies, when they could use proper protection to avoid it? This is why this question brings up many emotions for me. Don’t get me wrong I love that I live in a country that is free and supportive, but I believe we need to give assistance to the elderly who have lived in this country all their life and worked hard their entire life, and give assistance to those who try to be better citizens.

After participating in this week’s discussion I wanted to do some more research on how much money our government spends on illegal aliens.  I came across a report from the GAO Government website and it states how much money goes into funding hospitals and support of health care for the “illegal aliens.”  One part of the article talks about bad debt that has incurred by non-paying patients.  I find it astonishing how much money our country spends on illegal immigrants and many people born in the U. S. are losing everything they worked hard for.  Here is the link to the article as well as the reference to finding many more articles.

http://archive.gao.gov/d29t5/134152.pdf

http://www.gao.gov/index.html

Should the government continue to help illegal immigrants or should the focus be shifted on provide more help to those who are born a U.S. citizen?

Foreign Policy

How should a nation-state develop its foreign policy in accordance to its values and in connection to the development of its domestic policy?

First it is important to understand foreign policy and it includes the military and economics. We make the largest military and it is the most powerful. The U.S. along with Britain was the one of the first countries to industrialize. A nation-state should develop a foreign policy that is not only going to protect the American citizens, but also make this country strong. When dealing with foreign policy it is important to remember that we need to continue to develop domestic policy. When dealing with foreign policy and intertwining with other countries the U.S. gained many investments.

The United Sates has a struggling economy and each day I notice that we are focusing so much on other countries and helping other countries when in reality we should be focusing on our country and making it stronger. There a millions of Americans without jobs, but because our outsourcing and promises to other countries (foreign policy) we cannot give the citizens who live here a job, someone in the Philippines has to take over a call center.  I mentioned the call center issue, because I just had a friend lose his job at T-Mobile, because they shut the Denver call center down and moved it to the Philippines.  This is very upsetting to know that our economy continues to suffer, but because we are a country with many values we continue to support other nations.

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/106023/20110128/telstra-shuts-down-victorian-call-centre-79-workers-lose-their-job.htm

Are we involved with too many nations?

Katznelson, Ira, Mark Kesselman, and Alan Draper. The Politics of Power: a Critical Introduction to American Government. Belmont, CA: Thomson Higher Education, 2006. Print.