Whenever I talk to people about politics, it tends to focus on what they don’t like about our government. People on the right or left both have issues that upset them, and one major complaint I hear is about how dysfunctional our Congress has been in the last few years. The weird thing is, most people who say this are resigned to the dysfunction. They don’t think they can change it, and they don’t do anything to try. Obviously, they can’t just change the constitution or kick all congressmen out of office. But regardless of what your politics are, you can try to implement them by voting or volunteering. If you’re going to complain, then you should actually do something. Just because the status quo is pretty depressing doesn’t mean you should avoid thinking about the situation altogether. If you want things to get better, then you have to play a part.
- Will
Posts Tagged ‘Politics’
Fight The Status Quo
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011
Elections
Friday, July 29th, 2011
It seems like with every Presidential election the campaigns start earlier and earlier. For months now, there’s been coverage of Republican Presidential hopefuls as they begin their exhausting cross-country routines. For the next year, these poor aspiring politicians will lose sleep nightly, repeat themselves daily, and spend millions just to get the chance to run against the Presisdent. Then, they’ll get to repeat the process in the general election. This process seems wasteful and silly, because the best leaders will probably not be the best campaigners. People might vote for the person who ran around their state for a month, giving countless speeches and shaking untold numbers of hands, but they’ll be voting for the most tireless person, not necessarily the one most equipped to lead a country. Personally, I’ll vote for the person on either side with most applicable skills, not the one who spends the most money on attack ads and chartered planes.
- Will
Healthcare reform bill passed in the House
Saturday, November 14th, 2009
It’s come a long way amid all the protests. The bill for Healthcare Reform passed just this past Saturday in the US House of Representatives. It is one of the most hotly debated topics in politics today. What is most controversial to people is the so-called “public option” that would give Americans the option of being covered by government funded insurance.
Some people are entirely against healthcare reform, while others (dis)agree with parts of what has been proposed in the bill. It’s difficult to summarize what different sides agree on and don’t agree on because there are a lot of controversies connected to the issue. There are certain groups in the Congress who are at odds over abortion coverage (among other things), for example, while others are concerned about the cost of the bill (if passed) to the government.
What do you think? Do you support the healthcare reform bill?
- Allyson
Not So Soothing Reading
Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
Depending on how in tune you are to the nation’s legislative branch, you may or may not know that the House of Representatives just passed a healthcare bill. Presumably, it’ll make some meaningful changes in our healthcare system. I say presumably because it’s 2,000 pages, and that’s a lot to print. Honestly though, it makes me skeptical that anything could take 2,000 pages to write out. Yeah, healthcare is complicated, but shouldn’t reform be about making it simpler? Plus, when something is longer than “War and Peace”, and probably harder to read, I don’t even expect lawmakers to be able to read it. That means that either they get unlucky aides to make them cliff notes, or they vote without reading the bill. Either way, one would think that’s not the optimal process for shaping one of the nation’s biggest bills. What’s more, it makes me cringe to think of the tree mutilation that resulted from distributing this massive brick of legislation to all the representatives.
- Will