America Caugt in a Lie

In the last couple of weeks ObamaCare has been in a downward spiral. Its website is a complete mess and the American people have been in a backlash over the expiration date of signing up for ObamaCare. Even President Obama’s own political party, the Democrats, are turning against him because of all of the delays for people to buy health insurance through this law. Now, people who have had insurance and want to keep their plans are getting notices saying that their plans will be cancelled in a short period of time (FOX News). This is just another problem that is hindering President Obama and America and it is going to lead to more backlash in the end.

 

            President Obama promised Americans that whoever had health insurance before his health care plan came into effect and did not want to get on the ObamaCare Health Care Plan in the first place. Well, as of right now it was all of a lie. Millions got notices in the mail telling them that their health insurance plans will be cancelled because of the new ObamaCare regulations. This is after Obama had promised for so long that they could keep their plan if they wanted to. This is just another thing that our government doesn’t need to deal with right now. We already have big enough problems and now, because of Obama, our problems just keep getting worse. ObamaCare is what got President Obama elected in the first place because it seemed like a good idea for people who didn’t have health insurance. Now all it is becoming is a huge nightmare for the entire country. With our high debt, international problems, and now problems with ObamaCare it seems like he is somewhat failing at his job of being President of the United States.

           

            There has been some speculation saying that there is a bill trying to be passed through Congress that would allow these people to keep their normal health insurance plan. But who knows how long that will take. It might be too late and they all will be cancelled. Democrat, Mary Landrieu, is the person who set up this bill for the people. President Obama made a promise to the American people and Mary said that, “The promise was made and should be kept.” This just shows how bad this is really getting. Even the Presidents own party is turning against him. It seems like nobody right now is on Barack Obama’s side.

 

            This is not how a country should be run. Everybody should be on the side of the national leader and if nobody is then what is there for a nation to believe in? With no trust it just turns into a boxing match with no winner. Everybody blames the other side and it never turns out good. I know I am not the only one sick and tired of these people, who we voted in ourselves, taking advantage of us. It shouldn’t be like this and it should have never gone this far. But sadly it has and nobody knows if the United States will be able to recover anytime soon.

Obama's Downfall

There has been a lot of chaos and problems in Washington D.C in the last couple months. With the government shutdown, ObamaCare issues, and the National Security Agency’s scandal, it seems like everything is going downhill for the once extremely powerful, United States of America. Could this be it for President Obama? Can he do anything more to try to get everything under control? No body truly knows if he can survive such problems that the United States is having.

                With his health care plan being under fire ever since he came into office it seems like everybody is against him. With the ObamaCare website being a bust so far, it seems like none of this can be fixed, at least for the time being. There have been proposals to delay the ObamaCare plan and website an entire year so everything can be smoothed out properly and the government can fix all of the existing problems. But it seems like it won’t be approved. President Obama is setting up his own program up for failure by not delaying this process. This is just hurting himself even more and could lead to not just his downfall but to the entire Democratic party’s downfall as well.

                Another thing hindering President Obama’s presidency is the spying allegations made against the NSA and the United States Government. According to CNN, President Obama may have known about the invasion of privacy on our own allies, like Germany, and even “OK’d” the entire operation. This might be the one thing that leads to trust issues not just by other countries but by the people of the U.S. If our own allies cannot even trust the U.S government why should their own people? This is just the thing that could lead to the downfall of the President. It wasn’t surprising that the NSA did something like this but when our own President is okay with those types of action, we should all be a little worried.

                   All-in-all the second term of Barack Obama is going to be a mess and it’s already starting to seem like a mess and he’s not even done with his first year. Granted, it may not be his entire fault but as the Commander-in-Chief you have to take responsibility for your nations actions and there should be no excuses. So who knows, maybe this will just lead to an entire upheaval and “remodeling” of our entire government system. In my opinion it needs to be cleaned up and there needs to be people in Congress that can actually get something done and actually help America prosper like it has before.

Germany Accuses America of Spying

Allegations by the German Government show that United States Intelligence may have targeted Chancellor Angela Merkel's of Germany’s cellphone. This is just after there were allegations that the National Security Agency was spying on American citizens through their phone and emails. This is just another thing where we could lose trust of another ally and that could just lead to more and more problems over time.

 

            Here we go again. Another scandal that will be denied and denied by the American government. Who knows maybe we were spying on her phone but there are many more questions than if they really did bug her cellphone. Why would they do such a thing? Is there suspicion of something vital going on in the country of Germany? These are some things that need to be asked during this investigation. Through all of the troubles that the United States has gone through over these last couple of weeks, it doesn’t seem possible that we could or would do something like this. But who knows. It never surprises me when these types of stories come up in the news. What people do not realize is that this probably happens all of the time. We just don’t hear about it every day like with this story. And America is definitely not the only one doing this to other nations.

 

            The reason we are hearing about this in the news is because Germany and the United States are allies. With this it just creates tension with a country that we don’t need. If this did happen what was the reason? There had to be one. According to Fox News, one official from Germany said, “One official said this kind of treatment usually is reserved for Syria and Iran.” This is very true. You would expect this type of behavior in more corrupt nations like Iran and Syria but like I said earlier it happens everywhere all around the world. This is nothing new!

 

            With the United States being under so much pressure not only from other countries but from their own people, the United States doesn’t need a new conflict with another country. Especially with an ally like Germany. We don’t need another fight and more conflict that could hurt the credibility of the United States any more than it already is. It doesn’t make any sense why the CIA or FBI would do something like this but if they did they better have one hell of a good answer and reason for doing such a thing.

           

 

The Downfall of ObamaCare

As most of us know, the ObamaCare website has been a problematic situation across the country for many Americans. I have also written quite a bit on this specific topic. These problems that should have been fixed before the website came out is becoming more of a problem than they should be and it is getting really old. Now that all of this has happened people have started to turn on the somewhat popular website and it could just lead to more problems down the road.

           

            According to Fox News, the downfall of the ObamaCare website has led to some Democrats turning on the entire idea in the first place. Before, there was deadline that American citizens meet to sign up for health insurance. This was highly supported by mostly all of the Democrats until now. Now, the same Democrats who supported Obama Care and wanted to keep the deadline the same are turning on the idea and agreeing with the Republicans (yeah, I know it sounds scary). They are now looking for a delay on the deadline to sign up for health insurance because the website is just not working and might not be fully functional until the deadline is upon all of us.

 

            A recent poll done by Fox News said that “57 percent of respondents said all of ObamaCare should be delayed for a year until more details are ironed out.” This is a huge turn of events from just a week ago when it seemed like all of the Democrats were on board with the recent obligations. This is not good for President Obama at all. The President already has to deal with the Republicans telling him that he is wrong but now he has people of his own party agreeing with the other side. Could this be the boiling point for ObamaCare? This could just make things much more complicated in the long run and make things even more chaotic than they are now.

 

            If there is another delay on when people can sign up for health insurance this is just going to push back the problem even farther. The United States has some of the smartest people in all of the world! How can we do some of the hardest things possible but not set up a website for health insurance? It just baffles me! It makes no sense why we cannot get a website set up without there being problems. It is just a problem that we should never have to deal with and it’s just hurting more and more the longer that we push off time and time again. So until we actually do something about this problem, it seems like this entire thing is going to fall apart right in front of our own eyes.  

Pakistani-United States Relations

According to Fox News, the United States has agreed to give money again to Pakistan. This is after Pakistan and United States affairs had broken down over the last couple of years. With the new budget just being voted into action and with our debt still rising is it really worth it to give Pakistan money in the first place?

It is said that the U.S will, again, give Pakistan 1.6 billion dollars over the upcoming months for military and economic aid. This is a lot of money to give to a nation that we have had estranged relations with over the last couple years. With the killing of Usama Bin Laden, who was thought to be helped by the Pakistani government, and with U.S drone attacks against Pakistani troops , the relationship between the two countries have been tense and uptight. The relationship between Pakistan and the United States in not fully mended either. This money we were going to give them was going to be “under the table” I guess you could say. This is because Pakistan doesn’t want to become dependent on other allied nations to bail them out of their economic and military affairs, even though the United States has been doing that exact thing ever since the War on Terror in the Middle East began in the early 2000’s.

I wouldn’t say that Pakistan is an “enemy” per say but I don’t see them as necessarily as “friend” either. Relations have been tight and I do not get why we are sending money over to them to help when the relationship is still somewhat heated. Another thing is that America is supposed to be out of the Middle East for the most part. And even though we say we are out of the war in the Middle East, giving money to Middle Eastern countries pretty much keeps us in the action until we decide it’s not worth it to fight anymore. There will never be peace in the Middle East, that’s just how it’s going to be, but the U.S doesn’t need to get in the middle of everything to try to create peace because it will NEVER happen.

With America still in debt, I don’t see the need to give money to a country that we have had an estranged relationship with over the last couple years. Also, if the country is not in danger of a nuclear threat, a dictator, or any other major problem, the United States should just stay out of it and keep to ourselves or we will just be in another war, a war that this country does not need. 

Rising Debt

Now that the Federal Government can borrow money again our debt is starting to soar once again. With the debt being at almost 17 trillion dollars, it looks like no plan is set to try to lower the nation’s debt anytime soon. This could lead to even more problems and just add to the one America has now.

 

            President Obama has rose the national debt ceiling six times since taking office in 2008. Since his time in office, the debt has rose over 7 trillion dollars, according to FOX News. This is a startling number and is just something else that has tainted President Obama’s legacy as President of the United States. The Republicans have been trying to push for budget cuts to try to get the nation’s debt and deficit under control. “The deficit is getting smaller, not bigger,” President Obama has said. Even though this is true our national debt has rose over sixty percent during the tenure of Barrack Obama’s presidency (FOX News). Even though the debt counter in New York is saying 16.7 trillion dollars the National Treasury has racked up an astounding 200 billion dollar debt over the years. So in real talk, the national debt is at 16.9 billion dollars and is only rising.

 

            Even though the deficit is projected to go back down over the next couple of year, it is also projected to go back up over time. This is because of high interest rates from our loans and entitlement programs (FOX News). So yes, President Obama is right that the deficit is going down but because the United States is not paying back the debt it will just go right back up after a few years of going down. Until there is a plan to cut billions or trillions of money over a short amount of time the deficit and debt will continue to rise at a very high rate. All of these problems hurt the credibility of the United States and hurts our economy, which it already has. And because the Democrats are such big spenders, they will not agree to a long term deal to cut the debt and deficit over time.

 

            This entire situation could have been avoided somewhat if we were just responsible with our money. We spend our money on some pointless things like unemployment benefits and other programs that could either be changed or entirely cut out of our budget deal. Not only would it save us money but it would make people go out and get a job to help boost our economy rather than just draining our capital and hurting the government in the long run. With compromise these issues could be fixed but until then this problem will follow us for years or even decades if these issues aren’t resolved.

New Budget Agreement

Finally, after sixteen days of stalemate between the Democrats and Republicans over the nation’s budget and debt ceiling problems, they all have agreed to a deal that will only solve these problems temporarily. According to FOX News, the new budget deal only last until early 2014 and the debt ceiling will run out a few weeks after that. Even though this last-minute deal was struck between the two sides the problem is not going disappear overnight.

 

The deal that President Obama signed yesterday funds the government until January 15th and the he rose the debt ceiling until February 7^th. After these dates, who knows what might happen. With the Republicans and Democrats never being able to agree on simple American issues they might never be able to agree on the terms for our national budget. This is becoming an annual problem that seems like it will never end and sadly the fighting will probably never stop between these two very different sides. The Republicans slammed Obama over the government shutdown because they said he refused to negotiate any issues.

 

This deal was just agreed to on Wednesday and it all seems like everything is solved and everything is working again, right? Wrong! Yes, it does open back up the government and thousands of people can go back to work, but the damage is already done. Also, President Obama said that there, “were no winners” from the budget argument and that the “spectacle” hurt the United States economy and credibility (FOX News). This deal pretty much stalls this entire process and we will probably be in the same situation here in January of 2014. This entire government shutdown happened only for them to “compromise”, I guess you could say, and just push back the problem even farther. So again we could be hearing about this in a couple months and Congress might not make any progress in between now and when the debt ceiling and budget runs out.

 

Obama mostly got what he wanted. His Obama Care bill passed and I guess you could say that the Democrats won the argument of who got what. In my eyes, the Republicans were the ones to pull their big boy pants up and get the deal done. With no major compromise between the two sides the Republicans finally gave in and gave the Democrats what they were “whining” for in the first place. If they hadn’t done this we would still be in that crisis and who knows when this entire thing would’ve ended. But up until January and February we can all take a deep breath and relax, but not for long because all of this could happen and we would all have a Déjà vu of what happened this time. And sadly, nobody can see the end of this road of fighting and arguments. I think that nothing will get done until we vote in some people who will actually get the job done and not just sit around and wait for one side to cave.

 

America Heading Towards Default

If the debt ceiling is not raised by Congress in the next week or so the United States Government will go into default or bankruptcy. This practically means that the United States will have no money and we will not be able to pay back debt or spend money because we will virtually have no money to do any of this with. This is just another issue that the government shutdown has brought upon the entire nation.
 

In my opinion it might actually be a good thing if America goes into default and we won’t have any money to do anything with. It gives Congress and President Obama a chance to get all of their priorities straight to make sure we get back on track. The downside about all of this is we will not be able to pay back debt that we owe to other countries especially China. This could all lead to back lash from these countries and who knows what they could do, if anything, to retaliate for not getting paid. Those countries might benefit even more because we would have to borrow more money over time to get America back on track if all of this goes through.

            This entire government shutdown and default scare could all lead to a trust issue that is already there to some extent. And in the 2014 and 2016 elections for new Congressmen and a new president it could all lead to a total overhaul of all three branches. It is not clear who is directly “winning” this battle over the national budget and it’s not evident if anybody is winning at all. All I know is that if we don’t get these issues resolved through compromise this could be a stressful and bad couple of months or years for all of us if this isn’t all settled in a timely manner.

 

ObamaCare Website and other issues

Ever since last week, people could go to the ObamaCare website and sign up for cheap and quick health insurance. But with all of the people going to the website, it has glitched up and most people have not been able to access the website. This is a big deal because if people don’t sign up for health insurance by March 21, 2014, they will be fined for not doing so. The Speaker of the House, John Boehner, who is the Republican leader, has said, “How can we tax people for not buying a product from a website that doesn't work?" This is true and this could lead to backlash from people who get fined if this website isn’t up and running smoothly by early 2014.

 

                This is just another thing that has probably helped the Republicans during this Government Shutdown. The website, which has been deemed a, "train wreck,” by most critics, is just another thing that is helping Republicans and hurting the Democrats. Also, this health care website has gone from costing $93 million to $634 million dollars, according to Fox News. President Obama’s approval rating has dipped to an all-time low of 37% and this makes it seem like most people have lost faith in President Obama. And his entire ObamaCare plan isn’t go as plan which is mostly his entire campaign idea during his first term as President and through the early months of his second term.

 

            With this being said, Obama is hurting big time. With all of these things going wrong it’s no wonder why he has gotten so grey over his tenure as President of the United States. Don’t get me wrong it is an incredibly demanding and hard job but as President, you have to take control and make sure that everything stays in line and doesn’t get out of hand. And none of this is getting any better due to this Government Shutdown and his glitched up website that has come back to cost America more money that what it is really worth. The question is, is all of this really worth it? For all of this trouble with his health care plan is all of the money we are spending to fun it really worth the time and money in the long run? This answer will be answered hopefully soon and all of this will be figured out to make sure that this nation gets back to where it was before all of this took place.

What is Politics?

In this blog, politics is the major topic that I have been writing about since I started it. But the real question is, what is politics? Yeah, it is the government and the people that run it but how does it affect our everyday lives? It is how people view different issues of a nation and how those issues are resolved. This post will tell you how this all leads into a normal person’s lives and what the term “politics” actually means.

 

            The proper definition of the word politics is, “the activities associated with the governance of a country or other area, especially the debate or conflict among individuals or parties having or hoping to achieve power.” This is a fairly good definition but what does this all mean to you? I think the main line in this definition is the part where it says that certain people or parties hope and look for power and how those people or parties have issues or conflicts with each other. This is very evident today. You have the Democrats and Republicans, who are always fighting for the upper hand in Congress. They do this because whichever party has the most representatives in Congress, the more power or control they have. And with more power and control, each party can do what they want and what they think is best for the nation.

           

            Politics is one of those things that will always lead to conflict. Everybody is going to have their own opinion about some things and when two people have different ideas on a subject it will always lead to conflict. That’s how it is today and it will always be like this until there is no more government. This is happening right now in Washington D.C over the budget and debt ceiling. Both the Republicans and Democrats have two different plans for the United States to go and they always clash. This is what makes politics and democracy so interesting. Yes, we vote these Congressmen and women in for the better of the people, or so we think, and it always leads to conflict, no matter what the situation may be. It would be so much better if there were no political parties that existed. It would stop some conflict and make the Congressmen and women go in favor of something they would like themselves and not just favor it because the entire party approved it. Here’s an example, let’s say that there is going to be a vote for the national budget plan today. If there were no parties it would make the people think for themselves instead of just going with what others are doing and saying.

 

            Politics affects everyday life for most people, not just here in the United States, but around the world. Government officials are always trying to persuade people to come their side and join them and they always try to convince you why their ideas and actions are better than the others. Just watch television before a big election, all of the commercials will be about, who is better for the job in the Senate or why these people shouldn’t be elected for the Presidency. It’s a huge rollercoaster that never ends and it always leads to conflicts one way or another no matter what happens

Veterans over run Barricades at WWII Memorial

             Since the Government shutdown took place earlier last week all federally funded parks, museums, and monuments had been shut down. This includes the WWII Memorial in Washington D.C. But Government shutdown didn’t stop over ninety veterans from Mississippi from crossing the barricades to see the cherished memorial. This is a very hear-warming story and is something different from what we have been hearing over the last couple of months. But the spin on this story is that congressmen from the House and Senate were there to greet the veterans at the memorial. This makes me kind of mad because those congressmen could be at the House or Senate trying to open back up all of these monuments and museums so nobody has to break down any barricades to see something that they have the right to see.

                This all ties back to some of my other blog posts about how central minded these congressmen are. Instead of trying to be the solution they are being apart of the problem. They shouldn’t be at the memorials that are shutdown, greeting guests that walk by, they should be in the Capital Building coming up with a plan to open back up these monuments. These veterans fought for these rights to see their name in the memorial. They fought for our freedom and nothing should be able to stop them from seeing what they successfully fought for. They are the reason that we are free today and not even a government shutdown should take that away from them.

                Also, the Statue of Liberty was shutdown obviously because it is a national monument. Isn’t the Statue of Liberty supposed to show the freedom of our nation as a whole? With the shutdown, it is kind of taking away that right in some way shape and form and it’s just not right. So instead of congressmen being there greeting people, why don’t they actually go and walk the walk, not just talk the talk.  

Greedy "Winner's" in Congress

                Earlier this week, an unknown White House representative said the Democrats believe that they are “winning” in the fight over the budget and Obama Care, which has led to the first government shutdown in almost twenty years. This is a bold statement that could get the Democratic group criticized over time. What this White House representative is particularly saying is that it is mostly or entirely the Republicans fault for the government shutdown. They say this because in previous polls people were to pick which party they would rather have, Democrats and Republicans. According to a recent Quinnipiac University poll, 43% of people chose Democrats and 34% chose Republicans. This is where the Democratic Party believes they are winning this fight.  

                 But the one question the Democrats really need to ask themselves is; is anybody really winning during this government shutdown? To me this is a very cocky approach that could come back to bite them in the long run. Even though they think they are winning, in reality, absolutely nobody is gaining anything from this shutdown. Hundreds of thousands are off of work, not being paid, national attractions that draw millions of dollars a year are shut down, and still the congressman are still being paid for really doing nothing but fight over something  that should be somewhat of a quick fix. This entire situation is like two brothers or sisters fighting over a piece of cake or candy. Both sides want more or what they can’t get and it’s hurting the entire nation. I guarantee that if the congressmen and women were not getting paid right now, they would have already had a solution written up. This is how greedy they really are.

                 Another sad thing about this entire situation is that they are not even trying to come to an agreement. An example would be that Congress took a three day weekend instead of sitting down and getting things done. This just shows how much these people, who we voted in ourselves, really care. They don’t have to live check to check like some of the families have to while they cannot work because of this shutdown. It seems like all they care about is themselves and their own well-being.  And all it is doing is making this entire situation worst as time goes on. So next time the Democrats or Republicans think they are “winning” this battle, they need to look at the bigger picture and think who is really losing and hurting from this situation.  

  

             

Government Shutdown Cont.

It is official, the United States Government has shut down after both Democrats and Republicans couldn’t come to an agreement over a National Budget for the United States. And until this gets settled, which nobody knows when it will, all federally run programs like the Smithsonian and all National Parks will be shut down until there is an agreement. Since this has happened, 800,000 federal workers will be staying home without pay and they could be home for quite some time.

 

            What’s worst about this is that even though those 800,000 workers will not be getting paid over this period of time the congressman, who get paid from our tax dollars and is the main problem in this dispute, are still getting paid. This just shows that these men and women are taking the American people hostage during the shutdown and not doing anything to solve this problem. Even though that I am a republican supporter both sides are to blame for this dumb and stupid situation. We should never be in this situation where even our own government, who the people have voted in themselves, can’t even agree on a national budget to keep this nation going. Also, due to no budget being passed Obama Care has taken affect. This means that all Americans must apply for health insurance by March 31^st or they will be fined for not doing so.

 

            This is what’s holding Congress back. Republicans want the Obama Care act to not be in the new budget and the Democrats will not compromise with them in order for both sides to agree on a budget. And even better yet the United States will go into default (bankruptcy) if the debt ceiling or the amount that the country can borrow will go up! This is all just a bad situation for everybody and nobody truly wins in the end. And who is the only one who can raise the debt ceiling? You guessed right, the House and Senate! So until these issues are resolved nothing will get done and our nation could be in great jeopardy.

           

            All the people want is for the nation to run smoothly and as problem free as possible. It’s either the stubborn or greedy Congressman come to an agreement or the United States will lose money over time. And even though the United States Government has shut down multiple times over the past forty years this may be the one that can really damage the great reputation the U.S has. The people were already sick and tired of how the government was running and this never helps. The only way anybody would be happy about this is if schools were federally funded and all of the school would have to shut down until this is all resolved. Sadly, that is not the case so nobody really wins in this situation or is happy at all.