Demboy08's Blog

I have never thought that terrorism was a real threat. Sure terrorists can kill people and make others fearful but they really can do little in the larger scheme of things unless the country being terrorized decides to devote all its strength to fighting them. That seems to have been what has happened in this situation. Russia has attacked Georgia a sovereign nation without pursuing diplomacy or restraint. The U.S. by all intentions should have troops standing by their ally and trading partner but how can we? President Bush is a very small thinker and decided that the threats to America were a few dictatorships looking for atomic weapons. Russia has completely flattened Georgia's U.S. trained army and our army is not going to be able to intervene any time soon. Why? While our whole army is deployed and stretched thin fighting low level wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Even if we win these wars no one has any estimates as to how long. Meanwhile the Pax Americana has been broken. The U.S. can only say it "disapproves" of the Russian invasion. I completely agree with most of John McCain and George Bush's rhetoric in this but what is rhetoric going to do? They got us into Iraq and Afghanistan and now have put us into a position of having no way to deal with Russia. By concentrating on the most obvious, extreme threats our leaders have left us and the rest of the West exposed to the bigger more dangreous countries notably Russia and China. Masybe the U.S. can salvage something from this but I do not know how? I think the longer the U.S. has all its military in the middle east the worse this will get. Both China and Russia have a free hand with their vulnerable neightbors while we are busy fighting to endless wars.

Forgetting about the presidential race for a second I want to talk about the rising tide of liberalism sweeping this country and how it will affect both countries. In the 60s and early 70s liberalism was at its height but In the late 70s and early 80s we saw a backlash to liberalism with Reagen and a more conservative president due in part to what many Americans saw as a disastrous liberal president Jimmy Carter. But with the 90s we saw a very centrist divided government with a Democrat in the white house and a Republican congress. Our nation was very closely split in 2000 one of the reasons the election was so close in my opinion. Now Bush through 9/11 and national security fears has managed to push the country a bit to the right which is evident in the 2002 and 2004 elections. Now with years of an unpopular president and with the recent 2006 landslide for the Dems it appears that liberalism is making a comeback.
Now there are a number of reasons why I think this si happening: First of all While around the 2004 election both parties were around 33% of the American electorate. In the last 4 years a large gap has emerged the Dems now have 40% of the electorate as registered democrats and the Republicans now have 32% registered republicans which is about where it was when libealism and the Democrats were predominantly in power in the 60s and early 70s. Also Bush seems to have the potential to be a Carter or a Hoover for the naton a president who the majority of the populace believs messes up the country so muuch that their party suffers in successive elections. Also recently there seems to be an overwhelming amount of support among americans for increased government intervention in the economy and social structure of the country at the expense of profitablity. With over 80% in a  recnt poll by time saying they would support increased government at the expense of profitability for more economic security. This comes at the same time a similar number of Americans seem to facor a new social constract one more based upon government intervention and less on the free market. This all points to the rising of the Dems and liberalism.  The affects of this are already apperent the Republican party is begining to move to the center as the Dems had to move to the center when conservatism was rising in the 80s. McCain takes more liberal views of issues like the environment which his presecessor never would have. I think McCain might well win this election but he may lose the war. Ted Steven's recent inditement raises the spectare of a Democratic landslide in the congress this year when they are already expected to lose at leats 3 in the senate. McCain if elected will have to deal with an even more democratic congress with only him in the way. I wonder how long the republicans can put off this wave until it crests and falls on them. They have to wait until liberalism runs its course just as conservatism did but I wonder if the Republicans keep delaying will they be ready when it call comes apart and they have to deal with a heavily democratic controlled government?

When we give the government power it generally is very hard to take it back.  As a scholar of 20th century history who has studied and written about the rise of dictatorships from liberal democracies. That is why I have become very worried about the new FISA law.  By allowing warrentless wiretapping on Americans we are taking a chunk out of the fourth ammendment and giving the government far more power than it used to have. The same goes for detaining terror suspects at Gitmo which has been repeatedly ruled unconstitutional by the supreme court. Why do we allow the bill of rights to be violated this much? Simple. We fear terrorism above our own civil rights. Many have said that with the globalization which continues we have to give up our rights to deal with terrorism because it is a different sort of threat. But that means that the Democratic Republic which our founders gave us with all its rights which guaranteed our safety is insufficent to fight terror. If we are taking out some of the bill of rights why not just start scrapping the constitution alltogether? The easiest way to be safe from terrorists is to give the government absolute control. If these terrorists hate and fear democracy so much why keep it? That is where our fear of terrorism will ultimately lead to if we continue down this path. This is not about the political parties because both voted for the FISA bill overwhelmingly but about where our country stands. So should we go further down this path or not? This is the classic safety vs. security argument and one side is definitley wining with the passage of FISA is this country headed down the wrong or right path with this? 

People continue to be focused on Iraq. Is the surge working is it not? With two new reports out one saying that the surge is providing the permanent change necessary to stabilize Iraq the other saying it has not the debate continues over the surge even as it is beginning to rap up. Either way it looks like we will remain in Iraq for a long time. But can we ignore Afghanistan? The moderate stabilization of Iraq has come at the cost of Afghanistan where our troops do not have the manpower to beat the Taliban and secure the country. The recent prison breakout was just part of a larger destabilization and with more U.S. troops dying in Afghanistan than Iraq for the first time we face a real problem. The Taliban is trying to prevent our aid and foment the growth of poppies leading to an increase in Heroine production. Our troops cannot win with the numbers they have, the populace needs a surge similar to Iraq to hope to accomplish anything. We need to get basic utilities up and running so the Afghans will support us. Without additional troops that seems out of the question. But where to fet the troops? If we pull troops out of Iraq whatever stability the surge has created will likely collapse and our army is just not big enough to control both countries. We could increase the size of our army, but that would take time, and alot of taxpayers dollars that we can ill afford right now. Other NATO countries probably could contribute more troops but we need to take the lead. I am not sure what a solution is to this problem but something has to be done. We cannot allow the Taliban to return to power in Afghanistan for it would spell disaster for the U.S. in the drug trade as well as the terrorism which the Taliban supports.

Since the Supreme court ruled that individuals do have the right to bear arms today I thought It would be a good time to discuss gun control. First, the the supreme court decision District of Columbia v. Heller. It affirmed than individuals have the right to bear arms and not just militias which is how some interpreted the constitution. While I think it is a victory for gun-rights advocates it is both a narrow ruling and only addresses complete gun bans like those in D.C. It leaves other gun-control measures alone and goes out of the way to affirm certain restrictions and regulations on guns as legal while not allowing complete bans like in D.C. I see both sides of the gun control issue.
There are some valid reasons to allow individuals to bear arms and some reasons not to allow them to bear arms. One of the original ones that citizens would be able to overthrow the government if the government was too abusive is not really valid anymore. No citizens can come close to matching our government in advanced military hardware, heck the only ones who could afford the high tech weaponry our government enjoys today are people like Bill Gates unless average citizens can afford Abrams tanks I doubt any average citizen could possibly win a war against the federal government. Than there is hunting which is an enjoyable sport for many, but if crime could be averted by gun control I doubt hunting would truly be a good enough reason to let everyone have guns. I mean sports vs. crime I think crime would win as more important. I think that it is also silly to try to divine the founders intentions because the founders "intended" alot of things that we don't like such as having slavery in the constitution as well as only a fraction of the population eligible to vote. That brings us to the Best reason why we still need to allow everyone to own a gun. Self defense. Now I agree with this one in certyain circumstances. If you live ina  poor neighborhood and are in vulnerable to crime on a daily basis it makes perfect sense to own a gun. As long as we don't spend enough money on our police force to protect us and continue to have violent crime the only choice is to have citzens armed even with all the problems it creates. I live in a neighbrhood with virtually no crime so I have no good reason to own a gun but there are many people who afre not so lucky. We need some restrictions to make sure that the people who arfe buying the guns are those who need it for self defense and protection against criminals and not just commiting the crimes. This issue will probably persist as long as violent crime persists as both a antidote and cause but I think with this supreme court decison clarifying the second ammenment it will be a bit less ideological.         

I have always wondered what we plege allegiance to? Though we say flag, what does the flag represent? Is it showing support for the actions of our government or showing support for the principles which we think this nation has been founded on? I have always wondered what one should be loyal to the country they live in or a certain set of values? I have grown up in the U.S. all of my life but I wonder if the people and country deserve my loyalty or the values that the country was founded upon does. Should we even be loyal to a country? It is the place we live in and an entity of people that share a common government and set of laws but should that alone determine our support? If the U.S. say became a dictatorship or started abolishing the constitution is it our duty as citzens to support the country or the values? 

While the Republicans wanted to run against Hillary. They put all their fish in a barrel by portraying Hillary as a polarizing monster who was more oppurtunist than leader. But with all the hatred which actually sounded legit for Hillary they forgot about Obama. Now they have to find a bunch of things to hate about him. So instead of actually having at least a fact or two behind them they have gone to portraying Obama as a secret Muslim and an eiitist neither of which is logical or factual in the least bit. Of course they are also attacking him as a Christian because of the church he goes to which seems to run contridictory to the first idea of having him be a secret Muslim. None of these smears make the least bit of sense and none have anything to do with actual problems and issues. Netherless, people are actually going to vote for or against him based on them. I had hoped that the American public would learn a little from the spurious swiftboating and drunk driving in the last election cycles but these issues come up because the american public is gullible enough to care about them and listen to these people. Democracy only works if the people are concerned citizens and treat the candidates based upon the positions they hold not as another Paris Hilton. Oh well. Wil the American people ever have the maturity to rise above this silliness?

(I have not been Blogging because I have been finishing up high school.) 

Lots of people are angry because of what Barrack Obama said about small town America. Why? Because it was "Elitest." Now maybe I am just crazy but ina  war you would want an elite soldier if you were going to have surgery you would want an Elite docter. So why would you not want an Elite politician? Oh yeah they would be "above" the common man. That is bad right because no president should be above the common man. Wait a minute haven't we carved these guys heads into a mountain if that does not say elite then I do not know what does.

This is the stupidest BS I have heard in a long time. If you actually get close to running for president you are most definitley an elite because it costs a heck of alot to run. Rather then having two presidents who pretend to not be elites like Bush 1 and 2 (both went to Harvard) wouldn't you rather have a president that would honestly tell you   that they were from the upper social crust of society as they all are rather then pretending no to be? The other oint is that the Clintons and McCains are both reputable families that are definitley elite while interestingly enough Obama does not fit the criterea of an elite as he would have to come from six generations of wealth. He4 definitley does not. So why doesn't everyone stop complaining about a presidential candidate that acts elite and is and more about a presidential candidate that does not act elite and is elite?

I am starting this blog because people want to talk about this. The Texas police and social services have raided a Texas compound full of the fundamentalist mormons who split from the church after it banned polygamy. These people were abused and brainwashed which I am sure will lead to calls for more oversight into these types of groups. But then privacy comes in. Should these groups have the government looking over their shoulder constantly? Why did the Texas authorities not do anything before now knowing that this group split because it wanted to practice polygamy? This situation is a mess. I also wonder if this very unequal society of women serving men is a warning for our nation ever going back to something like that. How important ios equality in sexes?

On a previous post of mine someone said that people change their views ever so often which leads them to go from liberal to Conservative or Conservative to Liberal. I wanted to expound on that a little bit. I was quite liberal when I first developed a political ideology at 6 but by the time I was 10 I had become quite conservtive leading to me on the verge of supporting Bush in 2000. After the Iraq war started and I began to see how messed up conservative ideals are I became quite a bit more liberal which is where I am now. There is a chance I might at some point become quite conservative in the future statistically. 

This is just one example of how people's political ideology can change. Now the question is When did you develop your political ideology? How do you develop it? Why?

I was watching the Colbert Report when I found this video on illegal immigration. It is hilarious! All the people going to the Mexican border to defend America and doing nothing.

 http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.
jhtml?videoId=69318

I took a break from blogging for a while mainly because I had alot of school work but I am coming back because of this. After reading all these blogs about how surprised all these white people are that blacks have a cynical, negative and conspiracy driven view of whites I wonder how ignorant white people are of both black culture and racial divisions which continue in this country. I do not agree with what Reverend Wright said but alot of what he said is a general view by black america. If people do not understand why they hold this view you are truly ignorant. All conspiracy theories come from somwhere. Discontent with the effects of 9/11 led to the conspiracy theories just as discontent with oppurtunities for black americans and continuing racism leads to this type of anger. Racism is still widespread in america according to recent surveys. Americans cannot act out their racism due to political correctness but it hovers just beneath the surface of our society. Maybe that is why so many blacks think they can't get jobs heck maybe their right part of the time. I do not know. I just find it silly that so many people are so surprised when a racialeconomic group that is so far down the economic ladder is so angry. What is even stupider is that people are blaming a man who is part of the group for listening to this guy. Oh well good old fashioned guilt by association we will never learn. Always letting others define us instead of being allowed to define ourselves.

I took a break from blogging for a while mainly because I had alot of school work but I am coming back because of this. After reading all these blogs about how surprised all these white people are that blacks have a cynical, negative and conspiracy driven view of whites I wonder how ignorant white people are of both black culture and racial divisions which continue in this country. I do not agree with what Reverend Wright said but alot of what he said is a general view by black america. If people do not understand why they hold this view you are truly ignorant. All conspiracy theories come from somwhere. Discontent with the effects of 9/11 led to the conspiracy theories just as discontent with oppurtunities for black americans and continuing racism leads to this type of anger. Racism is still widespread in america according to recent surveys. Americans cannot act out their racism due to political correctness but it hovers just beneath the surface of our society. Maybe that is why so many blacks think they can't get jobs heck maybe their right part of the time. I do not know. I just find it silly that so many people are so surprised when a racialeconomic group that is so far down the economic ladder is so angry. What is even stupider is that people are blaming a man who is part of the group for listening to this guy. Oh well good old fashioned guilt by association we will never learn. Always letting others define us instead of being allowed to define ourselves.

I took a break from blogging for a while mainly because I had alot of school work but I am coming back because of this. After reading all these blogs about how surprised all these white people are that blacks have a cynical, negative and conspiracy driven view of whites I wonder how ignorant white people are of both black culture and racial divisions which continue in this country. I do not agree with what Reverend Wright said but alot of what he said is a general view by black america. If people do not understand why they hold this view you are truly ignorant. All conspiracy theories come from somwhere. Discontent with the effects of 9/11 led to the conspiracy theories just as discontent with oppurtunities for black americans and continuing racism leads to this type of anger. Racism is still widespread in america according to recent surveys. Americans cannot act out their racism due to political correctness but it hovers just beneath the surface of our society. Maybe that is why so many blacks think they can't get jobs heck maybe their right part of the time. I do not know. I just find it silly that so many people are so surprised when a racialeconomic group that is so far down the economic ladder is so angry. What is even stupider is that people are blaming a man who is part of the group for listening to this guy. Oh well good old fashioned guilt by association we will never learn. Always letting others define us instead of being allowed to define ourselves.

I took a break from blogging for a while mainly because I had alot of school work but I am coming back because of this. After reading all these blogs about how surprised all these white people are that blacks have a cynical, negative and conspiracy driven view of whites I wonder how ignorant white people are of both black culture and racial divisions which continue in this country. I do not agree with what Reverend Wright said but alot of what he said is a general view by black america. If people do not understand why they hold this view you are truly ignorant. All conspiracy theories come from somwhere. Discontent with the effects of 9/11 led to the conspiracy theories just as discontent with oppurtunities for black americans and continuing racism leads to this type of anger. Racism is still widespread in america according to recent surveys. Americans cannot act out their racism due to political correctness but it hovers just beneath the surface of our society. Maybe that is why so many blacks think they can't get jobs heck maybe their right part of the time. I do not know. I just find it silly that so many people are so surprised when a racialeconomic group that is so far down the economic ladder is so angry. What is even stupider is that people are blaming a man who is part of the group for listening to this guy. Oh well good old fashioned guilt by association we will never learn. Always letting others define us instead of being allowed to define ourselves.