Monday Matters #24

The policies President Obama addressed in his State of the Union speech had a lot of things I agree with. The article talks about Obama addressing alternative energy. I completely agree with this point, mostly because I want the United States to break its dependency on foreign oil. They said we need to create more jobs, and prepare these people for those jobs. I agree with this as well; I feel that Americans are not fully prepared to contribute positively in society, so helping them be prepared is a good idea.  Another article says we need cheap energy, suggesting we keep importing oil. I disagree with this because it goes against my views that I have expressed above. The same article suggests we follow the first amendment more closely. I feel we should not. This being a radical idea, I feel that we as a country need to "update" the constitution in order to properly reflect the society of today. 

Monday Matters #23

The last two posts, one by liberals and one by conservatives, propose issues and important things that each think President Obama should mention in his State of the Union address. All of these suggestions from both sides are backed up by factual information, so there are not any assertions made that are not backed up by facts. There are, however, different points proposed by each side that they think Obama needs to address. The conservatives say that we need to stop the war on coal and have affordable energy readily available, while the liberals want coal out, and want the USA to find alternative energy sources to help the environment. The conservatives are really concerned with the education of our country, and with keeping the federal government out of peoples' lives as  much as possible. Oppositely the liberals are more concerned with creating jobs, economic and political populism, and strict gun control laws. These two political philosophies each have a different idea on how to improve our country, and they would argue that their respective ideas are the best. Both would agree on helping the middle class, but they have different ideas about how to accomplish this.

  

Monday Matters #22

Link: http://www.thenation.com/slideshow/157998/slide-show-7-ways-obamas-state-union-can-save-his-presidency

This article by The Nation explains what should be included in President Obama's State of the Union address in order to save his presidency. The first point made is to focus on creating jobs. America wants jobs and we cannot obsess over the Federal deficit. The second point explains that creating jobs is not enough, we also need to get Americans back to work. Obama needs to lay out a plan to carry this through. The article goes on to talk about how the president needs to get rid of the perception that he is in "big business's pocket" and help reclaim economic populism. The next point explains why the Obama administration needs to help struggling homeowners. His approach to this is widely viewed as ineffective, so he needs to approach this issue differently. Another point is that he needs to protect medicare and social security. Many people need this and it is his responsibility to protect it. Next, it explains that Obama needs to push for sensible gun control. This should also receive bipartisan support, so this needs to be addressed. The last point given is that Obama needs to address climate change. The sooner congress recognizes this problem, the more prepared the USA will be for the "new energy economy".