WikiLeaks

The recent WikiLeaks release, whether you agree with them or not, brings to question one of the most important and inherent traditions of journalism in America.  

  It has been a long standing belief in America for the media to be our "eyes and ears" within the government and to make citizens aware of injustices.  Transparency in government has made strides in our country because of having a prominent news and television industry.  So is the recent release of government documents by WikiLeaks one of the greatest journalism accomplishments ever, or a traitorous and maligned act against not just the U.S., but against the delicate relations of many countries?  Or both?  Never before have we seen this amount of damaging classified government information be distributed to this amount of people in the history of man.

Can the media stand by the principles and instincts of journalism and our first amendment while observing the consequences that might be brought from them? Is there a fundamental difference between this and Watergate?  There's nothing more politically embarrassing for a nation than to resort to impeaching its president.

This controversy creates a very slippery slope in the ethics of journalism and tends to contradict itself.  People will have to decide whether they really want true transparency within the government or whether its best for the masses to be in the dark.  Will citizens who decide to reject this advancement in journalism be objecting to the roots of our Constitution?

I don't even have definite opinions in my own head let alone have answers for any of these questions,. so the resolution will be up to the reader.

Founding Fathers and American Ideals

Yesterday in my Political Science: American Political Thought class,  we were asked about the Founding Fathers and their roles as the main actors in our country's beginning.  Starting in Kindergarten we are told the story of how our country began and of the great men that made up our Founding Fathers.  We were asked would it matter if F.F. was f.f?  In other words, if a deeper look into history showed us that men such as George Washington, or Thomas Jefferson, were really just normal citizens with problems and faults like everyone else; would this fact alter our perception of America and make the story less impressive?

My answer was no.  I believe it would make the founding of America even more spectacular.  The basic ideology of our nation is one made up of free citizens, large or small, white or black, young or old, who can come together and change the world in extraordinary ways.  A tale of a select group of ordinary citizens who stood above the rest to lead a nation into its induction appeals to one's hero persona even more.

 The fact that Washington may have not been the most intelligent commander, but an insightful politician, or that Jefferson really might not have been as respectable or heroic than once thought, only adds to the American Story.  They were regular men who were destined to realize their time and place in history early enough to act on their intuition and change history.

We are not a democracy assembled by aristocrats the with the intention to belittle the people, we are a democracy built by the people for the people.  And it is not until we lower our Founders Fathers from their aristocratic standing will we be able to understand their true intention.  There is no disrespect in turning F.F. to f.f., as it is only the utmost salute to our founding fathers greatest dreams.

Extraordinary events and circumstances turn ordinary men into great men.  For this assumption to be true though, it would mean that great circumstances can create great men in any era.  We have the opportunity in any era or generation, including this one, to do great things that can rival anything in our past.  We just gota do it.

College Tuition and the Growing Student Debt Pandemic

Today's student riots in the UK brings light to one of the most abusive and contemptuous  parody's in America today.  50,000 students protested outside of the Conservative Party HQ's today in Central London against proposed increases in tuition fees and a cut in university funding in England.  This rise in tuition would add about $10,000 in costs per semester to students who are paying only $5,000 now.  I couldn't imagine what these same students would do if they were in America and had to deal with our tuition inflation.

Over the past two decades college tuition in America has doubled the inflation rate every year and there seems to be no end in sight.  Universities try to hide the costs in "student fees" and name many reasons for the tuition spikes, but reasons don't relieve thinning wallets around the country.  It's a shame that in today's world, when a bachelor's degree is yesterday's high school degree, the education system seems to be fiscally punishing those who strive to learn.  These tuition increases are forcing more people than ever to take on student debt, and this student debt is beginning to cripple the ambitions of many recent graduates all over America.  

Student loan debt just passed credit card debt in America and has quickly become the next great economic bubble for our generation and beyond.  The current tab is currently at $830 billion and will only keep growing exponentially.  The catch about student debt though is it can't be erased by bankruptcy like credit debt; if you can't repay your student loans you will default with the federal government and you don't want that.  If that happens the government will hound you until the day you die for that unpaid money.  The worrisome part about this whole debacle is that with the current economy, job market and prospects of higher interest rates, default is going to become an all too real issue for many graduates in the years to come.  Imagine the compounding interest on a $50,000 balance if the LIBOR goes up to 10% or more over the next decade to counter inflation.  Not pretty.

Brief Midterm Election Reaction

Were last nights election results a surprise? No.  They were more remarkable than surprising.  Anyone following the political spectrum over the past two years, or even two months, could tell you Republicans would win back seats in both the House and the Senate.  Since 1900, the President's party has lost an average of 29 House seats and 3.4 Senate seats per midterm election, so turnover is nothing new.  What is remarkable though is the way in which Republicans took control of the House and put a dent in the Senate deficit.

Not since 1938, under FDR (coincidence?), has there been such an overhaul of House seats in a single midterm election.  As of now, the GOP has gained at least 60, with about 65 net gains projected by the time all the ballots are counted, which will give them the most Republican House members, (at least 239) since 1946.

 And though the GOP was unable to reach majority in the Senate, they have so far picked up six seats and won some very significant and symbolic seats.  The most symbolic was GOP Mark Kirk's victory over Alexi Giannoulias for Obama's old Senate seat in Illinois, and the most significant, I believe, was Pat Toomey's victory over Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania.  


Mark Kirk's victory is symbolic for the same reason Scott Brown's victory of Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat was symbolic...irony.

Pat Toomey's victory shows a fundamental and ideological change in a state that had been blue, and this change seems to be pretty substantial.  This is a state that had Democrats controlling both Senate seats, the governorship and a majority in its 19 House seats heading into last night.  Now come January 11, the Senate seats will be split, there will be a Republican Governor, and the GOP will have the majority in House seats.  This pattern isn't true to PA alone, this ideology has swept across the nation.


A  few key trends that are interesting to note about last night also include; women had their lowest Democratic vote EVER, men had their highest Republican vote EVER, and those aged 65+ had their highest Republican vote EVER.  The most telling of these trends is the women vote, who historically are more aligned left.


Some other interesting trends and developments that have arisen in this election season also include; the role the Tea Party played in the election and was it positive, negative, or mixed?; was the economy the main issue or was this tidal wave a rebuke of Obama's policies?; can ObamaCare be repealed or slimmed down?; how will the stock market react in the coming months to two years after this turnover?; and what does this election show about the overall makeup of the American population?  But all of these questions will have to be answered in future writings.  Thanks!

Rob Reiner Has Gone Mad

Rob Reiner, famously known as the character "Meathead" in All in the Family, and now director and political activist, has lost his mind.

On last Friday's Real Time with Bill Maher (check out the video here) Reiner compared the Tea Party to Hitler and its followers to Nazis.  Not only is this an absurd statement, and terrible public relations, but it just doesn't make much sense.  Reiner's rant fails to include any factual backing and his claims show a complete lack of understanding of the Tea Party principles.  The Tea Party is exactly the opposite of what Hitler politically stood for.

Hitler promised healthcare, called for a total government reform of Germany's business infrastructure, and promised that all of the German's would have jobs.  The  Tea Party promises to attempt to repeal the healthcare bill, wants government totally out of America's business infrastructure, and promotes private job creation.

His comment that Hitler "wasn't a majority guy" also shows Reiner's ignorance of basic history.  It is true Hitler may have been elected by less than 40% of the German population, but was elected by 99.8% of the Austrian population.  It was when Hitler was elected Chancellor of Austria that he began his government overhaul which we know worked out oh so well.

Reiner also says that all the Tea Party is "selling is fear and anger."  Hitler sold nothing of the sort.  He sold the fundamental change of the nation's infrastructure, the hope of everyone having a job and that everyone had the right to be given medical treatment through the hands of the government.  

 Furthermore, how is the Tea Party only selling fear and anger?  My pet fish could tell you that most of the anger and finger pointing has come from the left in this election season.

It is people like Rob Reiner who make a bad name for democrats and liberals alike by going on a popular T.V. show and making a complete fool of himself.  People need to #1, not compare such a tragic moment in world history to today's times, and #2, get their history right when trying to make an intellectual statement.

P.S. I would like it to be known for the integrity of this blog that I am a moderate and am not some crazy Tea Partier ranting on like Reiner.