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!