opinion
Opinion pieces from the left, right, and everyone in between.
The Unbreakable Peace
Nuclear weapons have been in the news quite regularly over the last year, from North Korea's technological breakthroughs to troubles with the Iran Deal. Yet the public concern which accompanies these topics is wildly disproportionate to the effect they stand to have over our future. The word "nuclear weapon" gets no more attention in the news than a major corporate announcement or an important local election. Perhaps some can view this as a good thing. The American hegemony which emerged with the fall of the Soviet Union meant that everyday citizens no longer had to think about the possibility of everything they ever knew or loved being disintegrated into ash at the push of a button.
Why Are Political Leaders so Out of Touch?
Why are the political leaders so out of touch? Why do polls get it wrong? The question has been asked in Britain and USA and is being asked in Germany and France; why are the political elite and political polls getting it wrong? The answer lies in the belief of political leaders, and especially the bureaucracies they depend on for advice, that the only people who actually matter live in cities.
Peter RosePublished 6 years ago in The SwampWhen Coffee Was a Dime
The world when coffee was a dime seems so distant now. The turbulence of the times mirrors much of the events that occurred almost like it was 86 years ago. Even though much has changed, much remains reminiscent of the times when coffee was a just a dime. In the 1930s, the world was filled with so much despair, woe, and misery. Sadly though, history always has found a way to repeat events that have played out before. And today the times are not that much different for millions when all you needed was a dime for that cup of coffee.
Dr. WilliamsPublished 6 years ago in The SwampAmerica, I'm Looking for You
This is an open letter to America. I am looking for you, we all are. As a child I admired America and I was proud to be American. Over the last few years that feeling has greatly diminished and I am left with the feeling of sadness and loss. I am 26 years old and have lived here my entire life. As a child I watched the world around me with a light in my eye. I had role models who had high moral standards, Presidents who had common sense, and a sense of safety that I feel I will never feel again in my own country. I am not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way America forgot who she is. She forgot what she stands for and what she stands against. I, at 26 years old, am watching my great country fall apart. Everyday there are stories of senseless acts of violence being committed in our country against one another because of the color of someone’s skin, their religion, and their sexuality, all things that we are either born with. We cannot continue to hurt each other. We have enemies in too many other countries for us to turn on one another. This new “normal” in America: It is “normal” to be afraid to go to public places because you don’t know who will yell disgusting language at you or potentially harm you. We are afraid to send our children to school for fear that a gunman may take their lives. We are afraid to be our true selves for fear of being outcast. When did this happen? When did we forget what America stands for? When did we forget how to be DECENT human beings? That Golden Rule we were all taught as CHILDREN has been forgotten. Instead of people taking accountability for their actions we now allow people to make excuse, we EXCUSE the behavior because someone has had a hard life, or because they can afford to pay off whoever makes the consequences. And what is worse is that instead of us holding the PERSON accountable, we look at their race, their religion, their political association, or where they came from and we judge them based on that. We blame their behavior on those things instead of the many other things that really contributed to their behavior. Sounds like the news, right? But unlike the news, politicians and celebrities, I understand that this is ALL our faults. What everyone fails to see is that this isn’t a Democrat vs. Republican issue, or a Black vs. White issue, this is a HUMAN issue. We all share one thing in common: WE ARE HUMAN. We all hurt, bleed, cry, get angry, say horrible things, and lash out but we have forgotten that we are only HUMAN. I turn on the news daily and it’s always the same rhetoric. No one is trying to solve the issue. Our president is not the issue—we all are. We can only control the way that we react and nothing else. This constant eye-for-an-eye behavior must stop. Someone must take a stand and say, "NO MORE." We will no longer behave in this ridiculous manner. We must stop pointing the finger and instead hold our hand out in hopes that the other side will reach out too. This is not the best that America has to offer and it’s not the worst, yet. If WE, and I mean everyone in America, does not put a stop to the intolerance, violence, and crude language that is being used to hurt one another, then, America: I am afraid we have lost you forever.
Dominique HansleyPublished 6 years ago in The SwampRadicalization: Warm Up, Performance, Finale
Radicalization takes many different forms, but the process of it seems to be identical in each instance. In my opinion, there are two most pressing instances of radicalization at the moment: Islamic radicalization and White supremacists.
ovaryactingPublished 6 years ago in The SwampTranslating Trumpese
BRYCE ON POLITICS - America is separated by two languages, not ideology. Click for AUDIO VERSION. Like a lot of people, I often get confused by news reports expressing different interpretations of what President Donald Trump allegedly said. Even when you hear it yourself, it is not uncommon to read or hear a different interpretation altogether from the press. At first, I thought it was nothing but spin by the main stream media, but it finally occurred to me, Americans speak two different languages based on English, Liberal and "Trumpese." It is a simple matter of translation. In studying the lexicon of both, I have discovered how Liberals translate Mr. Trump's comments and vice versa. For example, when liberals say something is "backwards," it is translated to "forwards" for everyone else. Other examples, "disabled = strong", "disgruntled = happy," etc. For a more complete list, see the bottom of this article.
Institutions vs Independent Living
The issue of putting the elderly or people of disabilities in institutions versus allowing them to live independently has been a debate for years. While there are many arguments for both sides, many people remain uneducated about the effects each lifestyle has on the population being housed.
Lorraine WoiakPublished 6 years ago in The SwampIt's Now or Never: Will You Answer When the Caller Is Change?
The world is a big, crazy, scary, and emotionally draining place. The ups, the downs, and the in-betweens keeps us emotionally unstable despite our best efforts to keep it together. These days, confusion is running rampant, everyone is emotionally distraught, and help is nonexistent. We've gone from it takes a village to calling the police on kids selling lemonade. Kids don't know what it is to play outside, police violence has replaced gang violence in the news, riots are everywhere, and the face of our nation promotes racists rhetoric. We can spend all day talking about what's wrong or even where things began to go wrong, but the bigger question is how do we fix the problem? Who's going to fix the problem? Better yet, who's going to admit there even is a problem?
Janyne JacksonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampMy Response to "Black Culture Problem' Video
The thing is why are you talking about the Black community when there are other issues in your own community. How about let’s face the fact that many white people are the ones that are mostly being racist still, yes other diverse cultures are also racist that's not being ignored but your giving time out of your day to talk about a culture that does not belong to you in the first place to tell us (Black people) what’s wrong with our culture and our community. But excluding your own culture (I wonder why).
The World Watches
Thomas Jefferson once said "When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty." Now that's a strong statement...but it's true. Our governments around the world no longer represent the people who put them in power. The government has become so complacent that they have forgotten whose needs come first. America isn't the only place where it's happening; it's happening around the world! We see it every day, whether we like it or not. The government doesn't represent us anymore.
Cedric JoubertPublished 6 years ago in The SwampWriting a New Constitution
Here is a radical idea to bring about social change. The Constitution is constantly in motion, in flux. We need to write a new one altogether since The Civil Rights Act is a major change made in 1964. The Civil Rights Act of 1991 allowed employees to sue their employers for discrimination. There have been major amendments to the Constitution but we as a country need to rewrite it to suit us. This is why I’m proposing rewriting the Constitution altogether to reflect modern times and a desire to state that we are all social equals without regard to race, religion or political leaning.
Iria Vasquez-PaezPublished 6 years ago in The SwampPolitics Plain and Simple?
Not every reader is going to embrace what I have to say or possibly agree with what I am saying, and that is alright with me. It is my right and your right to agree or disagree peaceably with each other.
Carolann SherwoodPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp