politics
Politics does not dictate our collective cultural mindset as much as it simply reflects it; We've got to look in the mirror sometimes, and we've got one.
It's Mudslinging Season
Click for AUDIO VERSION. Here in Florida, as it is in many other states, it is primary season where political parties select their candidates to run in November. Unlike the general election, I tend to believe primaries bring out the worst in candidates who inevitably turn to back-stabbing. Back in 1966, Ronald Reagan coined his famous eleventh commandment, "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." Reagan obviously didn't foresee the 21st century as mudslinging is now the norm regardless of what side you are on.
Why Are Traditional Democrats Fading Away?
BRYCE ON POLITICS - The more Democrats resist President Trump, the more working people move to the GOP. Click for AUDIO VERSION.
Can Federalism Survive?
The ideas introduced though new doctrines can at first seem wonderful, such as federalism. The Founding Fathers’ idea that there could be a document that has a set of guidelines for government to follow along with a separation of a state and federal governments truly seems appetizing. The key word is "seems." Federalism seems great, but there is a structural pitfall, one that has the potential to kill the tantalizing essence of federalism. The structural pitfall is that the federal government trumps the state governments. The states can have their own laws; however, if the federal government makes new legislation, that is the law of the land. It is nearly impossible for states to dispute a federal decision. Today, there is an increase in centralized policy-making in the federal government. This creates a danger for federalism because the centralization of policy is an example of the pitfall discussed before. Centralization of federal policies diminishes the power of state decisions, desires, and determinations which eventually creates a unitary system of government—a concept the Founding Fathers despised considering their revolution against an authoritative king. The eradication of federalism is a reinforcement of executive abuse of power, an elimination of democracy, and an infringement of the Constitution.
Tasia KiefferPublished 6 years ago in The SwampPoverty Becomes Cyclical in Canada
The old saying is the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. I reflected on this in my everyday life and realized the privilege that people experience when they have money. The options are greater and there's room for making mistakes.
Brian AnonymousPublished 6 years ago in The SwampAn America Divided
In 1789, A small group of colonies just won their independence from a monarchy across the Pacific Ocean. Now they were faced with a dilemma; How should the government be running and who should be in charge with carrying it out? A group of delegates considered that the government should be powerful enough to protect its citizens. They went by the name Federalist. Another group decided that the government should provide a militant force but other than that stay out of the American citizens' economy. These delegates were named, creatively, the Anti-Federalist. This split in the ideas of the founding fathers lead to the remaining delegates scrambling to join one side or the other. To belong to a party meant you were an opponent to the other. However, what happens when you do not fully agree with either side? You’re an outcast and forced to assimilate. This system leads to total control by two parties without input from others with other views. Although this system has been rooted in the American government, it is time to work to give everyone a voice by dismantling the overpowering two party system.
Bryan GraysonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampAmerican Architectural Psychology
Architectural and urban designs are often reflections of the cultures that built them. In the US, a legacy of racism runs through our highways and cities.
Robert WellsPublished 6 years ago in The SwampUtilitarian Standpoint: Issues Where I Stand Neutral
Hey Guys, Today I want to talk about neutrality, and the top ten social issues that I stand neutral on. I wrote something similar where I listed top ten things which people are irrationally sensitive about. It was not accepted because it was too broad and not specific enough. So bear with me while I make the list, short and simple. Welcome to another post in the us series where I talk about subjective matters aiming towards an objective solution. It is a story that affects all of us.
Heeta JoshiPublished 6 years ago in The SwampPlaying Football?
In recent years, especially since the election of Jeremy Corbyn first in 2015 after Labour's disastrous defeat in the general election and then again in September 2016 after a coup—this time with a larger majority—the Labour party has been accused of having a disease, that’s rotting the party to the core. The disease? Anti-Semitism. Many have claimed that the party has seen a huge increase in anti-semitism, although is this really true? In reality, it would seem that the issue of anti-semitism is nothing more than a political smear campaign which has become the deciding factor in the ever-widening Labour party split. It would be wrong to deny that anti-semitism doesn’t exist, but what is clear to me is that anti-semitism is being used by the right wing of the Labour party to wedge the newly elected leader out of office. The evidence is overwhelming. How could the Labour party be anti-semitic when a Jewish man led them for four long years and then into the 2015 general election? What we the electorate must realize is that political party leaders, in the words of Boris Johnson, are taking us for ‘mutton-headed’ idiots. They are using serious problems within society as a form of political football. Is this really what British politics has come to? These constant attacks towards the Labour party, and more accurately towards the Labour leader from other politicians, including ones from the Labour party itself, are undermining British democracy. This upsets me because at such an important time in British history, can we really afford to take our eye off the ball?
Lucas JacksonPublished 6 years ago in The SwampThe Serpents That Shape the World
On the evening of September 26, 1960, the unknown senator from Massachusetts John F. Kennedy faced off against incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon, in what was the United States’ first televised debate. The role of the media in shaping politics can be seen in America’s political history, media in television and radio and political campaigns to come, as evidenced in the electioneering of the 1960 presidential debate—the first televised encounter between candidates in American history. When Nixon took to the podium his form was morose, scant and sickly from recent hospitalization; Kennedy calmly took his place with confidence and poise. According to a census taken thereafter those who listened to the debate on the radio thought Nixon had won, a sharp comparison to the estimated 74 million of the majority of Americans who now owned a television set. The new medium had set the stage for a realized public recognition for how political events could be swayed, dependent on the media to shape how political figures are to be viewed by the nation. On November 12, 1960, four days after winning the election by the skin of his teeth, Kennedy was quoted as saying that “it was the TV more than anything else that turned the tide." With the rising force of television the mainstream media caught wind of just how explosive the Kennedy-Nixon debate was with the populace. Major broadcasting networks’ ratings rocketed sky-high, television sets were sold to every family on the block—America had plunged into the twilight zone like a TV show on mute; waiting, watching and listening on bated breath for the next ‘life-altering’ thing to come out of that tiny box in the living room. There was no doubt that television carried great power in its potential. "With the nation watching," a 1979 task force report noted, "The Nixon-Kennedy debates made televised encounters between candidates the hottest thing in electioneering since the campaign button." The media had dug its talons of razor wire into Kennedy’s public image, cataclysmically enabling the potential for television to double in size and scope. This event is the genesis of the next-generation public game, the next-level playing field of politicians and journalists: this is the theory of ‘media politics.’
What Is "The Left"
"The Left." We hear it constantly from conservative pundits and editorialists, most often trying to get rise from the democratic party. I find that nobody on the right actually knows that that means. To those who believe they know what it means on the right, you probably have little conception of what socialism actually is, much less the broad term "the left." While the Democratic Party is the most leftist major party in the United States, it is not by any means a portion of "the left," although some moderate leftists are in the party. The broad definition of "the left" as perpetuated by conservatives is an authoritarian system and the soviet-form socialism that resulted in another imperialist state. While people think that socialism is inherently authoritarian, it is not. Socialism, as a principle merely refers to the absence of private property (i.e. property used by an employer's employee for use for the purpose of profit). It states that the employment of such a system will result in mass unemployment, mass poverty, hunger, mass homelessness, and overproduction.
Thomas SebacherPublished 6 years ago in The SwampWhy Are the Democrats Turning to Socialism?
BRYCE ON POLITICS - Most people do not understand the differences between Capitalism and Socialism. Click for AUDIO VERSION.
'The Purge' Already Happened in the 2016 Presidential Election
October 9, 2016. Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. The second presidential debate is kicking off with a question to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A woman asks about the negative tone of the current campaign, to which Secretary Clinton responds:
Stephen WaldenPublished 6 years ago in The Swamp