When the government began the tapping of phones across the country in order to attempt to locate terrorists, the government did the one thing that Benjamin Franklin warned against. Our elected officials decided on our behalf to give up essential liberty in order to obtain temporary safety. The United States is becoming more and more split, with our generation becoming a house divided against itself. Many people, including myself thought that president Obama would help bring race relations closer, and for a while, things seemed to be going that way, however with the way that things seem to be unfolding with the current status of Ferguson, it casts a darker light on the way our country is headed. Early on, Obama took firm stances on race relations early in his presidency, but he now seemed hesitant to remark on Ferguson, where race relations are hitting a fever-pitch.
I feel as though our country needs to set priorities on what we should focus our efforts on because our country is 18 trillion dollars in debt and our foreign policy seems to change monthly, however our top priorities are social issues such as gay marriage and abortion. Granted that social issues are very important to the people, but when our number one priority is not the well-being of this country, that shows a serious lack of urgency in the people and in the officials who govern them. I believe that our government has the potential to get back on track and is able to regain our position as the greatest nation in the world, but it will take years of hard work and careful management of our assets.
2 comments:
On December 2, 2014 classmate, Blaine Nicolaisen published an original commentary on the on the United States government. Cleverly titled "The Fault in our Government", Nicolaisen wrote an unflinchingly honest response to the debatable flaws in this Nation's system. One of the key arguments is the United States Government's invasion of citizen's privacy by tapping into American citizen's phones in order to locate terrorist, going far as to refer to it as "one thing that Benjamin Franklin warned against." I would say this is going a tad too far, seeing as Benjamin Franklin couldn't have possible seen the use of telephones and technology abused. Nicolaisen's second main point is discussing Obama's apparent ignorance and lack of action to the racial injustices and crimes being committed to the African American citizens living in this country. I would say this problem is not going to be changed by installing new laws, (granted the law to have officers always filmed on the job sounds great) but rather to shed light on these injustices and deliver out the proper punishments for officers’ abuse of power. A point that really stuck out to me was Blaine’s opinion that social issues like gay marriage and abortion are not this Country’s top priority. To that I ask, when are the people of this Country not the top priority? Is the Ferguson assaults not considered a social issue? There are a significant number of deaths and suicide to the LGBTQ citizens until recently when it became a social issue involving people and not just statistic to a country whose rarely ever out of debt.
On December 2, 2014 classmate, Blaine Nicolaisen published an original commentary on the on the United States government. Cleverly titled "The Fault in our Government", Nicolaisen wrote an unflinchingly honest response to the debatable flaws in this Nation's system. One of the key arguments is the United States Government's invasion of citizen's privacy by tapping into American citizen's phones in order to locate terrorist, going far as to refer to it as "one thing that Benjamin Franklin warned against." I would say this is going a tad too far, seeing as Benjamin Franklin couldn't have possible seen the use of telephones and technology abused. Nicolaisen's second main point is discussing Obama's apparent ignorance and lack of action to the racial injustices and crimes being committed to the African American citizens living in this country. I would say this problem is not going to be changed by installing new laws, (granted the law to have officers always filmed on the job sounds great) but rather to shed light on these injustices and deliver out the proper punishments for officers’ abuse of power. A point that really stuck out to me was Blaine’s opinion that social issues like gay marriage and abortion are not this Country’s top priority. To that I ask, when are the people of this Country not the top priority? Is the Ferguson assaults not considered a social issue? There are a significant number of deaths and suicide to the LGBTQ citizens until recently when it became a social issue involving people and not just statistic to a country whose rarely ever out of debt.
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