The Politics of it all

So, I am a registered Democrat. That does not mean I'm leftist liberal.


I've taken tests on my stances on certain things, and honestly, I think of myself as a moderate liberal. Believe me, I can be quite conservative on some policies. I can be impatient with illegal immigrants sometimes. I think everyone does deserve a fair chance in our country, but let's not do it the wrong way.


But, besides that, I am proud to say I support President Obama. If the election were today for President, I would not change my vote. America needed change and I'm very happy with his job, especially his recent announcement of the restructuring of NCLB (No Child Left Behind). It's the reason I voted for him and I am not changing that stance. The health care debate has definitely swayed people. Personally, I want public option. I think it would benefit a lot of people; I think my family would greatly benefit from public option. The Democrats seemed frightened by the Republicans' opinion on public option and took it out of the bill. I don't know, it seemed like they have the votes for this to pass so I didn't see the point of taking it out. But, overall, I think that this health care bill is an excellent idea.


Don't get me wrong, I hate all the politics associated with it and it turned me off from being a Democrat and made me want to go Independent. I won't become Independent because I want to vote in primaries. But, health care is ridiculously expensive and I personally know quite a few people going without insurance because they simply cannot afford it. I'm lucky, I have a dad who worked very hard to ensure my family got health coverage. But, in this economy, it's been tough. Is the bill expensive? Yes, very expensive and it kind of scares me a bit how much it will cost. But, insurance coverage will be expanded, millions of people without insurance will be able to easily get it, and I think this will make our health care even better. People are worried that health care will be worst off and become "socialized." I don't think that's true. Some places with government-run health care have some of the best health care in the world, like Hawaii (true story). And this overhaul won't have government-run health care. Are we ready for public option? Maybe not right now. I think this Health Care bill will be the beginning of better times in our country and is necessary. I'm hoping Sunday the House will pass it, leading the Senate to get it passed and we can start anew.


Now, let me turn over to NCLB. Some teacher unions are not happy with some of the changes Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan are making with it. Let's look at the logistics. Our K-12 schoolers are learning things just to pass a stupid standardized test. And if those kids can't do that, their school is considered failing. My high school was considered failing. So was the other high school in my town. Actually... I think in my entire area only one school was not considered failing. It's a fact that one in three schools in America is considered failing. And so, my high school made sure we learned what we needed to so we could pass these tests. My class was the closest to passing (apparently most of us actually tried) and we still failed but barely. Many schools in this country are going to be considered failing, it's just not possible with what NCLB wants to pass. And, guess what? NCLB is a failure in the long run. I'm at college now, and I know I was really struggling to transition, as were many students from my high school, Liberty, and even ones that went to Freedom, the other school. We said we didn't really learn much. We didn't and it's because our principals, although sweet people, changed the ciriculum so we could pass the "PSSAs." Of course, both Liberty and Freedom had 3 different principals within the four years I and my classmates attended. I think I learned more in high school band than I did in high school in general. I think the Honors/AP students were the only ones that truly benefited, and that was if they had a good teacher, because I know a certain someone was struggling in their Spanish class because of bad teaching even on an Honors level. So, I think these teacher unions that are saying NCLB is unfair to them need to look at the bigger picture. Yes, there will be teacher evaluations but the whole "a school will be considered passing or failing based on a student taking a test" will be gone. And you know what? The teachers do deserve partial blame. I mean, I know that the PSSAs screwed us, but I think we didn't have to learn certain things. Certain teachers failed in preparing us for college. Yes, part of it was the PSSAs, but come on. You can do better. And now that standardized tests measuring schools is going away, teachers should be able to do their job. We go to school to learn and prepare for the next level up. Unfortunately, Liberty failed on certain aspects with that. When I came up to Penn State, I literally had to learn how to study. Seriously, there was no real need for me to study at Liberty, it came naturally for some reason. But, it was a huge wake-up call. I'm still struggling with it a little. Sure, I have to share some of the blame but I think that NCLB really screwed me. Teachers, you need to do better. The government is not trying to pick on you, they just want to make sure these kids are making progress. That's what NCLB should be about: progress. Hopefully these new changes will do that. The idea behind NCLB is wonderful, but it shouldn't be putting each child at the same level. That's impossible. It should make sure a student is making applicable process year by year.


That was the sole reason I voted for Obama. I thought McCain's ideas on education were lackluster and not modernized enough. I'm very liberal with education, especially being a college student and I think Obama is really trying to make life easier for us and better.


So, I guess I'm saying with this, Obama has been slightly slow in his reforms, but it looks like it's catching up. I decided to write this after seeing reports of an Obama effigy on a college campus being lynched. It led to an argument about whether this is a hate crime or freedom of speech. I think this is easy for me: hate crime. Guys, you can't kid about stuff like this, and yes, this is mainly because Obama is half African-American. I mean, I think a bunch of my friends remember senior year the "noose" incident at our school that happened during band. Many African-Americans were lynched in the late 1800s, accused of random crimes they didn't commit but mainly, their only crime was the color of their skin. So, I feel if you want to express your dislike for the country's first African-American president, you cannot do so by hanging an Obama effigy. We do have to be careful about how we express ourselves in this country and we cannot try and use "Freedom of Speech" for instances like this. We are allowed to express our opinion, but when it is met with trying to harm someone in a brutal way (such as President Obama), then you've crossed a line. You can say "Impeach Obama" like many people have said (because for some reason, people think he wasn't an American citizen?); many did when Bush was President. But doing stuff with the intent of harming anyone, like the President, is wrong. Someone I remember did that near me to Former President Bush and they got in big trouble. This is not just because "It's Obama." This happens with every President, every person. That's considered a threat and you can't kid about something like that- it's not freedom of speech people.


The Constitution is a wonderful piece of legislation. We have many freedoms that other countries envy. We can't try and override it! Some of it is a little vague, but let the courts decide that (it's what they're here for).


America is an amazing country. So many people outside our country seem to not like us, but that's because they wish they could be us! So many of people give up everything to bring their families to this country. My father's parents worked hard to bring their family to this country and my father has been an American citizen for over 30 years, and he considers himself one, even if he didn't live here his entire life. I think politics are getting in the way of important things we have in our country.


You know, this reminds me of something President Obama said in one of his speeches. He said "This isn't the Republican States of America or the Democratic States of America, this is the UNITED States of America." And as the United States of America, let's do what's best for our country, not what's best for our respective parties. In my opinion (and I think we can agree on this): We need better and more affordable health care. We need a better education system. We need to stop over-analyzing everything. We need to become the United States again.