Obama Doesn't Mention Debt

In the article titled "What Obama didn't say," Ed Henry discusses how President Obama didn't make any mention of the national debt in his 2015 State of the Union Address.  He also made no mention of reforming entitlements like Social Security and Medicare even though Medicare is a large source of debt. Obama has increased the national debt by $7.6 trillion in the last 6 years, and it appears that this will continue to rise. Even though the government has more revenue than ever before ($3 trillion last year), it continues to spend more than it brings in.

With the omission of the national debt, it is clear that Obama will not make any pushes towards lowering the number in the next couple years. Since this cannot be avoided forever, it will hopefully be the next president who makes steps towards lessening the debt, so we can avoid paying large amounts of loan interest to foreign countries.

This is surprising that the national debt, which seems like one of the biggest issues facing this country, was omitted from the State of the Union. The Keystone Pipeline also wasn't mentioned by name, but that doesn't surprise me since Obama has already made his position clear and there have been extensive debates on it already.

Republicans Ready to Work

In the article titled "Republicans Say They'll Act Fast to Push Agenda," author Carl Hulse discusses how the new Republican-controlled Senate is planning to take action early on several key issues including the Keystone XL pipeline, health care, and immigration.  Senator John Thune said, “We have sort of laid down the marker, and we need to follow through.”  The vote on the pipeline is scheduled to take place on Thursday, following a Senate Energy Committee hearing on Wednesday.  Republicans are also hoping to change the definition of a full-time worker from 40 hours to 30 hours to reduce the number of people on the health care plan.

This is the first time in 8 years that Republicans have controlled both the House and Senate, so it will be interesting to see if they are able to pass more laws and help lower the nation's debt. However, they will still need a 2/3 majority to override a veto from President Obama.

I think it will be beneficial for the country to have a Republican-controlled Congress to hopefully reverse our growing debt.  I also enjoyed seeing a quote from John Thune in the second paragraph of the article, and I will be looking for more quotes by him in the future.

Taxes used to shovel horse manure

"Shovel-ready: Stimulus funds still being spent on manure project" by Elizabeth Harrington

As part of the Recovery and Reinvestment Act, or stimulus act, passed over five years ago, $60,000 in taxpayer dollars is being used to haul manure from a public corral in Oregon that holds horses awaiting adoption. People who are up for the task will get paid $17 per hour plus fringe benefits. If there is a beneficial use for the manure then it will be utilized, otherwise the manure will be disposed of.

These funds allotted to the horse corral will benefit them and the workers who get paid. However, this also will contribute to the budget deficit. It could possibly have a beneficial impact if it it used as fertilizer, but the article says that it might not be.

I think that although this helps create jobs, the money could be put to much better use, or not used at all. The whole idea behind mixed economies and capitalist economies is that privatizing businesses creates a drive to work and spend money in appropriate and beneficial areas. We have also discussed the growing debt of America. The debt should be a priority, not horse manure.

Fear and Anxiety Equals More Gun Sales

In the article titled "Gun Sales Boomed in November," Smith discusses how Black Friday and Ferguson-related fears led to an increase of about 12% in gun sales from October.  1.8 million background checks were performed in November, with 175,000 occurring on Black Friday.  Fear and anxiety often lead to increases in the amount of people buying guns, which is why ironically the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary led to the biggest month of sales ever since people were scared of gun restrictions passing.  Those restrictions, however, never happened.

As more and more people continue to buy guns, it is more likely that people will push for gun restrictions, especially if more shootings occur.  However, events like the one in Ferguson could lead people to instead not want gun restrictions because they would want self defense.

There are too many guns in circulation to prevent people from getting them.  I would not be against gun legislation banning automatic weapons, but other legislation would do no good and anger many people since right to bear arms is guaranteed in the Constitution.

Voting is a Right

In the article titled "Federal Judge Strikes Down Wisconsin Law Requiring Photo ID as Polls," Davey and Yaccino discuss the 2011 law that was struck down earlier this year. The judge ruled that this law violated the 14th Amendment and the Voting Rights Act because proportionally, there are more black Wisconsin citizens living below the poverty line than white citizens. Those who live below the poverty line have more trouble finding transportation to obtain photo IDs, and they are less likely to use these photo IDs for things like banking and international travel. Critics also point out that this might have proportionally prevented more Democrats from voting than Republicans. However, advocates say that this law helped prevent fraud and increased confidence in the voting system.

This decision shows that the judicial system is using the 14th Amendment to protect the basic rights of people. However, a Supreme Court decision on a law in Indiana upheld a similar law in 2008. It will be interesting to see if this law gets appealed to the Supreme Court.

Until fraud becomes a major issue, I think that restrictions like these should not be allowed because everyone has the natural right to vote. However, if voting fraud begins to increase, a measure may need to be found that helps prevent fraud at very little inconvenience to the voting population.

Republicare

In the article titled, "What a Republican Senate Means for Obamacare-And What it Doesn't," by Sam Baker, the new Republican Senate majority is discussed.  Republicans are now in 51 of the Senate seats, and many of them got there on a campaign promise to work toward the repealing of Obamacare. It is unlikely that the Senate would reach the 60 needed votes to completely get rid of Obamacare, but only 51 votes will be needed to make certain changes to the plan.

This Republican Senate majority will most likely lead to some changes, but the GOP will still need to show American citizens that they are doing more than just fighting Obamacare if they want to have strong results in the next election. It will be interesting to see any changes that are made to Obamacare.

I think it may be a good thing to have a Republican Senate to offer a different point of view. I do not know enough about Obamacare to know what changes would be best for the country. Now that I have voted for the first time, I am more interested in the effects an opposing Legislative and Executive branch will have on this country.

Link: http://www.nationaljournal.com/health-care/what-a-republican-senate-means-for-obamacare-and-what-it-doesn-t-20141105

South Dakota may not be a Key Player Anymore

Recent evidence had suggested that the Republicans in Washington were pouring in large amounts of money into the SD senate race to help Republican Mike Rounds win the election and give SD two Republican senators.  However, the article titled "GOP pulling cash from South Dakota Senate race" says that the GOP is very confident that Mike Rounds will win, so it is no longer necessary to provide him with more funds.  The National Republican Senatorial Committee is planning on canceling over $300,000 in funds.  The confidence of the Republicans comes from a recent poll that had Mike Rounds in the lead.

This article may have an effect on those voters who are still wavering between candidates.  They may begin to see less advertisements for Mike Rounds.  However, according to this article, this should not affect the outcome of the election.  Elections are approaching fast and many people probably already know who they are voting for.

I am not a fan of the biased and attacking political ads that are always on TV, so I am happy to hear that they may be slowing down.  It is surprising that people can feel so confident about the outcome of an election days before it even happens.  I think that less money should be spent on campaigning and more on other aspects of government.

Link: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/2014-south-dakota-elections-mike-rounds-nrsc-weiland-pressler-112232.html