I am angry.
The government shutdown after everything that has gone on over the past year politically has gotten to me.
My biggest issue is the criticism President Obama faces from the Tea Party and many Republicans. The fact that every year, each party seems to become more and more polarized is upsetting and frustrating.
When President Obama threatened to go into Syria, he received flack from all kinds of people, especially conservatives. Okay. That's their opinion.
But when we came to a peaceful resolution as opposed to a military strike, they had to take up issues with that as well! Even though they didn't want to go into Syria in the first place, now that they weren't, all they could talk about was how now Obama was "weak" and "a liar" who "cannot safely govern the American public".
Now, the budget.
The entire budget situation makes me, in plainest terms, upset.
It's hard for me to see and know how many people are going to be furloughed and/or out of work and not feel immediately terrible for those losing income which could threaten their livelihood. Every week that the government doesn't come to a conclusion, the economy suffers from a billion dollars not being in active circulation. We could go into another recession.
This entire problem is based in how the Congress (dominated by Republicans) won't pass the budget because they refuse to accept the Affordable Care Act, which, still went into effect despite the shutdown because it is separate in a way I don't fully understand. The ACA has been in law since 2010. The Supreme Court has upheld it's verdict that the act is constitutional. I can't help but pull my hair out because this is all so ridiculous and pointless.
When I get older, I currently plan on being a writer and a social worker. Those are two of the lowest paying jobs in the country. I would probably benefit from the ACA rather than be faulted.
From my father's point of view, it would only hurt him. In a few years, he's going to need to get his pacemaker replaced, and there will be a tax implemented on him if he doesn't do it in a timely manner. My dad is also still convinced I'll turn out to be a Journalist for the NYT, no matter how many times I correct him.
I side with the act. I side with taxation that would make the country better as a whole. I'm a socialist, sometimes even communistic, I'll admit it. I'm an idealist, and I don't plan on losing that for anyone.
When we had to write on cards in the four person groups saying what project we'd want to do, there was an immediate feeling of failure going around before we'd even begun! I kept having to reiterate that we had to brainstorm under the impression that our idea would prevail.
Many Republicans are expecting the act to fail to the point where they don't even find trying a viable option. That isn't what America is about.
Tomorrow, the spirit week theme is 'America'. I'm not feeling all that spirited right now.
1 comment:
The ACA is not going to go away. The Tea Party is doing all this desperate stuff because people are going to like it and it is going to work. I mean, it is basically exactly what is going on in Massachussets and the idea has been very successful there and people love it. It will be a bit of a mess for a few months, but by February it will be humming along and the election in November 2014 will happen and be influenced by a positive ACA experience - that is why the GOP wants to delay it. If it is still a mess and difficult by election time then they have an easier time painting it as being awful. But by November it will be fine, people will like it, and it will be very hard to criticize and the GOP knows that. So, they've lost, and really thats that.
In the long run your dad will be helped by ACA, because it will drive health care costs down, and even with a pace maker he'll be able to get insurance no matter what.
As far as groups go and getting dispirited... you did the right thing by keeping positive. Of course I am not going to have you all do the same project! That would be dull! That was just a red herring thrown in there to make the whole process more difficult and hence more realistic. It's good to know how people react to stress in creative circumstances.
L
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