Obama: Less than Expected - Publicus

The fact that the election of a black president was a momentous occasion for the people of the Untied States, one that truly portrayed the American Dream, must be taken into account by both Democrats and Republicans. However, now that we have overcome this racial obstacle, it is time for the American people, as direct upholders of their government, to question what the head of the executive office has actually done in his tenure so far. Without twisting facts, Obama was elected at a rough period within our history and it should be well known that it takes time to germinate change. Despite this, Obama has made less than stellar attempts to progress our country in the way that he promised during his election campaign.

Democratic presidents have always been good at improving the foreign outlook on the U.S.A., but have never been good at standing up for what is best for the American people. Still, we must credit President Obama for dealing with international affairs in a prudent manner. He knows when he will win a situation and when he won't. A prime example was the abandonment of a missile defense shield in Eastern Europe which warmed ties with Russia, a powerful player in the region and a necessary pawn in the preservation of regional American interests. Also, abandonment aided in the retardation of the Islamo-Facist Theocracy of Iran's nuclear endeavors, which greatly threatened our ally Israel and the sanctity of world peace.

His domestic policies, on the other hand, are lacking. Obama has been in office for ten months and has nothing to show for it. It seems he has simply neglected the issues surrounding illegal immigration and, despite raising taxes, he's not done much in the way of fixing our healthcare system either. While his stimulus bills was not something we as conservatives wanted to see, Obama at least was acting on his goals.

While we realize that running a nation isn't as easy as it seems, I speak for us all when I say that we would like to see SOMETHING done. With pressing issues concerning national debt, immigration, healthcare, terrorism, and more, we realize that it may be difficult to make the right decisions, but attempts must be made. Andrew Jackson, Ronald Reagan, and George Bush, while they didn't always make prudent decisions, at least truly believed their actions were for the best of our country. I was hoping we could at least expect this from President Obama, but he's not acting at all. I didn't support Obama in the last election, and I still don't, but he has four years to change my mind. I truly hope he does.

Obama gets a B- from the Left - Civis

Obama has failed the left. 

Yes, I am a liberal. And I do support Obama and most of his

initiatives.

However, I have been disappointed by his accomplishments, or 

rather lack thereof, so far this year. 

SNL, quite appropriately, called him out on the issue.

The truth is, SNL is right on this. Unfortunately, the honeymoon 

period from last November is ending. And he has little to show for it. 

The SNL skit summed up everything he's failed to do. Today, men and women who are desperately willing to serve their country are being 

forced to leave because they want to openly serve. Obama has the 

power, at least temporarily (this means weeks, or longer) to suspend DADT. He has used the bully pulpit in Congress to encourage the 

Defense of Marriage Act to be repealed, nor has he done so for 

financial (regulatory) reform, which has become very neglected. The 

list simply goes on and on. I can't list 6 things he's done. The Lily 

Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was good, but within his first two weeks as 

Commander n' Chief. And then there's the stimulus, budget and 

TARP. He also repealed the Exec. Order on stem cell research.

There's only five.

Obama turned out to be an extremely moderate president, the only

liberal thing about him is his "encouragement" for the public option.

But he can redeem himself. He's needs to work on gay rights, address civil liberties (seriously), do SOME regulatory reform, sign a 

healthcare bill but only one WITH a public option, close Gitmo 

(actually), end the wars before 2012 ends. I'm convinced that if he can end both wars swiftly and safely and bring Americans to at least some form of pubic healthcare, he will be regarded as one of the top seven 

presidents in American history.

So, for now, a B minus. It's not horrible, but if he's gonna pass, then 

he can't let it slip much further.

Illegal Immigration: Fact vs. Fiction -Civis

In Mexico, all immigrants must speak Spanish (no government business will be conducted in English!); all immigrants must be investors or professionals; there are no bilingual programs in the schools; no immigrant may protest, hold substantial amounts of property (and no coastal property); and if they do decide to invest, it must be 40,000 times the daily minimum wage. 

We should obviously adopt all of those convenient laws. If Mexico is doing this, then so should we ... right?

I feel a proper rebuttal to that idea can be three words: America isn't Mexico. Mexican restrictions on labor don't seem to have satisfied their economic concerns so much as they've satisfied Mexican contempt for Guatemala. And the idea of using one language for all government business in America is not respectful to history nor culturally inclusive. Furthermore, the implication of some conservatives that English is America's native language is downright humorous. I'm pretty sure a multitude of languages were spoken here before English. You know, the languages of those other societies we just sort of brushed aside. The conservative fear of Spanish becoming the dominant language in America is simply ungrounded.

What makes immigration, especially of the illegal variety, such a volatile topic is its racial, economic, and (therefore) political implications. But beyond any of these three reasons is the ultimate fear, one that conservatives (and their political ancestors) have perpetuated for longer than America’s existence as a nation: fear of losing one’s cultural identity. The most prominent early organized group of this belief system were the Know-Nothings, belonging to the so-called “American Party.” Their problem with immigration was the influx of German and Irish Catholics. I happen to have exactly that--extensive German and Irish (and Catholic) ancestry on both sides of my family. Back then, in the 1850’s, religious divisions between Catholics and Protestants were about as deep as race was in the 1960’s. If the Know-Nothings were correct then I should belong to a very separate, isolated section of society. But somehow I am an equal citizen. The Know-Nothings were wrong about immigration; as are their their descendants; as so will be the future of this radical group. 

All of the Irish immigrants in this period were poor, uneducated, and unskilled (beyond being farmers of potatoes). Consequently, they were perceived as riffraff, stupid, and lazy. They came seeking a new life, with vigor and hope, and often met rude ethnocentrism. The only two differences between these Irish immigrants and those presently from Central America are race, and sometimes, the legality of the immigration.  Let me be clear: I am vehemently opposed to illegal immigration. It violates and undermines codified law, which does not seem to be in line with seeking a new, prosperous American life. In my opinion, it seems to act in favor of economic benefit versus forming a new personal national identity. This is why permanent residence must be a secure option if we are actually seeking a unified America, to any degree. Immigrants will ultimately come as long as the economic difference between the U.S. and Mexico exists; and that difference is definitely here to stay. If one fears the division of America based on ethnic, cultural, or social lines, then the worst possible thing to do is to exclude. Historically while immigration may have fluctuated, assimilation always continued to increase. Irish Catholic and German Catholic immigrants were eventually accepted into society, they moved into better neighborhoods, and went to better schools. And therein lies the solution.

First, the channels of legal immigration need to be expanded, substantially. Waiting 14 years, taking an exam most Americans can’t even pass, taking an oath, and finishing numerous other requirements seem ridiculous to protect something as arbitrary as birth. Make the path to naturalization only 6 years, simplify the exam to actual standards that Americans can pass, do a reasonable background check, and finish it up with an oath. Remember, it is only hardworking, motivated individuals applying for naturalization, not the criminals running drug operations. 

The second step may sound the most simple but is the most difficult: reduce violence at the border. This is a dangerous process because often an increase in police activity aggravates more criminal resistance. This will have to be legislated wisely. 

The final step is one that cannot be legislated, because it works with the very momentum of history. Americans must forge a future where all are included. This means an accepting tone at the workplace, tolerance in our schools, and inclusion at the voting booth. 

Let me finish up with this: the misperception that immigrants hurt America is wrong because it does not take into account that as we include them into American society, they eventually become more well-off. History will take its course; those in the future will look back and see our America as scarcely different than their America. Hopefully, the past they see will be one in which Americans worked together to form their own vision, where tolerance and inclusion will take precedence over the exclusion and cultural division those on the right advocate. 

Illegal Immigration: The Balkanization of America - Publicus

Ever since the first ship of settlers arrived, America has been a nation of immigrants. Over the years, America has been very lax about letting immigrants come to her shores; in fact, the U.S. accepts more immigrants than all other industrial nations combined.

America survives because we are one nation; we share a common language, a history which ties us together. We live under a common flag, which we honor, salute, and would die for.

When you look at countries with bilingual and bi-cultural societies, you see histories of turmoil, tension, and tragedy. Belgium, Malaysia, Pakistan, Cyprus, Canada, Germany, Lebanon, Nigeria, Italy, France, Burma, and more have all faced crises of national existence when minorities press for independence. Ethnic uprisings must be suppressed to prevent a divided nation.

This is exactly what is happening with the United States. Nations must be bonded by similarities in culture, ideologies, and language. Historically, immigrants would assimilate quickly into American culture and provide a workforce to better our country. Nowadays, illegal immigrants flock to this country for work, in such vast numbers that they no longer feel the need to conform to the standards of American society. Illegal aliens are a drain on the American system, causing massive costs to society including but not limited to increased welfare costs, access for terrorists, escalation in crime, segregation, population booms, introduction of third world disease, lowered availability of medical resources, availability of illegal drugs, and a negative impact on education.

Currently, nearly 40% of illegal immigrants have less than a high school education, and some 23% have had less than nine years of schooling. Criminal immigrants fill more than 25% of all prisons, and for each 100 manual labour immigrant jobs, 139 new poverty cases are reported. An estimated 1,880,000 American workers are displaced from their jobs each year by cheaper immigrant workers, while the cost for providing welfare to these citizens is over $15 billion a year. Since their arrival, undocumented peoples have accounted for 60% of the increase in the uninsured medical population. In addition, it is estimated that between 40-50% of wage-loss among low-skilled Americans is due to the immigration of low-skilled workers. Look at these statistics and tell me that illegal aliens are benefiting this country. With an estimated 11.3 million undocumented aliens living here, and nearly 15 million people hunting for work, it is quite evident that these aliens are a blight rather then a benefit to our society

What must we do to preserve our republic from this pestilence? The solution is quite easy: take away the jobs on which the alien swarm feeds and forcefully expel the social cancer that we have allowed to culminate within our borders.

The first issue how to take away the jobs from illegal workers. The answer is simple. First we need to enact strict measures upon those who exploit these individuals for a cheaper lawn or tile service with strict fines and even jail time. It is necessary for such draconian measures to be carried out because those who hire illegal workers are no better then the problem themselves; they are part of it. It also can be argued that these pseudo-Americans are selling out on the very principals of the constitution for a cheaper labor source. The other way in which these jobs could be eliminated is by implementing the large prison population which drains our taxpayers. The prisoners in our system should be PAYING their debt to society through hard labor which benefits us all, not enjoying bathroom-soap drama and other prison amenities.

The other issue is the exportation of the masses of illegal workers which infest our nation. It is time to end the harboring. The second thing that must be carried out is a cut of all public services offered to illegal aliens. They are not entitled to welfare, education, and healthcare for the simple fact that they are not citizens. Yes they are people, and as people they have to cover their own responsibilities. However, as people we can choose NOT to cover their responsibilities and keep them out of my land and my communal pot to which they have contributed nothing to. We must also fingerprint all illegal workers which we have deported, so we have a database of repeat offenders and as such can levy harsh penalties against repeat offenders.

As a nation, we must protect the sacredness of our land. We came to this country with the idea of forming a free and democratic nation, offering sanctuary to all who embody the same principals. Illegal aliens are a nuisance to the nation and disrupt the natural workings of society. In order to maintain a homogeneous community, we must curb illegal immigration and focus on rebuilding the damage they have already done.

Healthcare: Right or Privilage? - Publicus

It is the right of the people to peaceably assemble, question the government, and form individual views. Freedom of religion, assembly, press, and life are rights. Habeas Corpus is a right. Each and every one of these is guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, a document that has successfully governed our country for hundreds of years. Healthcare and insurance, on the other hand, are not rights that all people must have. They are a business, and like all businesses they must charge money and make a profit.

Most of you by now are probably shocked to hear what you think is a cold and unfeeling stance on this issue. Let me say though that my stance neither of these. It is just the way it is. A business is started with the hopes of generating revenue. The revenue that the insurance companies conjure up does not merely go to the executives as most people are lead to believe, but rather to the millions of middle class families who depend on the sharing of these profits for their own livelihoods.

The fact that so many people deem healthcare to be a right goes to show the distortion of the Constitution over the years. America's current state of tribulations has not arisen from a failure of our foundations, but rather from certain people who have confused and exploited the most basic precepts, values, and principles of our national inheritance.

Now, one can't simply write the idea of socialized health care off because, frankly, we are already undergoing a form of socialized medicine within our current system. Anyone, even illegal immigrants, can walk into an emergency room and demand treatment; and they will get it even if they can't pay -- because they don't have to pay. The taxpayer does. Tax rates are climbing and hospitals being forced into bankruptcy are having to succumb to demands of the state and federal government just to keep their doors open. Certainly this is accountable for the ever rising health care costs. Now, knowing this as fact, the Left wants to instill a program (government medicine) that would advertise this! YES YOU CAN go into an emergency room regardless of need. YES YOU CAN not have to reap the costs of the service you are receiving, and YES YOU CAN dump all this on the taxpayer, who sees less and less of the money he earns go into his pocket and instead sees it go to public use. This is the allocation of resources by the government. It is a command style of economics; it is unconstitutional and the Achilles heel of our federal finances.

Fortunately, the solution is simple. And it's called privatization.
When something is privatized, only people who can afford to pay will receive the good. This is the system we have now. The reason that premiums are so high is because simple monopoly laws have not been enforced, NOT because we have created an inhumane system that only benefits the privileged and healthy of our population. This is due to the lobbyists at these firms who do not want to see their enormous conglomerate of a company be divided up. They enjoy having a monopoly (which the congress of both parties has a responsibility to prevent) because they can distort the free market. In effect, it is convolution in order to get a price which maximizes their surplus but leaves the American people high and dry. Enforce the monopoly laws, instead of flushing money down the bottomless pit of "reform," to ensure a better system. Once this is done the true beauty of the private sector shall be allowed to flourish. The key to privatization is competition, and competition breeds success. When companies, or producers, have to compete for buyers, prices are driven down, creating a new market equilibrium and enabling more and more people to afford the service. Standards will go up as insurers are forced to make their good the most affordable and appealing, and eventually a market price will emerge. At the top of the curve, the people with the most money will receive the best possible service; at the bottom, lower income individuals will receive what they can afford. Eventually, the cutting edge technology only available at the top tier will become more available and make it's way down the supply curve, accessing more and more price ranges.

Many people argue that Government run healthcare would just be an extra player in the field and argue that it would operate as the United States Postal Service, or Medicare, runs. Let me remind you that BOTH these programs are running at a severe loss, and if they weren't subsidized by the taxpayer they would all have fallen out of the market, because the market clears out those that cannot provide a fair service at a fair price to both themselves and the consumer. It is with the prime reasons and points listed above that one can clearly see that Medicare is not a socialized, government run plan implemented in order to fix our system, but rather the enforcement of already existing monopoly laws so that the private sector can, as it has in many other fields, continue to support the greatest society on the face of the Earth.
Healthcare is something earned, something that can be made more affordable through the enforcement of monopoly laws. We can not call it something it isn't -- a right -- and drown ourselves in a sea of medicine-induced debt.

Healthcare: Right vs. Responsibility - Civis

American citizens are required to get insurance for their cars. Because cars are important. 

In certain residential areas located adjacent to washes or rivers, citizens are required to get flood insurance. Because our homes are important. 

Why aren't we insured as a people; Aren't we important?

Of course, that's a foolish question. It's quite obvious that health insurance is essential. The question is how to obtain it. The Federal Government is simply the best possible source for this service. Specially, a public option.  

For clarification, it is a right in that everyone deserves to be able to purchase or buy into an organized system of healthcare; not in that everyone should get it for free. 

 Healthcare transcends being some program offered by massive conglomerates. On a local, human level, it is the individual gifts from doctors and nurses to patients. My foremost piece of evidence in favor of a government option is the overhead (administrative) costs for such corporations. The public option, ideally, will look like Medicare, but offered to anyone. Medicare has an overhead cost of 2-3%, even the more modest calculations say 5%. But the average corporate insurer has an overhead rate of roughly 20%. That means 20 cents of every dollar given to these companies is used for administrative costs, which cannot be attributed to any specific business activity. It's the ultimate manifestation of pork and unnecessary spending. 

My favorite analogy for the public option is the U. S. Postal Service. It offers a relatively efficient product at a really low rate for anybody. It keeps its competition, U. P. S. and Fedex, from declining in efficiency. The analogy fails when one considers that the U. S. P. S. operates at a deficit, which the public option won't do. Enough people will pay directly into it, some of the Department of Defenses budget can be reallocated properly, and as the public option negotiates lower prices for certain services, prices will go down. 

And that's important, Americans spend the most on healthcare; it's 16% of our G. D. P. Yet somehow we can't even make it into the top ten worldwide. Healthcare can be affordable; the Government can moderate this appropriately. This is a right. 

-Civis 

Welcome to The American Discourse- by Publicus and Civis

Welcome to the blog which dares to view issues from more than one side. Rather, we present intelligent viewpoints from the conservative correspondent, Publicus, and the liberal correspondent, Civis, and ask you as the reader to justify the validity of these beliefs. Even though both Civis and Publicus will often contradict one another, there is one underlying message that both correspondents shall agree upon and uphold: the ignorance of an issue is acidic to the very foundations of our democratic society.