Politics Anyone?

I have no idea how many people are actually reading this. Because okay, 11 people have voted in my poll. And I have 2 followers. But I have gotten feedback from many more people on facebook. Because I decided the only way I really knew how to promote this was throughh, well social-networking. haha. If you have a facebook search "Teenagers who actually care about politics," and join join join the group I made! I'm assuming nobody is going to sign up for a blogspot juuust to follow me. (Which would be great, actually.) So if you're reading and have a facebook, say hi on my group page please! I'd love to know if I'm actually reaching anybody.

So let's talk Healthcare Reform.
Many Democrats would support the US eventually working towards universal healthcare. That is, a government run system that gave everyone health insurance. Which could work one of two ways, with private doctors and hospitals being paid by the government (like Medicare is now, for old or disabled people) or with doctors and hospitals run directly by the government. Universal healthcare has worked quite well in Canada. But because that is probably not going to happen... politicians in the US just simply pushing for reform. The proposal would still allow way more people to be covered, but it's not quite provided by the government. It requires employers and other people to pay this or that or something or the other and it's confusing. Those people would put money towards some sort of fund to be used for their employees to pick their own insurance accordingly. It would also require everyone to have some sort of health coverage. Either privately, or through their work. Obama's original plan also has a "public option" where people could get really cheap health care through the government. But covering everyone and all these regulations will cost like 100 billion dollars a year. And the US is in well, financial trouble. The good news being, our national government has the right to spend money they don't even have. Unlike states, who are pretty much just screwed if they have no money. There is a proposed tax increase for people who decide not to be covered anyways. Which is like a penalty, because you're breaking the law. Like if you don't have car insurance. Except you can still drive. Hospitals for many years have been required to treat any "emergency" patients who come through their doors until that person is stable, even if they don't have health coverage. Buuuut you still have to pay the bill for your stay. Aaaand if you don't have money, that sucks. Apparently more than 50% of bankruptcies in the US have something to do with medical costs. So it sounds like a good idea to improve healthcare. And the proposed changes would most definately improve quality, but possibly cause costs to be higher. Nobody likes paying more. Republicans also believe that government-run healthcare leads to inefficiencies and bad quality care. But it seems like it's going to be awhile before anybody does anything. There are currently 2 versions of the bill, one in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate. They passed their bills, and should be working on making the 2 bills fit together. But the Democrats lost their 60th vote in the Senate, because Massachusetts got that Republican guy elected who is definately not going to agree to the bill. So even if they do make a version of the 2 fit together, that new bill isn't going to pass through the Senate again. Instead, they are considering attempting to pass the bill that has already passed in the Senate, in the House. And once it becomes a law, they will propose ammendments to that bill that won't require 60 votes to pass, called a "reconciliation." That reconciliation would simply need a majority vote to pass, not 60 votes. So the Democrats are pushing, and the Republicans are overly frustrated. The Republicans claim that everything needs to be started all over again. John McCain (who lost the Presidential race but is still a Senator from Arizon) claims that if President Obama attempts to govern in "the middle" rather than "[going] hard left," more Republicans would support a new bill with quite a few changes in their favor. But a top White House advisor said,
“The president will not walk away from the American people, will not hand them over to the tender mercies of health insurance companies that take advantage.”

Basically, it's a huge mess.

Let's Start With The Facts.

Now, assuming you live in the US...
here's what you should know:
President- Barack Obama (D)
Vice President- Joe Biden (D)
Secretary of State- Hilary Clinton (D)
Secretary of Finance- Tim Geithner (D)
Secretary of Defense- Robert Gates (R)
+A bunch of other secretaries that nobody really cares about. Just kidding. Well, not really.
Speaker of the House: Nancy Pelosi (D)
House Minority Leader: John Boehner (R) ...Who aparrently claims you must pronounce his last name "Bay-ner." Even though it is clearly pronounced "Boner." I would claim that too.
Senate Majority Leader: Harry Reid (D)
Senate Minority Leader: Mitch McConnell (R)
House of Representatives: 256 Democrats, 178 Republicans
Senate: 57 Democrats, 41 Republicans, 2 Independents (That one I'm a little unsure of because of the recent election of Republican Scott Brown in the formerly very liberal state of Massachusetts to fill the open seat left by the late Ted Kennedy.)

Major Issues include...
Health Care: The President is trying to get a health care reform bill passed with the goal of making health care more affordable and available to all Americans.
The "Recession": Depending on what you believe, it is or isn't getting better. The unemployment rate for the entire country is roughly 10%. Now... to put that in perspective, it was 5% in 2007. So yeah, that's kinda a big deal. The stock market is improving, generally. And the world hasn't ended yet. Which is all good news. Oh and catchy words like "recessionista" got invented.

Vocabulary, just because people always ask me what certain stuff means.
Liberal: Technically, "a person who favors a political philosophy of progress and reform and the protection of certain civil liberties." In English, basically people use it to describe Democrats.
Conservative: "A person who generally likes to uphold current conditions and oppose changes." And that one is used to describe Republicans.
Bipartisan: When 2 political parties work together and cooperate on something. Awhh, that's really really rare.
Lobbyist: Someone who works on behalf of any organization or company or group of people and goes to politicians and tries to get them to vote a certain way on a certain thing according to what their group would prefer.
Red Tape: Government procedures or rules that make stuff really hard to do. Or at least do quickly.
Bill: A proposed change to any given law, or an idea for a new law. Which basically has to go through some super technical messy process to be passed.
Swing Vote: The vote in an election that is undecided and could swing the election one way or another. Usually the Independents. Since an Independent really won't be elected President. No offense. Although I think they know that.

Political Parties You Never Knew Existed:
Marijuana Party, Boston Tea Party, American Nazi Party (Which by the way, I didn't believe existed. But they have a website. One that just made me really really angry. That's horrible. I don't approve.) But sadly enough, no parties besides the Democratic Party and Republican Party truly have a large enough base to be elected. The Independents have a little more authority than others, but still. Although I can't say I'm upset our next President won't be from the American Nazi Party.

I really hope nobody dislikes me now that I disapprove of the Nazi Party. Then again, I don't particularly care if Nazis don't like me. Speaking of people disliking me, let me clear some things up. Someone commented that I sounded a little condescending. Now... I can see how what I'm saying could be taken that way. But I don't think I'm better than anyone else. I really don't. I think I'm privileged to be raised the way I am. Not many people have done homework in the back of a committee hearing while their Dad testifies. And I don't understand why everyone can't have the same passion for politics as I do. So I'm sharing. And attempting to fire people up about the issues. So that they, along with me and many others, can make a difference. Because yeah, this is a relatively unheard of blog with 2 posts. But who said it could never become more?

PS: I Google like everything. haha. Not that I didn't already know some of this.

I'm well aware...

How many stereotypes this blog goes against.

Let me introduce myself. I'm a sophomore in high school, in a suburb near the capitol of California. My parents are both in politics. I was raised with an understanding of the political process that most people will never even have before the day they die. As I've gotten older I've learned to appreciate it, and I've realized that my passion in life is politics. Oh, and art, and talking. But that's beside the point.

I hate that nobody else my age cares about anything that their government does. You all do realize that it affects you, right?! The response I generally get is: "Well I can't vote anyways." Yeah but when you're 18, you aren't suddenly going to gain opinions or knowledge about the issues your country or state are currently facing.

My point in making this blog isn't to tell you all what you should believe about the war in Iraq, or the concept of universal health care, or where budget funding should go. My point, is for you all to even grasp what those things are. And choose your own side accordingly.

In California, we are currently facing a 25 billion dollar budget deficit. That basically means, in order to continue the way of life we live now... our state government is 25 billion dollars short. Most states don't even spend that much. Let alone, lack that much. The state spends five times more on its prison system than it does on education. Yes, I understand the necessity of housing prisoners. But as I'm even starting to consider going to college, tuition for state schools is going higher and higher and higher.

This is why I care. It's my future they go to work and vote on every single day. It's why you should care. Because it's yours too.

Ever heard of the "Rock the Vote" campaign? It's a bunch of celebrities who wear shirts encouraging young people to register to vote around election time. Well I'm most certainly not going to diss it. I hold the same beliefs. That young people should register to vote when they're 18, and participate in elections. But I do think it's sad. I think it's sad that Paris Hilton has to pose in a t-shirt with a catchy slogan just to get young people to think they should participate in their democracy. And I always hear "Well my one vote won't change anything." You know what, it won't. You don't need an Advanced Statistics class to figure that one out. But if you along with 200,000 people all think that they individually can't make a difference... then smarten up. And realize that if you all voted, then yes, you could make a difference.

Oh and by the way, the year Paris Hilton was a spokesperson for them... she forgot to register to vote. Whoops?