Why You Should Care About Politics

It occurred to me after writing my last post that I have neglected a fundamental point that needs to be made.  I cannot expect you to care about the specifics of how a presidential race works if you do not care about politics in general.  So for today I am going to try and convince you the need for you to be interested in what our government does.

Note I use the word "need."  This is not hyperbole, rather a matter of fact if you want to see real change occur in our country.

Many Americans don't feel there needs to be a change in our government.  After all, they can go about their lives without much problem.  They are employed to some degree, have expendable income, and have leisure time in which to spend said income.  What could be bad about that?  Allow me to begin.

The State of Our Union

I'm going to throw some facts at you that are probably new to you.  I do this not to bore you with details, or frighten you with statistics.  I want to show there is a clear and present danger to your way of life.

The unemployment rate in America is currently 8.3%.  What that number really shows is the number of people looking for a job but not finding one.  It does not include the number of people who had a job, got laid off, searched for one but couldn't find one, and eventually stopped looking.

These people are now subsisting on what checks the government will give them and what savings they have left.  Including these people, unemployment figures shoot up to 15%.  To give you some context, at the height of the Great Depression, the unemployment rate was 25%.

The U.S. budget deficit, which is the debt of one fiscal year, is $1.4 trillion for 2011.  As of the writing of this post, the National Debt is at $15.4 trillion.  I should note there is debate on that last number.  If anything, it is too low a number.  Some economists have the number closer to $200 trillion by including promised funds that don't exist.  I will talk about how the government gets away with doing this in a later post, but if you want to do your own research, google "federal reserve banking system" and you should have a good start.

To give you an idea of what those numbers mean.  If you spread the national debt over every citizen, you individually owe over $49,000.

We have active war zones in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and are fighting a "War on Terror" in which our stated goal is to stop fighting when terrorists don't exist anymore.  Jon Stewart has a humorous take on that.

We have over 900 military outposts in over 130 nations across the globe, though number is unclear even to the Pentagon.  Yet we are no closer to ending our wars or reducing the spending associated with maintaining our national forces.

Everyday our rights are challenged by the government.  People have been fined for holding in-home Bible studies, a businessman went to jail for transporting lobster tails in the wrong packaging, lemonade stands have been shut down for violating city ordinances, police no longer need to go to a judge for a warrant, your home can be invaded by authorities without proof of crime.

If you have read any Orwell, Homland Security's new slogan "If you see something, say something" should ring a bell of "1984."

If you want a good look at all our legal problems in America, John Stossel did an excellent special on the matter.


Is There No Hope?

What has made headlines for weeks and continues to is President Obama's Health Care mandate that forces churches to provide medical assistance that goes against their religious beliefs.

This is not a story for you to read and rip out your hair in anger or hang your head in despair.  I wanted to share that with you because many Americans sadly don't know these things exist.  Hopefully I have sufficiently shown there is a problem with the status quo.

But that status quo does not need to be that way indefinitely.  We are a nation built on individualism, freedom, and revolution.  Our very inception as a country was in reaction to governmental tyranny.  It is the case today that another revolution needs to happen in order to change things.

I am not calling for you to arm yourself and storm Washington, nor do I propose you go all "V for Vendetta" and blow up the White House.  Not only are those ideas stupid, they would work against the change you want and just bunker the establishment down more.

What I am calling for you to do is to become politically active.
Now I know the phrase "politically active" scares a lot of people.  Many think that means they have to watch C-SPAN, read books about politics, and work on a campaign, but let me tell you that is dead wrong.  Don't misunderstand me, those are excellent things to do and I encourage them, but you don't have to do that to be effective.

Here are some things you can do to be politically active:

1. Consume the news

This can be as simple as reading a few stories online, watching a cable news show for a half hour, or reading the newspaper.  Bottom line, you can't make any decision without some information.

2. Talk to people about their political views

This is against everything we're taught growing up.  There are two things you never discuss: religion and politics.  Well, that hasn't been my experience and in talking to people not only have I learned more about politics, I have become more confident in my own beliefs.
When you talk to people about politics, just treat them like you would want to be treated.  Be respectful of what they have to say and honestly consider their viewpoints.  If your positions are right, they should be able to stand up to some critique.  And along the way, you might just learn something.

3. Attend community meetings


Nothing gives me less hope for our future than when I go to a local town hall meeting and no one is there.  Local issues matter and in the long run, they affect you more than anything else.  Dipping your toes into local politics is really easy to understand and you will find knowing about the policies that affect you make the political sphere more interesting.

4. Ask questions

If you find yourself in the company of people who are talking above your head politically, don't be afraid to ask what they are talking about.  If they have a caring bone in their body they will try to help you out.  But if they are less than helpful, don't give up on the whole affair.  There are people out there that genuinely want people to learn more about the political system.

5. Take your vote seriously

I know most people think voting in a general election is throwing their vote away, but let me tell you it is not.  If you take the time to do the aforementioned things you have more than just one vote.  I talk to dozens of people about why I believe what I believe and why I will vote for certain people and oddly enough, they tend to see where I am coming from and agree.  I effectively turn my one vote into many more by being politically active.  Don't be wishy-washy about the voting process.  If people took it more seriously, we wouldn't elect jokers into power.

I hope this has been instructional and a little inspirational.  Remember that politics is a part of our life, just like bills, dieting, or decision-making.  It affects our lives.  The question is, will you let politics control you by not participating, or will you actively go out and pursue making your life your own?

Comment below with your thoughts.  This part of life is all about communicating, so express your thoughts or opinions and get the revolution started.

An Introduction to This Year's Presidential Race

I spend a lot of my time talking about politics with friends, peers, and colleagues. One thing has become quite clear: people don't feel like the political process is approachable and they are therefore left quite befuddled about the whole affair.

This saddens me because my political ideology, which will become clear to you over time, hinges upon the need for an informed electorate. So my purpose with the next few stories in this blog will be to introduce politics in an easy-to-swallow manner that will hopefully leave you a little less confused.

I will start with a brief "setting of the stage" for the current presidential race.

In the beginning...

The presidential race this year is between an incumbent and a nominee for the opposing party.  Since President Obama is a Democrat, it is up to the Republican party to find a nominee to run against him.

Thus, the political campaign begins.

This cycle the candidates began throwing their name into the hat as early as March of 2011, though the last person to join has been Rick Perry, who waited until August.  The main contenders have been Michelle Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Jon Huntsman, Gary Johnson, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.

Before you look at those names and cry out "I can never keep track of so many people!" Don't worry, you don't have to.

Since April there have been a series of debates, polls, and elections called "primaries" or "caucuses" that have whittled the field down to only four.  These are the real contenders and the ones we'll be focusing on in the future.  They are Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum.  But all that is for later.  For now, just keep those names in the back of your head.

How the process works.

For the GOP nomination process, each state is given a certain number of delegates.  These delegates are assigned to a candidate based on a popular vote by the people of a state.  The delegates from each state then go to the Republican National Convention in August to vote for a nominee.  If one candidate gets a majority of the votes, he will become the nominee and run against the president.  The number of delegates needed to gain a majority is 1,144.  If one candidate cannot get a majority the convention will be "brokered." I'll get more into that in a later post.

There are two types of elections held at the state level to elect delegates as I said above called "primaries" or "caucuses."  Keep in mind each state holds its own election on different days and in different ways, so this next bit might get confusing.

Primaries:

Primaries are very similar to the general election (the election between the president and the opposing party nominee) in that a vote is taken by registered voters and the candidate with the most votes wins the state.  From here, there are two options which vary from state to state.

One way, which used to be the most common, is a winner-take-all scenario in which the candidate with the most votes is awarded all the delegates of that state.

Most states that will hold primaries this year will award delegates by percentage.  That is to say if one candidate wins 25% of the votes, he will be awarded 25% of the delegates.  If another candidate in the same state gets 35% of the votes, he will be awarded 35% of the delegates.

There is one other distinction in states that hold primaries and that is voter requirements.  Some states restrict voters to citizens who are registered with the party.  These are are called "closed primaries."  Other states that do not restrict voting by party affiliation hold what are called "open primaries."  Knowing the whether a state is a closed or open primary is critical to a campaign as it can drastically change the identity of the electorate.  But that is yet another topic for later.

Caucuses:

Caucuses are a different beast altogether.  The caucus process is not just a one-time vote to determine who gets what amount of delegates.  Rather it is a series of votes that show a general level of interest until it reaches a conclusion and awards delegates.  Allow me to get into some detail.

The night of a caucus, registered voters go to a meeting place to cast their vote.  But this is not like a primary where you punch a piece of paper in a curtained desk.  Rather you are put in a room with everyone from your precinct (local area).  Then there is time set aside for everyone to voice their opinion on who they believe would make the best candidate.  This can last as long as five minutes - if no one has anything to say - or it can last a few hours - if everyone has something to say.

Then a vote is called for and people write the candidate they want on a piece of paper and hand that in.  These are then tallied and candidates are awarded "precinct delegates" based on the vote total.  This is given by percentage, so if a candidate gets 50% of the vote, he can have 50% of the available precinct delegates.  Of course, this takes some time to happen and a candidate may not have a citizen willing to be a precinct delegate for them.  In this case, another citizen can volunteer to be a precinct delegate.

This whole process is then repeated again at the district level, except instead of having a general vote, only precinct delegates vote.  After the votes at this level are tallied, district delegates are then awarded based off percentage.

These state delegates then have another caucus at the state level in which the votes there are to elect delegates to the national convention.

In a later post, I will get into how this process can be politically expedient for some candidates, but for now I hope the process is a bit clearer.

In summary

I hope this has given you some insight into how things work with our political process and what to expect in the coming weeks.  I look forward to digging into the topics more.

If you have any comments, questions, or concerns, leave  a comment below.  The electoral process is all about communicating so feel free to start it here.