Why Bartels is Right

I feel that Bartels is right when it comes to his argument about why people vote the way they do. I think he makes some excellent points when talking about how a person votes, and how he proves Frank wrong. This is an important issue in politics, figuring out why people vote the way they do, as well as if these people are truly voting in their best interest. 

As far as I am concerned I feel that a main point made my Bartels that makes him right is that he declares that it is not the poor people voting on morals but the educated and wealthy. I feel as if this is very true, especially looking at the last few elections. I feel as if most people chose who they are voting for based upon their moral values, even those poor southerners, who vote Republican more often than Democrat. It could be said though that Democrats could help these people more than Republican economic policy, but these people still vote Republican more than Democrat based upon social issues. Bartels is right because he seems to feel that more people are voting based on their feelings on social issues, rather than economic policy as Frank feels. It was evident in this last election that regardless of money, even in an election where economics played such a large role, more people came out and voiced their opinion because of how they felt about social issues. Take a look at all the stars in Hollywood, and affluent people in the world, they never campaigned on the side of President Obama because of his economic policy, but campaigned for him based on issues such as global warming, abortion, and the Iraq War. On the other side nobody voting for the republicans because of their economic policy, but voted for them based on their morals, such as their pro-life stance. People connect to politics through their norms and values, not through bloated economic policy. 

Obama Budget Nearing Pass

The Senate will pass another inflated budget proposed by President Obama. The difference with this suggestion of a budget is that it was actually opposed by some democrats. But now it seems there is no way the budget plan does not pass. There are some things I really like about the proposed budget, such as more aid for college tuition, which I certainly could use. But after that I question why so much spending is necessary, especially as the country cuts back in so many other ways, the government just continues to spend.

Creating My Party

I feel creating my own party would be a real fun thing to do, but the most important thing about the party is that it is powerful, and compete in the federal government, which is why the previous party collapsed. Having a party that is able to compete would not be an easy thing to create, but it could be done by using some of the previous parties major players and platform. If it were to be the Republican Party that would collapse it would be important to find out who were the most important figures of that party and those with familiar names. A person I would want to get on my side would be Condoleezza Rice, simply because she is a big name, a women, a minority, and has power in the former party. Another important person in the Republican Party that I would bring along with me to the new party would be John McCain, the former candidate for president is important to have on my side, along with is experience in government would be essential to a new party. A thing I would consider the most important thing to do is to be able to appeal to the old members of the Republican Party, which would help create a base and establish votes. But because this is a new party, and we want to succeed, it would be essential to be able to pull more people that are undecided about their party affiliation. It would be important to appeal to people whom are moderates. To do this it would take some new faces that were not formerly Republicans, and in order to do this there would need to be a distance between the party of old and the new party. The new faces of the party would take time to become important and recognizable figures, but as soon as that would happen the party would be established. Even though it is terrible to wish bad upon the country, it would help if there would be screw ups on the behalf of the democrats, creating an opinion for the new party to establish an opposite stance, and give the people another choice to get their legislation passed. As far as the party I would create much of it would be based off of the old Republican Party, in order to pick up those votes and establish the party, at the same time some policy would change, and a focus would be put on national power, and establishing America again as the place to live and prosper.

Beauty Pagents and Politics?

What a very interesting combination of politics and beauty which we have witnessed during the miss USA pageant. I never thought a beauty pageant would create such a large controversy, but the topic of gay marriage presented itself, and Miss California took her stance. The whole reason I am writing about this is because it does have to do with party politics, because this is always a debate between the two major parties. The republicans in general favor that marriage should be between one man and one woman, and the democrats on the other hand feel it should be for all. I am not going to take either side to the argument in this post, but as far as equal rights for all people I feel the discrimination against Miss California should be addressed. 

People in America seem to flip out at every little thing that takes place in which a minority is discriminated against, or a homosexual feels they were discriminated against, but where are the rights to those people who feel the opposite, then voice their opinions and are discriminated for that. Miss California voiced her opinion and said what she truly believes, and it seems every liberal jumps on her for it when it is just he opposite of what they do in voice their opinions. I just feel it is time for people to respect people for who they are and not tear apart a persons feelings.

Diminishing Parties

For the question this week I really thought hard wondering if there was ever a way that the Republican party could ever be that completely useless that it could not even legitimately run for office of the presidency, or even be a factor in congress. The question posed is very intriguing, but is it really even realistic that a party which held majority in congress, and a two term president just years ago is now being even considered useless? I feel that the Republican party is far to large, and has much to big a history to just be forgotten about and considred as not being powerful. This is how government works, there is going to be a change in power, which is what makes how our government is set up so great. No one individual can become to strong, and along with that no one party can be too strong either. Although the way todays government is being run it may seem that a party is to strong, and not all people are being equally represented. In order to truly consider this a legitimate question we need to look at the broad picture of government, which as stated in the notes there has been a shifting of power. We also need to look at the nation as a whole, and just our state or our city, where democrats reign. When looking at the United States as a whole the republicans still hold power in key areas, and with holding such a power they can never be not considered a powerful party. They are one of the parties this country was built upon and without having these parties in our government the government essentially becomes useless because there is so much power handed to one group with one agenda. Because the democrats have been successful in gaining a majority in congress and winning the presidency is a great feat, but just another change in our government, one which is sure to reverse in years to come. 

Approval Rating and Partisan Politics

I saw an interesting article yesterday about the gap in approval rating of President Obama, between the Democrat and Republican parties. The gap between the two parties was 61 percent, which is one of the largest gaps of any new president over the past years. Although it is typical that a presidents rating would be significantly higher on the end of his own party, his is much higher than what is the norm. On the other end the Republican party has a significantly lower approval rating for President Obama, which is what makes the gap so large. Although as mentioned earlier this gap in presidential approval is normal, the question remains is this good for the country, especially is it good for a president campaigned about bi-partisan action in Washington?
For American citizens I feel it is necessary for there to be different parties, each with its own separate agenda. Although this divides the people, it also puts all citizens in a powerful position, because usually through a given party their individual feelings are covered to a point. An approval gap is going to happen, and to an extent it means the parties are doing their jobs. As far as for President Obama and this being a good or bad thing I really do not feel at this point it will directly affect him. When he took office there was so much distaste for the Republican party that the democrats can ride that for a good amount of time. President Obama has shut out the Republicans on occasion, which will help to contribute to this low rating from them. And as far as him promising bi-partisan action during his campaign I feel many people knew that statement was fluff, and would never actually take place. Those that truly believe that this was going to happen are naive and are still stuck back in Chicago after the President won the election, these are the people that need to get the stars out of their eyes and look at the facts.
The reason I chose to write about this is not only because I happened to stumble upon the article, but also because or blog is also supposed to talk about if we think the Republican party will someday not be able to compete on a national scale. Although I feel that this will not happen, I do feel it is realistic because of the way Republicans are not being listened to, and are being shut out from making important decisions.