POL 166 HW#9- Opinion on Trump winning Election

I did not follow the election from the beginning. I did not see Trump making crazy personal as opposed to political insults against his enemies trying to be commander in chief. However, I do remember him becoming the Republican Nominee. He actually made it that far. I was already uncomfortable then, because how could he have actually won is what I thought, since the media and the people I'm around are so anti-trump, I really couldn't believe that he actually beat every other candidate and became the nominee. I would ask my friend, what does this even mean. But to be completely honest, what surprised me more, is that Hillary Clinton beat Bernie Sanders and became the Democratic Nominee. From that moment on, I was in acceptance that the politics were not in my

not in my favor. Donald won Republican and Bernie lost Democratic, nowhere in there, did I actually care about Hillary Clinton's accomplishment.

The whole time since then, I was led to believe falsely because I wasn't thinking of the accomplishments that Donald has made to even make it as far as he did, that Donald would not become president. Again, another example of it's not about Hillary winning, it's about Donald Trump Losing. Just like when Hillary won against Bernie, it wasn't about her winning, it was about the fact that Bernie had lost. The first time I uttered the sentence "can trump actually become president now?", I should have known that he was going to become president. There is some kind of invisible

force this entire election season that made everything go completely wrong. Bernie lost to Hillary, and then Hillary lost to Trump at the end.

So how did I feel when Trump had one initially? I came home at like ten at night, to see more red states than I was comfortable with seeing. The polls estimated a landslide so I expected to see a lot of blue. I had hope but the fact that it was that close made no sense to me. I was already in acceptance because the fact that it's this close means that with every advantage Hillary had, Donald still ended up getting this close to you. He has something. I wake up the next morning, and Trump is our new

president is the talk of the day everywhere. I felt like it was too awful to be true. How could he actually have made it this far. How could we let this happen. It's something I didn't like to think very much about initially. I was really upset at thinking it because my imagination didn't know what to make of it. He is blunt and unpredictable. I thought, he's going to start a war, that I do not want to be drafted into. It was sickening, and it just felt like such a loss.

However, this week has passed, and now I think differently. I really think to myself, president-elect Donald Trump is now the new face of our country. He actually took his name and made it presidential. I've always gone to the Taj Mahal as a kid and seen him featured in the WWE a few times, but never thought this guy will be president. I did not consider him president material, but here he is, the new president. He is the truth. I appreciate his victory just because he is an asshole, but he's real, and he won. It sucks, but at least we have someone that didn't promise a lot of "good" things, that we all know is bullshit, that won't be delivered because if you're making a profit at the expense of the working class whom you have no intimate connection with you know you're not really looking out for them. He promised a lot of shitty things, though. Building a wall in Mexico, deporting "illegal" immigrants.

We complain a lot that our presidents don't change or contribute anything in reality, and I think that is interesting. Because so far, everything since Donald Trump's declaration to become a presidential nominee has gone backward. Bad lost to good, and no experience beat experience. So as worried as I am about the uncertain path of our new president, I'm pretty sure that he will easily go down as a historic president, more than Hillary would have ever been, and as historic as Obama has been, and change for our country may actually happen now. Especially with congress being red all over.

POL HW 8

Gerrymandering:

Since there is no real quote to take from these Washington post links, I will discuss my opinion on gerrymandering. I think it's a complete fluke. The fact that there is a strategy that can take a minority count, and re-shape it to get a majority count, is really annoying to think about. Why? For the reason that of course, when it is convenient, you'll find a ridiculous way to flip a negative to a positive. However when it comes to minorities in the country, we are always the minority and there is no gerrymandering equivalent that exists that can have us the minority have our way. According to the post, "Gerrymandering is at least partly to blame for the lopsided Republican representation in the House." Because they have lost, but then found a scheme to win. Honestly, that is very annoying, and reading this article, gerrymandering is just one representation of our corrupted system. You should not be able to argue because you're the minority how the distribution of counts get done to affect the overall count. Because that makes no kind of sense. It should be, that the majority, is the majority, period. I think that is ridiculous. 

Homework assignment 7

Quote: "America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery — the great sin and shame of America!"

My Interpretation:
    In class, we started discussing whether or not the 4th of July was truly something to be celebrated or not. Very interesting argument and it was hard to say. The patriot in me says that yes, it should be without a doubt celebrated. To simply acknowledge the holiday, and celebrate it as hard as you can to acknowledge the anniversary of a time that our country gained independence from the tyranny and oppression of the British government is certainly something to celebrate. The passage itself mentioned, that there are men who have lived, and died already, for the cause of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That's something I most definitely overlook. The fact that men existed that were born, had their own lives, and died, many years ago, but molded our country into what it is today. Of course at the time when this was written the country was only 76 years years old, a mere infant of a society, as opposed to today where we are 240 years old. That's a tremendously long time after, a difference of 164 years since this piece was written. A lot has changed since the times this was written, and many men and women have lived and died. However, one thing is still a fact. Oppression STILL exists.
    Why did this quote stand out to me? Because it invalidated everything that America wants to make fact. We are false to the past, present and are in turn being false to the future. He implies humanity is outrages, our liberty is fettered, and that in the name of the constitution and bible, the greatest sin of America is slavery. I can argue, that today, we are STILL outraged! Who is happy with the state of the country? Are we not the land of the free, and should we not collectively feel the happiness we are supposed to be able to pursue? Instead, we have people like Donald Trump, fools, running for president. Someone like him, who is corrupt, and loop-holes his way around the country, does not pay his taxes, trying to be the commander in chief. Not only that, but we may not have slavery, but capitalism is a synonym. Making us work our butts off to survive, and not having enough knowledge or resources to "cheat" the system. The fact that there even is a system to cheat. And not only that, we are now facing the worst case of climate change in history. We have exceeded humanity and transcended to nature. If our land was not false, for certain, there would not be such a gap between rich and poor, and fools like Donald Trump would not be running for president. So should Indepence Day be celebrated? Up to you.

HW 5 POL 166

Quote: "The second piece by Rachel Barkow, looks at the eight amendment of the Constitution and how it might relate to the current problem of imprisonment in the U.S. Despite the repeated claims to being the "land of the free," the U.S. leads the rest of the developed world in the number of people in prison, which as she points out is made up of significantly larger portions of minority groups in the country. Certainly, running prisons has become a profitable industry as of late, led by corporations like the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) which also lobbies the government for longer prison terms and less leniency, not because it feels threatened by criminals, but because shorter prison terms would mean less business. Interest groups like this also contribute significantly to lobbying to preserve and intensify the war on drugs, since 50% of prisoners are in there for drug-related crimes."

My Interpretation:
    Just reading this made me cringe because let's take little pieces from this quote that stood out to me. First off there is the fact that prisons are made up of larger portions of minority groups in the country. Why is that? If the minority is the minority how can the minority only be the majority in prison? So I keep dissecting this quote and stumble upon the fact that "running prisons has become a profitable industry". Well, that explains that. You put two and two together, the higher ups are having a good time making money off imprisoning minority groups. If prisons are supposed to exist in order to give justice to those that have committed a crime, then why are there people making a profit out of it? Is imprisoning people really something you want to have as a business? Because business is supply and demand, and eventually demands get high, and so somehow the supply will have to catch up, so what do you do when you're desperate for some prisoners in your jails? You will go for the minority groups that don't have the money to fight back maybe? I don't appreciate the fact that prison is a business period. That means that for every poor soul locked behind bars whether they deserve it or not, there is a rich guy in the background just making money off it. So that's my opinion on that. And then, to think that for the sake of profit, the thought of extending prison sentences is a thing, just for the simple fact that the longer someone stays in jail the more money that other someone will make. That is simply ridiculous. That is pure corruption. That is what is wrong. Half of the prisoners that are in jail are arrested for drug-related crimes, and then the majority of them are minority groups as if majority groups don't do drugs themselves. Just thinking about that simple concept should raise a red flag. This country is purely corrupted. Making a business out of locking people up. That is ironically criminal.

POL 166 HW 4

Quote:
"In this economic  context, the "natural law" of equality tends to be obscured leading people to believe that inequality between people is the normal and natural state of being"

My interpretation:

    This is exactly what I feel "they" want. The truth of the matter is, I am an American Citizen, born and raised, by immigrant parents. Yet I truthfully do not know who are the people that manage our government or our politics, besides big guys like the President of the United States, and a few senators. I understand that there is a system. I don't know who works for that system. That's the sad personal truth. So in a greater sense, of course they would want us to forget the "natural law". Of course they would want us to believe that inequality between people is normal. Because "they" are at the top. Anyone at the top, would claim that there is nothing wrong with society, and that everything makes sense, while the opposite holds true for the people at the bottom. It's an ILLUSION that we are unequal. We are all human. If anything, our biology should determine whether we belong at the top, and not class or money. But we are all human. We all eat, live, and experience. We all have a brain, and we all are born and die. Inequality only exists because social constructs exist that determine the experience of any given man, and a man is a product of his experiences. I agree with the fact that the obscurity of "natural law" is leading people to accept that inequality is normal. Inequality exists, but it is definitely not a normal and natural state of being. That has been socially constructed over many years, and generations.

Homework#3 POL166

This is from "The Federalist No. 51", "The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments."
Quote: "Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure."

My Interpretation:
    When reading this, aside from the rest of the article, I felt like this was speaking to me. It's very much true, there are always going to be two different kinds of people, the majority, and the minority. I do agree, that the issue at hand, and if you read this quote carefully, is that while we divide the level of interests among the people, we simultaneously dismiss the interests of the minority. It's false to think that the interests of the minority are inconsequential. They are still very much important. They exist, in the realm of life, and are problems that truly exist, and need to be taken care of, as much as the majority's interest need to be taken care of. That very well may be the problem with our government today. We have "surrendered our power" for them, because they are supposed to help and support us, but now power is shaped and bent to their will, and there are people that have real problems that aren't being addressed because it doesn't affect a certain other group of people. I am not saying either, that the right of the majority needs to be dismissed either, but it should not be that the concern of one group gets addressed and the other dismissed. There should be a system where the concerns of both groups are handled, because at the end of the day we are all human beings, and some of us live in the slums, while other's can't even imagine what the slums are. So it that sense, just this one quote stood out to me, because that alone, says enough about how our government, and the system is unjust.

How it relates to class:
    We spoke about bias in class. Here lies, an obvious bias for the "majority", whatever that consists of.

Homework#2/POL166 Fall 2016

Chose Passage from Text:
         "Indeed, it is not uncommon for the eager Anglo- Saxon who goes to a vivid American university to- day to find his true friends not among his own race but among the acclimatized German or Austrian, the acclimatized Jew, the acclimatized Scandinavian or Italian. In them he finds the cosmopolitan note. In these youths, foreign- born or the children of foreign- born parents, he is likely to find many of his old inbred morbid problems washed away. These friends are oblivious to the repressions of that tight little society in which he so provincially grew up."

My Response: 
        What I took from this piece, and why it stood out to me, is because I feel this is saying, that Anglo-Saxon's prefer to be with "foreigners" because "...[they're] oblivious to the repressions of that tight little society in which he so provincially grew up". It almost feels like, they are using other people's cultures as a way to escape their own, and it works out because the other foreigners have no idea what the Anglo-Saxon goes through being as an Anglo-Saxon.  
         It can also be looked at in a positive way, because it is saying that without the "acclimatized" foreign born people, it implies that the Anglo-Saxon prefers to not be with their own people. It gives meaning to being different, shines light toward how different cultures can be used together, even if it's just to be an escape from your own.