One Final Idea

Even though the election is over and the votes have been tallied. There is one final issue that truly supports all of the third parties, and I hope all of the United States.

Earlier this year, I heard about possible legislation that was designed to end all political parties and instead make elections based upon the candidates positions in which the best are elected into office. I agree strongly with this position because it allows the people's voices to truly be heard, and it makes at least one label disappear off of political elections. Maybe now people won't vote solely off of party lines, and instead vote on what they feel is the reasonable solution. With such an election there would be no third parties, so everyone can have a legitimate change of having their candidate voted into office. In office, there would not be divides to support parties, and no "mavericks" because they decided to go against their party. Instead, issues would most likely be solved by moderate groups, legitimate compromises have a higher probability of occurring, and debates before the election would talk more about the issues and less "I'm a democrat/republican, so vote for me!" Support for this movement goes all the way back to George Washington's presidency, during which he implored the country to not become divided into political parties.

Without political parties the nation can return to a place where everyone's voice can truly be heard and represented by those in office, and we can end this cycle of neither party being successful in office. In case anyone hasn't noticed, being too extreme on ideals only makes the situation worse, and compromise and moderation are at the basis of democracy. We need to end the idea that the only two positions are big government and small government, and social control or freedoms, and instead find the happy medium that gives the best rights to all of the people to ensure our ever famous ideal of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It's the Thought That Counts

Although the Green Party lost this election by a quite a few votes, I have no regrets in choosing to be so responsible and respectful of this earth. As it had been said in class, independent parties are in the race not to win elections, but to evoke thought about the way the big boy Democrats and Republicans do things. We're here to say that we are tired of the way politics is being handled by both the right and the left. We're tired of the old way of thinking and the old way of doing things.

Our world is in a place it has never been before. Turbulent change is happening every day in every aspect of life. Politics is becoming a muddled down, corrupt entity where money rules all. Social ideas are expanding rapidly, with new thoughts and open beliefs about the way people live their lives. Society is experiencing a shift in power from the old to the new. Our parents' and elders' ideas are slowly fading away while a new generation takes center stage in a time when synergy and constructive thought is the key to the future of the world.

In short, the world desires a new type of leadership. A goodbye from the heirarchy we see in our current politics and a hello to the acceptance of ideas and thoughts where everyone and everything gets a chance to be heard, including our mother earth. The next generation leaders will not be great speakers but great listeners. They will not have simple plans to fix things but will have open ears, eyes, and hearts to the arguments of every side of the spectrum and come up with compromises on how to most effectively solve problems. Last and most importantly, the idea of wealth will no longer be grand estates, corporate jobs, and nice cars. Wealth will be the ability to breath the air, to go outside and to use our noses to smell the fresh air which will be so rare and so close to extinction. The best riches in the world will be those that are green.

If we do not work together to change our ways, humanity will eventually collapse. The Green Party is only trying to espress this urgent message.

Congratulations to Jerry Brown for winning the gubernatorial seat. I applaud his policies on green technology and innovation and social acceptance. I wish him the best of luck in office and hope that he carries out his duty with more politics on his mind. I hope he listened to the Green Party's message and realizes how important it truly is.
If he did, we did our job as a party.
If he didn't, we might just have to wait until the next election to try to wake up the people of the earth.

This is Cody Schaaf saying goodbye for the Green Party.

It's a good day to be a Democrat

In a very close race today, Jerry Brown was elected governor of the state of California, and Barbara Boxer kept her seat as senator of California. Republican candidates Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina just trailed them, and from the third party gubernatorial candidates, Libertarian Dale Ogden took the largest chunk, coming right behind Ms. Whitman, while Laura Wells and Chuck DeVore came in third and fourth respectively.

Out of all the candidates who ran this year, it was very obvious to me that the two candidates with a clear plan for California's future are Mr. Jerry Brown and Ms. Barbara Boxer. So, naturally, I was very pleased to hear the election results.

Regarding the propositions, Prop 20, the redrawing of congressional district boundaries, was passed, and Proposition 27 failed. Proposition 23, suspending the Global Warming Act of 2006, also failed, much to the delight of the Green Party. Proposition 19 legalizing marijuana passed as well, so now if you'd like, you can celebrate another great day in California by smoking some pot, and the cops won't come after you.

Fate seemed to be smiling on the Democratic Party today, as everything pretty much leaned in our favor. Congratulations to Governor Brown and Senator Boxer, and I anticipate good days in California up ahead under Democratic administration.

Doing the Little Things

We all know that the Green Party is pro-Environment, but most people then label them as tree-huggers or extremists and discount them for having crazy ideas. However, the reason why the green party tries to stay so grass-roots in their campaigning is not because the style sounds greener, but its because we truly believe that every individual doing something small can create a huge difference, and each individual should be listened to for any good ideas. That being said, it is not a requirement of the party to believe that Global Warming is real, but rather our goal is to have everyone take notice that humans are effecting the environment in some way. Regardless of your belief about climate change, there must be some spark of recognition that we are negatively effecting the environment. We only want every person to do small things that help out. This is why we cannot pass Proposition 23. Those for passing Prop 23 consider progress as regressing back into the industrial revolution and the sight of smokestacks spewing black gas into the air is a sign of progress. However, this means that they feel that making our country more like China, where the air is so poor quality and thick that you could almost cut it with a knife, is the best symbol for progress even though our nation has already been through this part of our economic growth. Thus, the best showing of progress is technological progression, and technological progression means better efficiency, which means better environmental protection. Thus, maintaining environmental protection and furthering technology in any industry that we can, instead of maintaining not just the status quo, but a reactionary position, is truly the best position for our economy. This will prove we are still the forward moving nation we always have been and California will lead this forward movement as the best state in the greatest nation. We need to focus on forward progression, and this progression needs to come in the form of helping the environment and making the world a better place to live for all living things.

Money Money Money

With today’s pessimistic views of the government, people have been ranting about voting for the “lesser of two evils” in this election. It’s deafening listening to all these people droning on and begging for a “none of the above” option on the ballot because neither Jerry Brown nor Meg Whitman could possibly solve our problems, right? Wrong. In preparation for the big election next week, the Democrat and Republican parties held conventions to parade their candidates in front of enthusiastic supporters. The parties reiterated the beliefs and policies that they wish to bring to Sacramento. And after listening to the Gubernatorial candidates from both parties, I can honestly say that I am giving this one to the republicans. Meg Whitman is not just the lesser of two evils – her plans actually make sense and just may be successful enough to revitalize California’s economy and make it a thriving state once more.
Now the most important issue during this election centers around the future of the economy. After all, everything comes down to money. All of the restrictions and regulations placed on businesses are choking the life out of the economy. Why do businesses stay in California when there are places that have a more favorable business climate? The answer is that they don’t. The businesses are running out of California to places where they can actually make a profit. The solution to this problem would be to make it so the businesses DON’T want to leave California. Whitman advocates for more tax cuts and less regulations on business. The small business start up tax prevents the growth of new businesses and the factory tax is preventing manufacturing jobs from being created in California. I could not have put it better than when Ms. Whitman said, “Excessive taxation starves the economy.” Cutting these taxes can create jobs and grow businesses; this is the double whammy of reforms that can get California back on track. It is a lot more effective for the government to help businesses create jobs than to create jobs from thin air. Installing a high-speed rail way would be mighty convenient, but those employees still have to get paid, and it is not the taxpayers’ job to provide the money when these funds could be better used else where. We should let the businesses that can afford to pay more salaries create the jobs, so the government has more money for other services that will benefit all of the taxpayers.
Remaining stagnant in the ever-changing world is proving to be disastrous for every aspect of the government. We need to change California for the better and making targeted tax cuts will foster job growth and can spark the change that we need. The conservative side of this issue has it right. We should be pleasing the businesses because it might be a hard pill to swallow, but the fact is that our economy depends on them and we would do well to not drive them away or smother them with regulations.

A Realistic Take on the Issues

The Tea Party has something to say. This past week has seen a lot of action on the political spectrum and it's about time someone offered a realistic, approachable stance on things. The Tea Party is often accused as being outlandish and too right wing, only focusing on taxes and a dislike for Obama, but as Senator Campbell stated today, the Tea Party is really just a "grassroots" party. We represent a large faction of Americans and it's about time someone listened to us.

Starting at the earliest event, it's important to look at the Governor debates. One of the first topics discussed that peaked the Tea Party's interest was the idea of solving the very apparent unemployment crisis in California. It's a nice notion to talk about starting renewable energy and finding alternative sources of energy to supply our need for jobs, but its not realistic. If we want to solve the job crisis before things get rapidly worse, we need to do what's right, such as lowering the taxes that are crippling businesses. In alleviating these heavy taxes, a burden will be lifted from businesses and the atmosphere for creating jobs can only increase. Another topic the Tea Party is in strong opposition to is Prop 19. These liberal, left wing ideas proposed by the Democrats, Green party, and Libertarians are a strong proponent for a lack of care for the people of California. How could anyone ever elect a governor that supports the use of recreational drugs that ruin lives and minds? How is it in any way just to think that, "Well, since things like alcohol and tobacco are legal, why not legalize another abusive substance?" It may be popular and trendy to the youth and many others in California to legalize marijuana, but that doesn't make it right. The tea party doesn't want to get votes if it means de-moralizing Californians. As well, prop 23 was a hot-button issue. Governor Ogden stated that we "can't sacrifice our environment for our own well being." Again, it may be a real noble idea to Libertarians in thinking we can save our environment and let our people suffer in unemployment, but the Tea Party cares about the people first. We've made our problems, now we have to face them, not focus on "hip" and popular issues. The short term needs to be fixed before we can even begin to answer long term issues. There will be no one to care for the environment if there are no people supported by a strong Californian economy. The next topic is abortion. In reality, allowing abortions as long as America has been is truly an act of out right genocide. With 50 million infants dead since Roe v. Wade, there is no denying the immorality of pro-choice advocates. The Tea Party does recognize a woman's right to her own body, but the Tea Party does not advocate murder. If a woman has found herself in a situation she thinks she can't handle, killing a child is not a viable answer to getting rid of the problem. To go on briefly to the next two topics, immigration and same-sex marriage, the Tea Party is more liberal than perceived. We are for same-sex marriage, as well as legal immigration. It seems almost immature of Republicans to feel it necessary that two homosexuals in love can't be "married", but must have a "civil union". To demean these two people in love by giving them all the same rights as married people, but giving no justifiable reason as to why they can't hold the same title is just ignorant and upholding traditions for the sake of keeping these traditions. Considering the rates of divorce and cheating, even of public officials, it seems heterosexuals have already ruined the sanctity of marriage.

The next major event was the Senatorial debates. Even though the Tea Party feels somewhat disillusion by both the Democratic and Republican issues, there were certain topics that were of interest. One major issue is tax cuts. It seemed that both Boxer and Fiorina didn't give solid answers to this. Luckily, Fiorina mentioned eliminating capital and death taxes. Boxer, on the other hand was more quick to mention the idea of only giving tax cuts to small businesses. The Tea Party is in strong favor of tax cuts across the board. As the Republican candidate stated, you can't give privileges to some and not others. There is a bias that's rising against the rich and big businesses, and the Tea Party doesn't like it. We rely on these companies for a strong job atmosphere and economic stability. Therefore, all businesses need to see tax cuts. Again, the topic of same-sex marriage was brought up. In this case, Fiorina made the point that sexual orientation is completely different from race or ethnicity. It may seem this way on the outside, but in reality its not the case. The Tea Party believes that America is continuously faced with greater challenges of tolerance. When African Americans were segregated and abused by white Americans, people had to learn to overcome hundreds of years of seeing people based on color. Today, many Americans have overcome issues with race relations, but now must look at people on a deeper level. The psychological aspect of someones sexual orientation is much more difficult for people to understand. To this sentiment, it will only be a matter of time before people realize the equality homosexuals deserve, just as the majority of Americans realized the equality African Americans deserved. The final issue of the debates that the Tea Party would like to comment on is the war on terror. Boxer referred to America as a "crutch" for Iraq, and we should let them learn to stand on their own. It is a good idea to allow Iraq to stand on their own, but only once they are ready to do so. Iraq still needs considerable aid and it would be destructive to the people of Iraq if we suddenly diminished our presence there. We're at a point where we have made our bed, and now we have to lie in it. It may not be ideal, or the prettiest solution, but it is the only realistic option at this stage.

Overall, the Tea Party has a wide range of views beyond just strict tax cuts. That may be our basis, but that is because the other pressing issues can only be confronted if we have a strong economic system to rely on. Once California businesses can prosper, then people can become employed again, and the culture prosperity of our state can grow, such as allowing same-sex marriage and keeping marijuana the illegal substance it is.

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From the minute congressman John Campbell started speaking yesterday, I knew he was one of the most sensible and well-rounded republicans I've ever come across. He had original, fresh ideas which, despite being somewhat conservative, were practical and rational. His thoughts on withdrawal from Afghanistan due to costly and uneffective practices, the social security/ medicare payment issues, and the healthy partisan competition in congress were all intriguing and interesting, something you don't usually see in the republican party. However, I do belive his excellent speaking skills made his ideas sound good any way he put them. If the Dwayne Roberts could talk like Mr. Campbell, the world wouldn't have a problem with global warming. All jokes aside, though, I did find one thing Mr. Campbell did not impress me with. And, to be honest, that one thing in the reason why I strongly disagree with the right side and with politics in general.

Money. It makes the world go around, right? It's what we strive for most and what makes us (most of us) happy. Politics, then, i guess, is about making the most money for the richest, most powerful nation on this planet. All this talk about deregulation of business and lifting taxes and decreasing spending is all a ploy to get the rich richer and to keep the "American Dream" alive and well. Accordingly, every issue Mr. Campbell spoke about was rooted in how we could profit from it or how we could save money.

Now, I'm not saying money isn't important. It indeed is and is a necessary evil in this world. But, money isn't everything, no matter what the republicans say. Doesn't the place we live add up to something? Isn't the way we treat others something as important as profits and capitalism? Is being the richest nation on earth a symbol of status, or a symbol of greed?

I want to see politics start working for the people again; not for the people's money. America is lost in a capitalistic fever where life is a never-ending race to an unreachable finish line of perfects. We want the perfect business environments, the perfect unemployment rates, the perfect jobs, the perfect paychecks and the perfect way to spend our hard earned cash. The sad reality is that nothing in this life is perfect. Let's embrace it instead of killing our earth, it's people, and it's soul in the race to be the best. Let's return to simpler ways and use the earth we were given in the way it was intended to be used. Go green if you want humanity to realize what's really important in this life.