Starving During School

Driving Question : To what extent should the average Iowan take part in the public policy making process of selling healthy snacks during the school day at the local and state level and what should they do to monitor the implementation of this public policy? What can you do?

We have been researching the background facts about laws and questions we want to obtain answers to. We currently have most of the background facts answered. Next we will try to reach out to more knowledgeable people in the field around our community.

3/22 I researched two more questions today and found good results.

4/1 Today Johnnie and I read through the handout. We developed a list of things we needed to get. Also we talked about the way we are going to carry out our plans. When Elliott gets the surveys done we should be rolling pretty good.

Fiscal Cliff

The Fiscal Cliff is high in the interest area for my family. We fall under the middle class and have a tough time as it is right now and cannot afford to be taxed anymore. If we go over the cliff, the unemployment of the US will increase and our taxes will go up resulting in another ressesion. The taxes that are going up will be the payroll tax, not the income tax. The news reports almost $2000 more will be paid to the government. I do think that Congress will come up with a plan but it will take longer than they say it will. I'm not sure if it will be worth the prolonged debate but either way I doubt it will make everyone happy. The problem is that the Republicans and Democrats are arguing like always and can't agree on anything. We need a long term plan instead of a short one but for our government that is near impossible to come up with. So in my opinion we should pay a little more. I hate to say it but that's about the only way to fix anything since we have really gone off the deep end here. I am not saying I am right but it looks like about the only reasonable option. Where our economy is right now we need to reduce debt of course and cut senseless spending.
I do not agree with one side over another. I just wish congress would get past the B.S. and do what's right and not try to please everyone because that is nearly impossible.

2012 Election Prediction

   After completing the game, I surprisingly have Mitt Romney losing the election to Obama.  My choices for the swing states are: Obama winning Nevada , Romney winning Colorado, Obama winning Minnesota , Obama winning Iowa , Obama winning Ohio, Romney winning Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Virginia as Romney, Florida as Romney, and Obama winning Wisconsin and New Hampshire. I based all of my choices on the my own knowledge and what I know about each state. I also kept in mind voting past of swing states. I don’t think that the readings affected my decisions but they were kept in mind. The three states that I will talk about are Iowa, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Iowa’s history shows that four out of the last five elections they voted Democrat. Iowa seems like it is supporting Obama because of his tax credits on wind energy. Wisconsin and Minnesota are almost the same as Iowa but the votes have been in favor of the Democrats in the last five elections. Wisconsin seems to like Obama for his plan to help the middle class. Minnesota will stick with Obama because of his helping of the middle class also. 

                Obama seems to lead in Colorado, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Pennsylvania. Romney is leading in all of the other swing states. So there might be some states that are not swing states affecting the election. The three solid states that I chose are Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. These states are equally split and could swing either way and may play a large role in this election. They are all red states because they always swing to the Republican side. Missouri has only been wrong twice and last year was one time; in the past four years that was the only time they voted Dem. Arkansas seems to like Romney's road tax plan.  Louisiana is more worried about the jobs/economy so they will vote for Romney.

                I am not sure who to pick as the winner. I really don't care for either candidates but I think we might be less "screwed" with Obama staying in office. I just don't care for Romney, he seems a shady to me for some reason. It will be a close one no doubt but I think Obama will pull it off.

Election of 2012

         Today people are said to be less involved or interested in government. I agree with this statement. I am part of the generation of big concern. Our generation mostly, in my opinion, could really care less. They are more concerned about video games and such. A lot of people are frustrated with the government that's why they don't get involved as much. I am one of these people. I am frustrated with the people that make up our government. They do lie and they do what is best for them. Yes there are some that are the opposite. Look at all the negative tv ads. All the put downs they use against each other and twisting of each others words just to get elected is sickening. That is why I will not be voting this year. I do not care for either candidate.
         In the United States we have a democracy. To hold that democracy we the people, should serve and teach other about the importance of their role. We all should vote to to get the best candidate into office, but I can see where some do not. This is not always the case and doubt we the people can get everyone involved. It's just not possible. President is a very important role and we need to elect the right person. Along with our local politicians as well. In order to maintain a strong government we need strong state and local governments.
         To help in this election my group and I attempted to help a Republican candidate running, Elliott Henderson. We really didn’t get to help him in his campaign but we publicized his candidacy in our school for our “Meet the Candidates Night”. He sort of ignored our attempts to contact him for more info. But we decided to still show his views. Even though I am in the middle and don't lean toward one party over another, I found out he had lots of good ideas I think Iowa could use. This project helped me see more the facts than all the negative blows the tv ads show.

Blog 5, Principles and Shaping Society

10/1 - Of the 8 principles of the Constitution; which do you believe to be most influential in shaping society? What role have these ideas had on domestic and foreign policies? 

        I had a hard time choosing one, but I decided to  choose Popular Sovereignty. Popular Sovereignty is the principle that the legitimacy of the state is created and sustained by the will or consent of its people, who are the source of all political power. It can also be called "the voice of the people." I do believe it to be the most influential. The people are pretty much able to decide how we want the government. We can change and add things as we please. This has shaped our society more than anything because we, the people,  control it. We do things to benefit us, and seldom do something against the peoples best interest.
         Popular Sovereignty has a big role in the US domestic policy because it affects the people. How we choose our president has a lot to do with what domestic policies he/she is for. Some hot policies for the 2012 election are abortion rights, the rights of homosexuals, and the role of religion in public life. Depending on the person they will side with one candidate or the other. Of course most of the time the Democrats side with the Democrat and same with Republicans. It has been greatly known in our elections to take each candidates weak points or topics people are not sure about and use it against them to make themselves seem better. Which is not always a good thing. For example Romney saying "Look Obama wants this and I will do the better thing." He kind of misleads the people to agree with himself.
           I am not sure real sure about popular sovereignty playing a role in foreign policy. We choose our government representatives and they handle matters over seas. We the people really don't control foreign policy ourselves. Although I see we could control it since we are in a war right now and also pushing for more countries to adopt our government style. This may be another deciding factor in who wins the election in 2012. I believe Romney wants to push our ways more down the throat of other countries and Obama is trying to slowly push our ways onto them but compromising with them as he goes along and not trying to dictate what they do as I believe Romney would. Depending on who is elected this year, we will soon find out what kind of effect popular sovereignty will have on our foreign policies.

How important is it to you for the U.S. government to spend money to protect the environment?

I think it is very important that the government takes interest in protecting our environment and improving its quality. Because I am a hunter, fisherman, and all around outdoors man, I think this topic persuades me more toward Obama's side because I know he really is pushing for more energy efficiency and better environmental conditions.  I do not agree totally with Obama or Romney on everything but Obama really is doing more than I thought. Romney doesn't really seem like the type of guy that cares for the environment as much as Obama, he seems to be just concerned with getting big businesses going. The government as a whole under Obama is doing better than previous years but still have a lot of work to do. As an outdoors- man I don't think we can ever restore our environment to terrific condition but I think it can be turned around more than it is right now. The government should spend all their money on it, that's not what I'm saying, there are bigger issues right now such as the national debt, job creation, immigration issues, etc. I just hope we can manage the land, wildlife, etc for my kids to enjoy as much as I have as a kid. This is a topic people from the cities don't usually understand because they have never had the chance to explore the great outdoors. I would also like to see more programs to get these kids out of the cities and be able to see the nature and country I have been blessed with growing up in small town USA. To make a long rant short, I think the government is doing a fairly decent job at protecting the land they can.

Mitt Romney, a good president?

Do I think Mitt Romney would make a good president? The answer is no I do not. He is the  rich, obiviously by his off-shore bank accounts and such. Also refusing to publicly show his taxes to the people, so I conclude he is for the rich. Also he is similar in thinking to George Bush and look where Bush led us. He just seems sketchy to me. Evertime I see him he just looks like a fraud or someone who is dishonest. He says he will turn this country around but has not yet said really what he plans to do. I think that is why he is as popular as he is. He plays the blame game on Obama saying how bad Obama is and saying how everything he does is wrong but doesn't counter back with his plan. So that again shows to me he is a shaddy guy. He wasnts a strong military, so that shows me he is planning on attacking other countries and starting wars that aren't needed. He says he won't raise taxes on the middle class but how does he expect to get any money, the poor obiviously don't have and of course he isn't going to tax all his rich buddies. I don't think Obama should get re-elected either, he is better than Romney I think but still doesn't have a good solid plan to turn the economy around yet. I do like his Energy plans and such though and tax the wealthy. So much more to this rant but it could go on forever. So these are a few reasons I do not think either president should get re-elected. Especially not Romney.