This week's blog assignment is to think about what you think the government we deserve would look like? Are we getting as good of a government as we deserve? Are we we getting as good of a government as we demand right now, in other words are people complacent with what we have right now or are we feeling hopeless to change it? What is the role of the average citizen in this ideal government? These are the underlying themes in this course and this first blog post with set the tone for the rest of the semester.
Here is the article:
Chicago Tribune Editorial
Word count: 450+ words.
Due: Midnight 1/8/10
Posts
A government we deserve consists of productive programs, fulfillment of promises concerning the placement of taxpayer’s dollars, and commitment, as well as a better sense of obligation to the public, as apposed to favoring public employees over regular, hard-working citizens. As of this moment, the majority of our society has no concept of debt, as we constantly spend much more than we are capable of repaying. The majority of tax dollars to towards social security, which is still lacking; this, however, is overshadowed by the average citizen’s concerns with the smoke and mirrors that is FOX and CNN’s Republican’s versus Democrats debates over “major” concerns such as health care and the war. People are only concerned about what they see on television; no one keeps up on the stock reports or has any interest what lies on page 17 of msnbc.com. A government we deserve would prioritize for more than just “major” issues, starting with education. While other countries in the Eastern Hemisphere are schooling for over 9 hours, the United States is spending its money on video games and a health care program which will lose the medical field much more money due to illegal immigrants without the government aid health care taking advantage of empathetic hospitals who legally cannot turn down patients in need, whether they have health care or not. The main reason why the people are complacent with the government at the moment is because of Barrack Obama’s Change campaign. The Bush administration really screwed up fiscally; so bringing a young, black, democratic president to the table ultimately infers a one eighty flip on the economic spectrum. Behind the show that Obama has clearly put on for the first year of his term, he has done nothing but push for a health care bill which he believes will legitimize his promises of “change”. I personally hope Obama does well, but as of now he hasn’t even touched the war problems, education, or the fact that the unemployment rate is at the moment roughly under 10%, which is twice the rate of a healthy economy. Bringing a democrat into office will actually only hurt the United State’s deficit, seeing as though they tend to promote social welfare programs which suck up masses of taxpayer’s dollars. So what is the role of the average citizen in an ideal government? Involved. Millions of citizens over the age of eighteen don’t even vote, whether because they are uninformed, or simply because they don’t care. Either way, just as any other biased poll, the extremely outspoken citizens vote their candidate into office, even though they tend to be the minority of opinion. Then, when their choice does exactly what they voted for, the rest of the less spoken citizens begin to complain about their government’s actions, even though if they had simply stepped into the voting poll they could have actually done something about it. The government needs to spend more money on education, which will then prompt citizens to care more about learning, and hopefully about the way their lives are run by their government. This will spark a more effective and realistic voting system, which will ultimately create a government where the majority’s opinion is actually represented.
ReplyDeleteWe are not currently getting the government we are demanding. It cannot be possible to meet the needs of individuals with healthcare, pension benefits, and taxes while being in an enormous amount of debt. The citizens are getting hurt because the money is not paying back areas in need. How can the government help the people, if they can’t control the endless flow of money, and how it is being spent? Promising workers $80 billion dollars in pension benefits, and then leaving them with nothing is the own fault of the government, and it should be held accountable for the losses people took. The same is for healthcare promised after retiring. The common man is not being protected by through government organizations. Individuals are beginning to lose trust in the system.
ReplyDeleteChanges are needed to make sure that the billion dollar deficit is being managed. Hiring new office holders to place restrictions on the flow of money, and create a working plan to repay debts. The citizens have to demand that the government takes control of this problem, and fix the ongoing problems. I feel that individuals know a change needs to take place, but they are not actively standing up for their benefits. If the problem is widely criticized by everyone, there will be a greater focus to clear the debt. A focus on healthcare and social security benefits cannot begin to exist while the flow of money is traveling to other resources.
The average role of a citizen is to increase awareness towards the problems, and look for outsides resources until the government can control the problems. Depending on a system that is flawed and may potentially ruin retirement or benefits, will only harm the individual if the plan falls through. The government will not attempt to fix problems that Americans are begging for until they solve their own problem first. “Illinois pols cannot ask for more in taxes until they reform how they spend the tens of billions they already collect each year. Trouble is, many of the candidates for governor and for legislative seats see more revenue as the paramount remedy.” They are putting an increased amount of money to solve the problem. Why is the government trying to solve a debt problem with increased spending? Some government officials have plans that could save billions; they just now need to put the plans into action.
If the citizens cannot take control of their “fate” or control government organizations, the problem will not come to the surface. On the other hand, the government has to take responsibility for their outrageous spending, and follow through with a plan to pay back debts. Only after a plan is set, and debts are repaid can citizens begin to benefit from money flow going directly to them.
I'm not entirely sure what a government we would "deserve" would look like: I know for a fact that we only get as good as a government as we work for, so if one complains that the government does nothing for them, it's probably because they haven't done much to contribute to it in the first place. I'm going to have to go with JFK here: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country". If citizens truly desire for improvement in their nation, they would strive for it rather than be miserable people that only burden the nation even further. The will of the people is very powerful in our government: citizens must assert themselves intelligently to get their point across, and only then will progress begin towards a better government. So to an extent, we do get the government we deserve, because it depends on the citizens' voices to carry out its duties. That's what democracy was intended for, after all.
ReplyDeleteGetting “as good of a government as we deserve” is not the same for every person. Democrats scramble for change, while the republicans fight to keep the government from overexpanding. Some people want health care to be in government hands, while some argue that this will send us into the health care disaster that is Canada. Obviously people are not complacent, but the government is far from ideal. Democracy means that everyone has a say, but as a result agreeing is almost impossible. In the end the magority makes the decisions and, regardless of whether we “deserve” it or not, that’s the government we have. There is always hope for change (just ask Obama), but if someone can get enough people to their cause, then they can make that change. America’s real problem is not the Government, but the people. We sit at home, watch FOX (hah) and vote thinking we have played our part. Unfortunatly that vote isn’t enough to actually do anthing. The only reason we don’t have the ideal government that we want is because the nutjobs you see on T.V. are the only people fighting for real change in the government. The average person doesn’t even attend town hall meetings, or even know that they exist. The fundamental problem, is American ignorance and laziness. I’m not gonna say Im not lazy (you wont see me at any rallies anytime soon), but the people who go online and preech their ideas are worth nothing if they don’t get out and act. The article is saying that the Government is a deadbeat, but what makes us any different? We complain about the debt, and how we need to change healthcare and medicare, and banking and blah blah blah, but if we had enough support to the cause we could acctually do something. The people who do protest are always radicals and strange to us, because after all who has the energy to get up early, make a sign, AND FIX the vices of our very own governing bodies? It is much easier for most Amwerican to just watch the news every night and complain. We are a country of whining citizens who wonder why the government isn’t fixing our problems for us. As a result, if no action is taken then the magority will continue to make the decisions. The “magority” ARE the people who actually fought for their cause well enough to gain the support they needed. If you were angered by a decision in congress (for example), then ask yourself “did I make myself heard” (no), “did I go out and form a group to support opinion” (no), “did I just sit at home and wait for the result on the news?” (YES). If we continue our political laziness, then we can’t even really complain about the government, because every time we don’t make our opinions heard we might as well just give in to the oposing viewpoint. With an attitude like that, this is exactly the America we deserve.
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ReplyDeleteI think we deserve a government that does not worry so much about controlling people’s lives, and instead finds ways to help them achieve their goals and be successful. Obama promised a “change”, but it seems to me like things are only getting worse. I think that people are sometimes fooled by the media, and just go along with whatever the majority of people (or what seems like the majority of people) are saying. There are many uneducated people that simply vote based on what the media tells them, which is often extremely biased. Many people are in favor of Obama’s health care plan, but there are a lot of questions that are not being asked. For example, how can we afford this plan when our nation is already dealing with such a huge debt? and what are the pros and cons to this plan? Although it seems obvious that we would want everyone to have a chance to get the care they need, some people think that his plan will de-motivate companies, causing them to only provide basic care to people due to the lack of competition. It is also important to consider the fact that government is not meant to step in and take control of people’s lives all the time. In fact, part of what makes America great is the idea that you can come here and make as good a life for yourself as you want (you just have to work for it). If government constantly steps in and tries to equalize everyone, people will stop working hard and doing great things because they know that if they just sit back the government will step in and help them anyways. For example, at a certain point it becomes more beneficial for people to just take the money that the government gives them for being unemployed than to actually look hard for a new job (and go to work every day). I think that if people do not start educating themselves on all the laws the government is passing, they will continue to be disappointed and perhaps be even MORE disappointed than they were with the Bush administration. We need to stand up for the things we really want, and continue doing research to learn about the things happening in our government even after elections are over. Instead of sitting around and waiting for things to happen, we need to MAKE them happen.
ReplyDeleteThe government we deserve looks somewhat like we currently have. However, I feel there would be more freedom and a smaller amount of the government’s role in our society. I feel that the government should not demand every citizen to have a healthcare plan or auto insurance. I do understand the purpose and the importance of these, however still fell they should not be mandatory. I view the current state as taking away from the freedom us Americans is granted.
ReplyDeleteWith this in mind, I view that we are getting what we deserve4 because no one seems to question the decisions the government makes. Therefore if no one questions them we cannot complain about the current state. If we were more involved then we would have the right to claim we deserve better. But we aren’t therefore until we change that we have what we deserve. Also, because we Americans don’t try and make our government different and state their voice we have become complacent and satisfied with our current state. I feel that people are either scarred to state their opinion more so than complacent. If is as if people don’t know how or who to talk to, to make a difference. If that was clearer then there would be more participation.
Knowing this the role of the average citizen is low. Like I said if people know where or how to get involved they would. So part of the blame for our current under satisfying government is the citizens are not very involved, however the government doesn’t make it clear if not easy to do.
Now with all of this said I would love to see a government that not so much grants more freedoms, but allows more citizens to be themselves. For example, my “perfect” government would not regulate healthcare or insurance or even education. These are all things as citizens of America we should and can make for ourselves. There are numerous situations where any of these things may be necessary for one to have, but not for another. Case in point, some adults may live in the city and never own a car, therefore why should they need car insurance. Or some kids may be born in Nebraska in a farm family. They will be expected to graduate the 8th grade and immediately start working on the farm making money helping the family. I would also make it clear to every citizen how they can get involved. Meaning give advice on things to change, state what in the government system is working, and other new ideas. I am not sure what that would be, but it would be a major part of my “perfect” government vision.
I believe we are getting the government we demand because we haven’t been demanding very much from our government. I fell that the only demanding that we do is when the government is going to instate or pass a bill we don’t like because it will affect our lives and make us change. Change is something people don’t do well and don’t like to do so demanding a better government is out of the question to the people. The people don’t feel they can even change the government that much so they don’t try the only thing they feel they can do is vote for someone who they think and trust will fulfill the promises they made to the people. The government that we deserve changes for each person so finding that perfect government or representative is almost impossible to do. If we were to demand a new government it would not involve so much debt and would allow us to choice how we want to do business and provide health care to our families. To do this we would have to stop being passive and take action but people are not willing enough to actually stand up and fight for what they want. People feel that the only thing they have to do is vote and hope they agree with us because of the Electoral College and other structures that make it so someone else will hopefully listen to what we have to say. If I were to demand an new government it would go by the popular vote not the Electoral College’s because there have been times in the past that the popular vote did not match the Electoral College’s. secondly we would not have a two party system because the republicans have one view while the democrats have another and what happens when mine don’t match with either I have to settle with which one I like the most not what I would want to actually happen. There should also be a way to help our economy without putting us into further debt. Instead of putting money we don’t have into a company we should try to find a way to make the product more marketable to the whole world and expand our exporting and lower our importing to allow more jobs to help the economy. If we are more worried about our economy then we do have the power to take action. The only thing stopping us is change and change is something people have a problem doing which is why when President Obama was elected it was such an uproar and shock to the people. I believe a change is good a fresh look at government is the only way to start changing it. This would be the government I feel we deserve.
ReplyDeleteThe government we deserve would look very different from what it is today. As people of the United States of America we deserve a government that does the best for its people. However, every person has their own views on what would be best for the people. What I believe would be best for America would include a regulated government with limited involvement in certain aspects of society such as healthcare and the economy. The government should allow the economy to better itself through natural competition and allow for businesses and private sectors to grow. This original idea was formed through the philosopher Adam Smith with his theory of the invisible hand, but I do not think that the theory in its entirely is correct, however, to an extent I believe a free market that drives itself could actually be beneficial to the situation today. This would allow more job openings as well as more money to circulate throughout the economy. Unemployment is a huge problem in society today and the new job openings created by more businesses would also help the percentage of unemployed persons to go down. We are definitely not getting the good government we deserve, clearly through all of the arguments about policies and issues going on every day such as healthcare, Afghanistan, as well as the tremendous amount of debt which exceeds trillions of dollars. There will always be problems with the government since everyone has their own beliefs about what is best for the country, but it seems as if there are more things wrong with the government than good at this point in time. We are fighting for better since so many people are unemployed, on Medicare, and the economy is still deteriorating. However, for the most part people have begun to feel hopeless about the situation and desperation has set in. The reason why is because once unemployed it is so hard to find job openings. The government should in turn help create more job opportunities through different projects and services to get the economy back on track by getting people jobs and in turn giving back to the economy through expenditures. The role of an average citizen in this ideal government would be to live “normally” by holding a job which allows for all the necessities as well as some surplus to spend on extra luxuries. The money spent on all of this would in turn help the economy get back on its feet. Also, with the economy back on track certain slumps found in certain areas such as the housing market could improve. Another important role of the average citizen would of course be to take part in voting, since we get as good as a government as we demand and through voting we would be voicing our opinions on what we believe would help our country.
ReplyDeleteThe government we deserve is one that can not only protect us from outside invasion, but provide us security in just about every aspect of our lives. It would be one that follows the policies that it puts in place and does not make empty promises to the people just to get the extra vote. On top of that it would be one that informs the people of exactly what is going on and one that would at least attempt to pull the general public away from the senseless media that we are constantly exposed to. Today we are not getting the government we deserve because of the way they handle many of today’s issues. Although it can be placed on the citizens for not paying attention to government policy, the government is not doing its job to make people aware of the truly important policies. The security that the government should be providing the people should be that of personal choice, financial protection, adequate health care, education, and defense from prejudice along with many other parts of everyday life. The average American does not usually have to think about how their own personal choice is affected by the government, but there is still a large number that is every single day. With the constant debate over gay marriage and abortion, the government is hurting people’s lives and taking attention away from what should truly be debated. Gay marriage and abortion should be left to personal choice and the government should not interfere with such choices. The government should focus its time and energy on the financial crisis at hand, fixing health care for only legal U.S. citizens, making sure adequate education is provided to all citizens up to a certain point, and protecting them against any prejudice. Although our government is clearly not perfect, no government in the past has been perfect either. The American citizens seem fairly satisfied with what we have with our government for the most part, however many of the policies are what the citizens do not like. If we did have the ideal government the role of the average citizen would basically be to go about their everyday lives and not worry about what the government was doing because in the ideal government there would be no problems. Since that is virtually impossible, the role of a citizen should be to take an active part in government decisions by paying attention to what is going on and vote on just about anything possible that they have an opinion on. It is not solely the responsibility of the government to make decisions, so in order to make the ideal government there needs to be active participation from the citizens as well as the government officials.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe that we are getting as good of a government as we deserve. There are so many topics that could be covered and talked about for hours and we still wouldn’t be done discussing where we went wrong. For example, as mentioned in the article, our spending and splurging on material items has spun out of control. People are buying more items and spending more money than they make. But, I do not think that is entirely the government’s fault. It is more of the individual’s fault. People are imagining this false sense of wealth, and it is controlling them in unimaginable ways. So not in all ways is the government responsible for the out of control spending. I think one way that we as consumers could improve our spending is to become more informed. Become more informed on credit scores, and credit history. I also think that individuals need to take more responsibility for their out of control spending. They need to realize that they need to help themselves, and to ask for help.
ReplyDeleteI am kind of neutral as far as if people are content with how the government is now or if we are feeling hopeless to change it. There are reasons that I can think of that could go for either side of the argument. I think though that the people who complain the most about our government and our current situations are the ones who sit around all day and do nothing about it, or even try to voice their opinions elsewhere. I also think that one of our roles as a citizen in the United States is to actively participate in the government activities as much as we can, so we could be the change that maybe people want to see in the world. I believe that if we all come together we could really make a difference, and see change that we all know we can accomplish. I also believe that it is our role also as a citizen to vote. Not everyone votes, and I think it should be mandatory for everyone as a US citizen to vote. The government should also take into consideration the peoples’ choices and opinions. If we could all bring our ideas together and work together, I think that our government would be a lot more successful. As the government, I also think that it is their responsibility to monitor the money supply and to restrict obscene spending. Our money situation has gone way out of control, and it needs to be put back on track soon or else we are headed for a big downfall. Our government is not corrupted right now, but I do believe that there could be improvements made.
Our government is not run by us, Congress, or the President. It is run by lobbies. Lobbies have turned a decent democratic government into a free-market business that Congressmen scrape every penny out of. Lobbies are organizations that push for things in Congress such as farmer’s rights or the gun rights. These organizations pour money to Congressmen’s campaigns and pocket books in order to sway legislation in their favor. If you are ever wondering why your Congressman voted against what his platform stood for, try checking what lobbies have been throwing money his way. The problem is, most Americans have no idea that this is going on and have no idea what their candidate is voting for. The only issue that seems to matter is whether they are a Republican or Democrat. The problem with that mentality these days is that our noble politicians use their party as a façade, and once they are in the government, they are there to make a profit. While Congressmen receive a base salary from the government, this number quickly multiplies when you factor in the payouts they are receiving from lobbies. So suddenly, Bush’s decision to get rid of regulations on pollution and to go into 2 wars becomes clearer when you see the billions of dollars poured into the government by energy companies and defense contractors. These billions of dollars could be quite useful if they were ever seen by a single American, but every single one of them goes into Congressmen’s pockets.
ReplyDeleteThe problem of corrupt Congressmen is worsened by the false sense of activism felt by most Americans. Voters feel they have done their duty to America by voting once every 4 years. The duty does not end on Election Day and in fact, it never ends. When you vote for someone, you take on a responsibility as the person that voted for them. Anything they do in the government, you enabled them to do. So wouldn’t you want to make sure they make the best decisions possible? Voting blindly on party lines or on campaign promises is ignorant. The truth of a politician’s character comes out in his actions. Most votes in Congress are open to the public eyes, so Americans can see whether the person they voted in is living up to their expectations. Unfortunately this rarely happens. Most Americans are complacent when their party has a majority in the government, ignoring the fact that “their party” is voting against ideals that they voted them in for.
Our government has turned into a business. The people in it use their power to work deals with companies for money while only having to go against their ideals. This is a small price to pay when you factor in that most Americans never find out about this money-making scheme, and politicians can maintain the image of a noble lawmaker. What we have to realize is that by voting for them, we are giving them that power. We have to keep track of the people we vote for to make sure they are using that power for the good of the American people and not for their own benefit.
I agree with the statement that “we get as good of government as we deserve” because people who demand more and work harder deserve to be rewarded with a successful government. In the society that we live in now, we are not getting the government that I think we deserve. Nearly everyone today goes to school and continues their education into college because our nation and the workplace demand highly educated workers. People who spend half of their life preparing to work should be given a successful government that acquires all their proper needs, not a government that consumes everyone’s money and wastes it. Really, what is our government spending so much on? Our government lacks in money management; we are constantly spending the nation’s money and it seems as though nothing good is coming out of it for the sake of the people. It is said in the article that “officials of this state, and too many county governments, deliver greater loyalty and more secure futures to their public employees than they deliver to the citizens who pay their salaries. That's unjust.” It is extremely unjust. We elect our state officials and it is simply their duty to deliver to the people who have put them in office. Having a democracy as government means that our representatives are suppose to create laws and regulations that benefit the people and their wellbeing. What are we suppose to do if we don’t have any officials that can complete their duty? Are we really demanding too much? The thing that most people struggle with today is money. Jobs are lost every day and the unemployment rate is increasing, which affects everyone. Money is tight for everyone and most cannot afford to go on like this much longer. Something has got to change. The government needs to start saving its money. To me, the government seems corrupt and I personally don’t want it in control of my life. I would like to believe that others agree with me and that is in part why many do not want the government in charge of the healthcare. I believe that people are not hopeless about changing the government but nonetheless, they want a change. Because citizens feel the government is going farther and farther out of control, I think they will be more likely to get involved as opposed to sit back hopelessly. Mostly, I think that people do not know how to get involved and help reform our government to make it fit their needs as a citizen. In an ideal government, citizens should have representatives and officials that truly understand what life is like for the average person. The leaders should have an understanding of what life is like for most of the people they are representing and we as people have to demand that from our government.
ReplyDeleteI think the government that we deserve should be wiser when managing the revenue brought in. Our government is making matters worse than they already are. We are currently in a national debt of $12 trillion, and our government just keeps adding on more to the debt, digging the whole were already in deeper. We deserve much better of a government than we are currently getting. The government promises its citizens pension payouts and health care after they retire. They lie to their citizens. They are $80 billion more in pension payouts than they can afford and millions in a sufficient health care plan after they retire. The citizens count on these pensions and health care plans and are getting screwed over; it is not fair to them. Not only is the massive debt were in the governments fault, but it is also its citizens as well. It is apparent that the government is in debt and has no money, but we the citizens are the ones who keep paying them with tax dollars when we have no money either. If we do not demand a better government the money that we keep giving them will just be wasted. They collect our money and spend it piling on debt after debt. It is our fault though because we keep giving them the money that is ours, and our money continues to be the debt. We need a better promising government.
ReplyDeleteIf we do not get a better government to manage our money better it will start to affect the citizen’s obligations and businesses. Many of people run businesses but due to the massive shortfalls they are starting to have make cuts. Our economy is in the drains. Valuable employees lose their jobs everyday because people just do not have the money to pay their employees. They also have to cut down on many things because they do not have the money to pay for the things they used to. Business especially small businesses are getting hit the hardest in this economy. We need to demand a better government to help save the businesses and peoples jobs. I think some citizens feel hopeless to change the government. The government has been this way for awhile and it seems like nothing is getting better, if anything worse than ever. People start to lose hope more and more because we start to get in more and more of debt. The government and we the people need to change what we are doing. We add to the massive debt by continuing to spend money we do not have and the government just collects and spends our money. It’s a cycle that needs to be broken in order to get a better government.
Everyone has a different way that they think the government should be run, some think it should be more conservative and other think it should be more liberal. People want change, but the more we change the worst our government is getting. So do we change until we get a better government that works right or do we stop trying to change and run it more conservatively as we use to be and hope life will get better? And lately, no one has been happy with the type of government we have been getting with Bush or Obama as President. But we are getting as good as a government as we demand. A lot of people in America have no core concept of spending and how to handle debt. We, in general, don’t care that we spend huge amounts of money and can’t fully pay it off until 10 or more years later. So because of that, America falls further and further in debt and our government has to ask for a trillion dollar loan. So until we as citizens learn to only buy things we need and can afford, we as America have no hope in getting out of debt. But we don’t get as good as a of a government as we deserve because as Americans, we vote on who to be the next governor, senate, president, and so on, and we get the short end of the deal with politician who corrupt our government. Even though the average American complains about how the government is being run, no one will do anything besides vote for the person they think is best. And most of the time the average American does not look into carefully on the candidates, they will only vote for the Republican or Democrat that they like the most without looking at most of their stands on issues and their beliefs. But what the average American should do is follow politics, look for themselves at everyone’s stands on issues, and not just listen to what the media tells them. Then people will have knowledge on candidates and America will have a greater chance to get a politician that is not corrupt. So until we as Americans decide to spend smarter with their money and start looking into politics in more depth, we will never have our government in a better state of being. It will always be sliding more in debt and have politics who are corrupt and make stupid decisions for our country.
ReplyDeleteThe Government we deserve should look the same without having a massive debt. It should not promise money for medical care and tax cuts, if the government does not have the money to support its financial plans. If the government keeps handling its money in the same way in the future as it does now, we will be in a never ending spiral of debt, because if the state is in debt the tax payers have to pay more money to make up the difference which in return causes the people to be in debt and not spend any money. This in turn keeps the federal government in debt because no one is spending money and keeping the economy going and prospering. We deserve a government that keeps its promises and keeps us involved and informed in federal decisions. It should not tell us one thing and go back and change its decision later on. The people need to know what condition the government is in; in order to make proper decisions and adjustments. If the people do not know what is going on in the government, they will not demand things that the government does not have the money to give out. We need an honest government that cooperates with its citizens, instead of hiding valuable information. Human necessities should not be as expensive as they are, so that the lower and middle classes are not in as much debt and can pay off the taxes that they owe, and still be allowed health care. The government also should not expect the people who pay there taxes and bills on time to make up the difference for the people who are late or in foreclosure. If those people who are late can not pay off there taxes, it should be their problem not the good citizens who make their payments on time. I feel like people are not demanding a better government because they are trying just to make it and deal with the current government. I think they also understand that there is problems in the government right now and waiting for the government to get better, and stabilize the economy; but what they do not understand is we need a better government in order to do so. People need to fight and voice their opinion to get what they want and what they deserve. In the ideal government people would not have to worry about if they could afford health care, food, and shelter. Everyone would have the basic necessities to at least live a comfortable life. The average citizen would work hard, pay their taxes on time, and get the benefits that they deserve as a human being and from working hard.
ReplyDeleteThe government we deserve should revolve around an organized plan of goals that should be planned by officials who we vote for and pay our tax dollars too. This might sound like what we have now as a government, but it not happening. Our government needs goals, not possibilities. These goals should start out small, and work their way up to the major problems we have now. Officials of our government should only get paid if they find a working plan that can solve our countries problems. In our world today, our officials are overpaid and are not using our tax dollars to benefit the people of our society. The majority of our tax dollars go to Social Security, Health Care plans and officials who cheat the system (a.k.a Blagojevich). These plans of getting out of debt will not happen if we keep going in the same direction we are now. The more we keep putting money into the social security fund and Health Care program the more we take out of it. This causes us to go deeper and deeper into debt, and it is not solving our financial problem. We need more of a strict and structured financial plan to get us out of debt and back up in the positive money category. I agree with Josh, on how people do not view our government as seriously as we should. We care for entertainment such as sports and TV shows to take up a considerable amount of time of our life. Trust me I love my sports and TV, but as a country we need to change something just a little bit to be more involved in our government’s decisions. People who are not worried about how our government is handling things should look at their stocks and how their 401k is dropping due to our failing economy. Instead, people are careless and care for what size plasma they have in their living room. Some citizens in our country, who are not in major cities, probably do not know the name of their own mayor or representative that take in their tax dollars to “try” to make our country better. This is a major problem in our country, and should be changed by involving fresh minds to fix the problems we have in the United States. This change needs to start from the top with our President. He needs to start a working organized plan that can fix the needs of Americans, with the change of expectations with Health Care, and a new way to fix our trillions of dollars of debt that we have with our retirement and social security funds. I believe this plan can be a success if people in our society change the way they look at the government, and start believing in the way they can change it.
ReplyDeleteAn ideal government would mean that every single citizen, worker, state representative, and the President would be pleased with the way the government is operated. Obviously that is impossible, no matter what happens or what changes in the government, not everyone will be happy. However, I’m sure that all of the above can agree that we are in need of a serious change, and that a government should create productive programs where fewer citizens suffer.
ReplyDeleteThere are numerous ways in which our government can be reformed to at least “better” the bad situations we are already placed in. For instance, it is not a secret that we are in serious debt, and only “digging ourselves in to a deeper hole”. The state of Illinois alone has $1.4 trillion in debt. Yet when citizens actually hear this number aloud they are in awe, even though they are part of the reason why this debt is increasing. Many citizens are too busy concerning themselves with issues that do not even affect their lives-like how many women Tiger Woods has slept with. They should be interested in issues that actually affect their every day lives. Issues like the national debt and various others that are being shadowed by pointless drama. These important government issues are being ignored by these citizens until they individually begin to suffer. People want a change, but how can this actually happen when we are so caught up in other things?
In order to create a stronger government, and create more active programs we must do our part and take a more active role in politics. I also believe that our leaders need to make an immediate impact on the economy, opposed to gradual changes. Throughout Obama’s campaign, he stressed the idea that he had plans to repair the country. Once he was inaugurated, he made it sound like the process would take years when we deserve a candidate who is willing to take the risk for quick results.
Though I do think that that our economic situation is improving I know we could do much better. Obama was definitely an upgrade from Bush but so far he is not living up to his promised expectations. What about Job security? Why are we worried about granting illegal aliens health care, for those who cannot afford it? Our government needs to adhere to a normal Americans’ needs.
I also want to bring up the educational policy-”No student left behind”, I feel like we are investing too much money into the education of students who are not even motivated or interested to learn let alone pass high school, while depriving others of extra-circular activities such as are music etc. they take away due to this policy.
In conclusion, I do not know the full details about politics, but I firmly believe that in our guaranteed rights that we should be satisfied about our government.
Right now, we are not getting the government that we deserve. Our government talks so much about all the debt we have but yet they still don’t do as much as they can to try to fix it. We keep borrowing money and in return we get nothing. “Today's Illinois borrows from future generations by burying them in debt, and in effect borrows from its own suppliers and providers by not paying them money they're owed. Today's Illinois even borrows from itself: The sometimes acceptable practice of short-term lending repeatedly has been overused and abused”. Just imagine how much debt our nation and state will have in 10 years! I think it’s pretty bad right now with the amount of debt our nation and state is in. I don’t even want to think about what it will be like when I get out of college and have a family later on. I think that we need to focus more on how to fix the problems in our nation without taking more money out of our funds instead of creating ideas that cost millions of dollars that never work.
ReplyDeleteThough we are not getting the government we deserve, I do believe that we are getting the government we demand. No one is really doing anything to fix it. So many of us just sit on the couch, watch the news and then complain about what is going on. Trust me; I do this all the time. I complain about what is going on and nothing ever gets fixed. But if people actually got up off the couch and voiced their opinions about a certain topic, our government would be able to accommodate more of the people’s views. To get the government we deserve we have to take an active role in our government to try to get things changed. But again, we demand change. Obama made his whole campaign about change. But how many of us are really OK with a big amount of change? I know I’m not. I like to do things the same way over and over again. It’s like a schedule for me. I know a lot of other people are like that, but they still demand change. I think that people have a huge idea of what they want the government to be like but what they want could be nothing like what the person next to you wants. No matter what happens within our government, everyone will not be happy. They will always find something to complain about.
I think that a government everyone would be able to have some content with would be if we had a greater freedom of choice. I believe that people should be able to choose if they have healthcare or not. No one should have to decide that for them. Once we get more freedom of choice, I believe we will be getting the government we deserve.
The government that I think we should warrant is one that we can rely on. We should to not be so in under. The government is so over the edge that it would take tens of years to repay all the trillions of dollars America spent unwisely. What I think is that we aren’t getting what we justify. America as a whole had something to contribute to this deficit but not all of it. Everyone is so worried what is going on in their social life like, in Jersey Shore when someone punched Ronnie when he didn’t do anything wrong and why did Tiger Wood have affairs with other women. That is really significant in life. What is is how to get the government out of this horrific deficit that we as Americans are in. People are not pleased with the government he have right now. What they need to do as a government is to cut spending in the areas that we over spend in and lower taxes. That would make it easier for the people to go out and spend money and put it back in the system. What truly put the government in a collapse was how many forecloses there were. That put a number of the mortgage companies bankrupt. One thing that was brainless was a loan called the three year arm loan. What arm stands for is adjustable rate mortgage. What that does in you start off at a low interest rate and than in three years it skyrockets to a much higher rate. So what people were doing is new construction homes that they could not afford and saying to themselves in three years I’m going to sell the house before the taxes and the high interest rate kick in. After the three years so many people did the same thing that there homes were not selling so they could not afford the payment they had no other choice but to foreclose on there house. What that did was that the housing market plummeted and people were forced to quit there jobs and move. It was just all around a bad state. The average role of the American citizen is to keep the money flowing in this economy. What some people are doing is saving all there money witch is OK; it’s just that it would be better to have it in the economy. The government just can not be printing off more and more money because all that does is make the value of the dollar go down. In conclusion what America should do is make tax cuts so that people could have more money to spend and also try to bring up the housing market.
ReplyDeleteThe government that we, the people, deserve is one that upholds each and every law, by-law, and right that was created by our founders. Of course, these rights and laws must be evolved to hold true for today’s economy, but the basis of them should remain intact. In our Declaration of Independence, it stated that when “any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government” and continues to claim that for the safety of the government, the ones that are “long established should not be changed for light and transient cause” (John Hancock). In our state alone, we face the threat of self destruction as we continue to vote away our money and therefore our freedom. The economy borrows from itself, favors the public workers, and shows no sign of halting its spending. The taxes ensued to bring us up out of our economic black hole does no more than a school district who cannot fire an instructor. The same process occurs, because it costs more to fire them than it does to keep paying a faulty system, but eventually as parents continue to pay tuition(such the same as a taxpayer billed by the state does) the chances run out and the individual must be replaced by a knowledgeable and reforming cleanup crew. They must know how to work with the citizens on how to equalize spending. When public officials are up for election, they preach of new and innovative ideas but as they win the title of their election, they do no more than watch as their ideas become covered in their problems. They neglect to reach into their own pockets and put their ideas to work. On the other hand, the trouble there is that the public should also be held responsible for not demanding that these ideas be put to work before the election, that in some small way the officials try to prove their ideas without the safety of hiding behind their position. We do not demand it, and therefore we do not receive it. We demand that our vote be heard, but it does no more than put more money in senators and governors pockets. Our votes and their promises begin to fall on deaf ears. The largest impact can be made if governors and their workers spend more time solving the small issues instead of ignoring them. When all of the little problems like blending together small school districts that need to be and outsourcing janitorial and food services are solved, it will not only aid towards the rebuild of our economic safety, but also will work to gain back trust in our state and federal leaders.
ReplyDeleteAre we getting as a good of a government as we deserve? In some ways, I would say yes. In order to deserve a good government, we must be involved in it. Right now, many of our citizens have a completely apathetic attitude toward anything related to our government and politics in general. They do not make the attempt to even understand what is going on within our country. If you ask the average person what the current situation in Afghanistan is, or the changes that Obama has made since taking office, many would not be able to give you an answer. Do you think that a country full of people who don’t know what their government is doing, or even what important issues within the county are, deserves to have an amazing government? I do believe that we are not getting as good of a government as we demand, though. While many within our country do not understand what is going on, they do know that they want things to be better. You can’t expect these demands to be met though, especially when those making them do not even know how one would go about improving their government. If you don’t know what is wrong, how can you take steps to fix it and make it better? This would be the role of a citizen in an ideal government; to act as someone who makes sure that the government is doing the best possible job it can in making life the best for it's citizens. The citizens are the ones who truly feel the effects of decisions made by the government, and are the only ones who can keep them in check if these decisions are not the best for the people. In order for this ideal citizen to exist and to fill their role, they must have a good education. This is where the government can help, and start to put funding for education on the top of their list of priorities. Right now it is taking a back seat to such issues as the war (and defending our country from the perceived threat of terrorism) and healthcare. While these issues should be addressed, I believe that focusing more upon improving education now will, in the long run, benefit our country much more.
ReplyDeleteThe government we deserve is the government we have right now unfortunately. We expect so much from the government but we actually don’t give what we should. Most people in society today look out only for themselves and not for the greater good of the government and our society. Our country is trillions of dollars in debt and we begin to believe that we are not getting the government we demand while in reality we are doing all of this to our self. So many people in our country spend time doing things that have no relation to the real world and we fill our heads with unnecessary information. The example that was brought up the first day of class made me realize just how we watch and do things that have no importance on our life at all. It seems to be that people are satisfied with the government right now or they are just ignorant to the real world and how it’s affecting our lives every day. If the government was a huge importance to every ones lives, people would not be watching Jersey shore and mtv. People would be finding ways to cut the debt we have today. We as a country also can’t go back in time and what has happened happened and everyone needs to step up and do their part to help the government recover now. We can’t wait for tomorrow. Everyone needs to act today and help fix this growing problem in our society that we live in. If we want to heal this problem everyone needs to start buying things they can afford and not go in their own debt because that leads to others having to help the hole that you left yourself in. Some people in society are feeling hopeless for the future of our government because of the facts getting thrown in their face about our government and people are just getting depressed about what is happening. In order for the government to heal is for money to be flowed through stores and everyone cannot be selfish and scared to buy things and be scared to go in debt. There are so many ways to save money like using coupons and getting great deals wherever you go. This helps save money while streaming the cash through the government. These ideas will help bring down the trillions of dollars in debt. The average citizen in this government plays a small role in the government. Most people hurt the government with debt while others help the government a little. Many people end up going bankrupt and the government never ends up getting its money back. Overall, the government we have now is what we deserve but there is hope for the future if everyone plays their part in healing the government.
ReplyDeleteClearly many are unhappy with the government and the situation that America exists in presently; however, it is the direct result of the people. This truly is the government that is deserved by the citizens. There is very little involvement to say the least, especially from the younger generations. Very few truly know about the issues, reforms, and programs that are running through the government. Everyone knows that the economy is complete garabage right now, and that a new health care bill is trying to get passed. However, many don’t know about the other reforms or issues, such as the fact that America has a grave debt or about education reform. They don’t know that these new reforms will lead to an even greater debt. People feel educated about current issues from watching the news every night or listening to the radio on the way into work. What they don’t realize is the fact that theses networks have bias, and will showcase stories that help either the democrats or the republicans.
ReplyDeleteWith the government in its current position, everyone feels that they have the right to criticize the wrongs of the government. However, it was these same people that didn’t take the time to research candidates running at the local, state, and national governments and their view on beliefs such as health care, the debt, education, etc. These people now sit and complain that the government should not be the run the way it is. For a better government, we need more involvement from people of the United States. People need to stop waiting for someone else to fix the problem that plague the nation at this time, and actively take a part in the coming up with a resolution. All people who have the right to vote should vote. In this way, the government changes to one wanted by the majority of the population. In today’s society the right to vote is overlooked, and very few understand its significance. In the education reform, a greater emphasis should be put on teaching kids, the importance of voting and how the government works, because clearly what is in effect as of right now is not working. And at this rate, the government will only get worse as public involvement will get worse.
As to whether people are complacent with what is happening now, I would have to say yes to a certain extent. People have become caught up in Obama and his “change” campaign. People are complacent because I feel as though they believe change is on its way. However, the truth is Obama has bit off more than he can chew, and now the American people expect more from him than he can deliver. Not only is Obama not going to address every problem, but he will most likely make some worse, specifically the issue of debt. Taxpayer dollars is not enough to fund the reforms that are trying to be put into place, so where does the additional money come from? As of right now I feel that people are waiting to see what Obama can do, however, I don’t see significant gains any time soon. People need to start taking an active roll in creating a solution, now in hopes that we can fix government sooner.
I do not think we are getting the government we are demanding. But perhaps it is not the government’s fault; maybe it is the citizens’. American citizens demand a government in which they can receive health benefits, amazing pension plans, and protection for all American businesses. Not only this, but they want the government to do all of these things while keeping a minimal national debt and thriving economy. The government provides some, not all, of what we demand of them, but then we complain about the consequences that come with what we ask, such as taxes or new restrictions. It is simply impossible to achieve the type of government we are demanding because of how high we set that bar. Many believe the government should stay out of business affairs and let competition decide a company’s fate. But when this happens, many start to complain if a company gets hurt and say that it was the government’s fault for not protecting them. People want more job opportunities and projects that will create these opportunities, but that is impossible to do without spending money, which contributes to the national debt. Education is another big topic amongst Americans. American citizens demand the best education system for their children. When this becomes an option, they complain about the taxes that are necessary to maintain this system. This is the problem the government has to deal with, and once again, when the attempt to produce a solution, they receive criticism. Then “are we getting the government we deserve”? I think the government we currently have, while still has problems with such things as national debt, is all right. I mean we as American citizens receive numerous benefits from our government that many countries do not offer to their citizens. It can be argued that the government is corrupt but it has been very helpful to its ungrateful national public. I’m not sure what a government we deserve would look like but I know there would be a lot less inside deals between politicians just to pass a bill. In whatever government we deserve, its average citizen needs to get more involved. They need to start learning about what the government is doing and how that affects them. Once the people understand what is going on, then they can become more active in government affairs where they see fit. This is not possible if the people are unaware of new laws passed or government activity and they are forced to go along with what the government decides and deal with the consequences. While we may not have the type of government we deserve now, the average citizen can still start learning about the government and becoming more active to achieve the type of government we deserve.
ReplyDeleteThe citizens of the United States are not getting the government we deserve. We deserve the government that was promised to us by Abraham Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg Address; a “government of the people, by the people, for the people”. I feel as if this vision has disintegrated throughout the years. Representatives that have been elected have based their campaigns to fix the needs and complaints of the people, but those concerns have not been translated into change.
ReplyDeleteIt is the government’s responsibility to take care of its people and right now the U.S. government is putting America in a hole that is almost too deep to get out of. With the amount of debt skyrocketing, our government is incapable of meeting the needs of individuals with healthcare, pension benefits, and taxes. The promised 80 billion dollars in pension benefits put millions of people at a loss due to the irresponsibility of the government. Those same abused citizens, among others, lose the benefit of having healthcare after retiring. Because the average citizen is living in a country with unfulfilled promises and living under a false sense of security, many are starting to lose faith in the American government.
The changes that are needed to fix the billion dollar deficit are not simple; it will definitely require a lot of work and intelligence. I believe that it is time for some fresh officials to step in and make a difference. In order to get the right people for the job, it is the responsibility of the citizens to demand a government that is willing to make changes on the issues that really need to be addressed, such as; healthcare, debt, social security, etc. If the problem is greatly criticized then the government is more likely to look into the issue and fix it. Also, it is the responsibility of the citizens to become informed on the issues our country is currently dealing with. If we do not know how the price of health care is affecting millions of lives, or the fact that future generations will have no money from social security after retiring, then it is hard to demand certain results from the government.
It can be rightly inferred that the problem with today’s government is inadequate and irresponsible spending. That not only involves the federal government, but many state governments are falling into the same pattern. “Illinois polls cannot ask for more in taxes until they reform how they spend the tens of billions they already collect each year”. The money is not being spent properly in our country and the average citizens are catching the backlash of this on going problem. It is our job as citizens to demand the government we want. In order to fix the evident problems we must continue to pressure officials so that they are forced to make a change. We can not have the government we deserve unless we are willing to fight for it.
In society today, no, we are not getting as good as a government that we demand; that we deserve. States across America are being poorly shaped financially and it is not meeting the needs of lives today. This is including lack of healthcare, tax dollars paid and the pressure put on citizens from pension obligations and benefits. I personally think that taxes have made a huge negative impact on society. The government over and over again promises us to make sure everything is “spiffy” just so we will continue to re-elect them. This is one way of tricking the citizens today into paying for more, and not getting anything out of it. Even so, the government makes us give even more of our income in TAXES! “State government is really a checking account; it collects, and spends, tax dollars. If you're an Illinois citizen, these massive shortfalls are your obligations.” The government is taking our money and spending it uncontrollably. This is putting us in more debt, and digging an even deeper hole then we already have. Illinois pols can’t keep asking for more in taxes until they reform how they spend the tens of billions of dollars they already collect each year. The huge amount of debt that the government has put on us is enormous and not fair to anyone. We as citizens in America are not at fault for the government’s mistakes like promising 80 billion dollars in pension benefits and then leaving those people with nothing at all. We are far from complacent with what we have right now because many people cannot even afford their own healthcare because the government promised billions of money after retirement. Not only healthcare, but the government has done nothing for us but put us in debt and make us unhappy with them.
ReplyDeleteThe average role of a citizen today is to realize the problems we are having and fix them; increase awareness. We have to use other sources until the government realizes themselves that they are doing something wrong. The government has taken our money and used them for government spending. I don’t think we are complacent because of this, and how we are forced to pay the government for things they did rather things that we need. I think that people in society know that there needs to be a change, but no one is willing to stand up for their rights. I think that the citizens won’t stand up until health care and other needs are paid for in the right way. And until then, we will continue to pay the government for everything they ask for, and we will continue to lose more and more money. Other then just taxes, I think Obama will do great, but as of now he hasn’t focused at all on the war problems, education, or the unemployment rate. And this is a problem because we need to focus on what is important. I think the government needs to focus strongly on education and realize what is most important for kids and adults today.
It is nearly impossible to get everything we deserve from our government. The government we deserve provides homeland security, offers excellent financial benefits, and acts on its many policies. As taxpayers, all of the money taken out of our paychecks is beginning the sequence of adding to our national debt. Some officials believe that raising taxes is the way to go. This is obviously incorrect, because this will begin, “digging the whole deeper”. Our money should be put towards major issues such as healthcare, the war, education, and other of the many issues in America. Where should the government start paying back the debt? By staying true to their plan and paying it back over time rather than putting it off time and time again. Next, a government that we deserve acts on their policies and promises. The last thing a government should be doing is falsely advertising plans and lying to their people. For example, promising workers $80 billion more in pension payouts than is available. On the other hand, I believe that the majority of Americans are not properly educated on what goes on in our government. All they see, and want to see is on TV. That is not enough, people should want to know about all of the government policies and where their tax dollars are being spent. I think that the first step to getting a government that we deserve is having citizens that know what we deserve. Back when Bush was in office, millions of Americans bashed Bush, because all they heard on TV were bad things. Nobody actually looked into, and disagreed with his policies, they just conformed to others thoughts. That is exactly what we don’t need, people who conform, rather than being an individual in a society where a change is needed. We need persistent individuals that strive for change, and do not stop acting until their goal is achieved. It is until then that we will be getting that government that we demand and deserve. It could be said that we are getting the government we deserve, because people who sit back and don’t act, in return, get a government who is guilty of the same exact thing. If nothing is done soon, the problem will only get worse. This endless amount of debt will restrict the government from providing the most important things such as healthcare. If the government cannot first get their debt under control, the needs of people will continue to take a back seat. I am no expert on our government, but I do know that we as Americans deserve more from our government. We strive to become better through years of education, yet the unemployment rate is 10%. Whether we like it or not, we pay taxes that help our government with vital issues. As citizens of America, we need to start acting on our desires, and hopefully, our government will do the same.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the government “we deserve is what we are getting right now.” There are many people that complain and state that this government is horrible and makes life as an American miserable, but why should we get more than we ask for. Yeah there is really no point of asking for something when you don’t strive to achieve it. There is a big lack of involvement from the people. They tend to stay back and say ‘leave it to the people that truly care and can really make a difference.” They don’t care to vote and are afraid to let their voices be heard, when these people are the ones that complain more about our government. What is our role as ideal citizens if we want an ideal government well it’s to get involved and have a voice. Man people think that one vote or one voice cannot make a difference but a totally disagree. Your voice or my voice alone can make a big difference in our county and united all as one it can make a difference in our country. Because why is our government spending so much money in things that some people don’t need, trying to pass a law that requires everyone to have health care and auto insurance. Well what about those people that don’t even have a car why do they need that auto insurance. Why are we spending so much money trying to make the border control better, when truly is not making a big difference. People that want to emigrate from another country will always find ways to do it. So why not spend all that money that is being wasted on something that is going to help this country in the long run. Like making sure everyone no matter what can have an education being high school, making sure that all those kids in the street have a place to live. Why not strive to make this country a better place for all of us. Because we may not know it this right second but any kid that is in the streets could possible be our next president, or greatest scientist but if we never give them a chance we might never know. But all this can only happen if everyone gets together and decides to have a voice for themselves. We as people have to pressure our government into being the government we have always wanted. Because no matter what if we just let everything flow, everything will always be the same. You cannot expect a plant to grow if you don’t give it water. Right, so we cannot expect our government to grow and become more ideal to our beliefs if we don’t express our thoughts and beliefs. So have a voice and speak your mind.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we have many demands for the government, we will not get the government we deserve until we fulfill our role as an educated voter. It is the job of the average citizen to understand the stance of all candidates, not only those in their own political party. How can we hope to choose a good representative for our country if we do not understand their intentions and the intentions of their competitors? After voting, the power is mostly out of our hands and we are forced to live with whatever our elected officials decide to do. This makes it our job as citizens to completely understand the goals and stances of potential candidates. Even with a good understanding of the major political concerns, Americans still do not “deserve” anything. Yes we have rights, but we do not “deserve” them, instead we simply “demand” them. Instead of waiting around in the hopes of a worthy government, we need to voice our own opinions and demand to receive the government we wish to have. At the same time, we obviously are not getting the government we demand right now. Between the issues with healthcare, the halted progress in Afghanistan, unemployment, and the total control of our market economy, the government has a lot of issues to take care of. Unfortunately for us, they seem to be unable to balance all of these issues in a way that helps Americans across the nation. Americans wish to receive affordable healthcare, but the government seems unable to give it to us in a way that does not do some sort of harm. The complete focus on healthcare also stifles the progress we need to see in Afghanistan. It is the government’s job to protect the citizens of America, yet progress has been halted, thus jeopardizing our safety. We can send more troops or bring troops home, but the government cannot delay its actions any longer in favor of working out other concerns. Obviously these two major issues take a lot of the government’s attention, but we as Americans are still demanding more. In Illinois alone we have more troubles with the government than we can handle. We demand an honest governor who will spend our tax dollars wisely, and instead we have been given to men that cheat and slime their way through the political system. Our demands seem to die on the ears of our elected officers, resulting in a nation filled with hopelessness and anger. If we, the citizens of America, deserve anything it would be a government that is willing to listen and act on our demands. Instead we are treated to bickering political figures that only slow the progress we all wish to see.
ReplyDeleteThe government that we demand as a country looks nothing like the beaten, confused, and misallocated one we have put in place today. The government we demand and deserve is one that implements new systems and productive programs that will give the people a positive outlook on their everyday lives. We as people deserve leaders that will make more than just those empty promises we tend to see on campaign posters when election time rolls around. Our current systems are not adequately treating and protecting everyone like they should be. Our current health care system is leaving many Americans in the dust, unable to receive proper care because they cannot afford the necessary coverage. And like some 47 million other Americans, they cannot afford any coverage at all. Many cannot afford their health care because they are among of the 9.4% of the labor force that is currently unemployed. And the billions of taxpayer’s dollars that are misallocated day in and day out just scratch the surface of what is wrong in this country today. The reason that there is not as big of an outcry for help as there should be is because unfortunately, most of the people living in this country are simply uniformed on the issues. Why isn’t everybody demanding to know where does the billions of dollars of their honest, hard earned money go? It’s because they are uneducated and simply assume that since the government has all of the power, they will always do what is best for their citizens. Shouldn’t we have a say with what they do with our money? Since Barrack Obama has taken office I have been hearing a lot of talk about change, which seemed to be the focus of his whole campaign. We need to start seeing this change that he has been promising to his people since day one. And this promise of change and hope is what is keeping the people calm, and optimistic for a better future. Yes, he is doing a good job with his efforts to improve the health care system that would seek to give all Americans the proper coverage that they need. But this is just one of the issues that we need Barrack to change to give us the government we demand. This constant misuse of billions of dollars given to the government by their citizens has to stop. The fact that the government can borrow all of this money, and try to fill in the holes with taxpayer’s dollars is simply put, not okay. We deserve better as honest, hard-working citizens of this great country, and this government simply cannot fill those needs. We need a government that will educate, facilitate, and keep every single person safe, no matter what. They is their ultimate responsibility as our leaders. I believe that we are headed in the right direction and President Obama is doing what is best for his people. He doing his best to attack all of these problems but things like this take time. If we give him the time that he needs, then we will begin to see that change he kept talking about and promised to us. He will steer us in the right direction. But at this time, in this unsafe and uncertain world that we live in, we must simply stay strong as Americans.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I think that a perfect government would be everybody would have the things they need/ want like leaders in charge and law options, be equal and also no debt or holes that the government has to dig their way out of by making higher taxes. I know that there is no possible way everyone can have the government the way they want because everybody has different views on things. From where I stand I believe that we are demanding the government we have right now, but I think we all need to demand more because we deserve more then what we are getting.
ReplyDeleteI think there are many ways in which the government can improve, and a lot of ways our government has improved. I believe that our taxes are going way too much into Social Security, and Medicare and we should put them more into other things like getting ourselves out of the debt we have of twelve trillion dollars. The government has decided to fix the debt hole by “[filling] it with more of your tax dollars -- while simultaneously digging the hole deeper”. If we do not voice our opinion on where we think the money should go then the government will keep doing the same thing, without a care. Then when the money comes to a shortage the economy will start to fall apart. Businesses will lose money due to high taxes. Then workers will lose their jobs because the owners won’t have enough money to pay all of them, and some businesses close down completely. Another big deal in our world today is the war in Afghanistan. I’m not saying we should or should not be there, but if people feel were making a big mistake being there then do something about it. If you feel it is helping our country a lot, and we are benefiting our safety then support it. I think Obama is also making great decisions for our country since our last president, but he should really focus on the bigger picture then things that can benefit just certain people. Also I think he needs to stop talking and actually do what he says he is going to, but I think soon enough he will make our country a better place. A very important role to a stable government is the citizen. They choose who they want to be in control, and they can vote for everything if they don’t like it they don’t vote for it, and if they do they do. They are the backbone to what types of government we will have because they make the choices. Nobody is denied that.
In conclusion I believe we have a good government because so far that’s all we have demanded, but I believe that we can make it a great government if we just demand a lot more and voice our opinions more.
Our government should be for the people. As long as they are above an average person they will never be for the people. In order for them to understand the problems of regular people, they need to be a regular person and see the need of money, health care, education, and other things. Otherwise they will not take the problems seriously and nothing will get resolved. A normal person should have a say but does not because even though they get to vote, the candidates are not the ones that people really want so they have to pick the lesser evil and live with what they decide. They hate them and then they hate themselves doing this. In Norway, the government takes 75% out of their paycheck for taxes, but they have free health care, free transportation, and free education, as well as many other things. The 25% that they are left with is enough for them to have a good life, a much better one than we have here with more money. But the thing is, their government is not corrupt. One person cannot change anything. Every politician will promise people whatever they want in order to get to the position they want. When he gets there all those promises become lies and they will never follow up. There is nothing people can do after that except to not trust the government ever again. Each vote should count. We should have only legal citizens. If you are not legal you should not be able to get education, medical care, work, and any benefits or credits from this country. In this country there is no democracy because there are a lot of smart people in this country but they have nothing to say, they are silent. An ideal role of a citizen, in the ideal government, should be able to participate in government and the process of making decisions off of regular every day citizen’s life. In my opinion, a 60 year old congressman who was raised by a rich family that went to an exclusive school, clubs, etc. not even one day in his life had to worry about paying bills, working, not having enough money for taxes or anything else. He will never be the right person to make the right decisions for regular citizens. To prove that right now a regular person will not agree with any new laws passed by that kind of person in our current government. It may not be too mate to change the government as it is now. It would need a complete over-haul from top to bottom. The citizens would have to have more of a say in everyday dilemmas. The country would have to come together as a whole and want change, not only the people but the government officials as well.
ReplyDeleteIn our country nowadays, we should get as good as government as we deserve. A lot of the problems that occur today come straight from the government and relate back to the government. Our country is in such debt and that debt builds every day. The government got into this debt because they did not manage their money wisely and it seems that all the problems in the States that have occurred or are occurring presently comes straight from the government. It affects the citizens of United States because we are the ones that are affected by the decisions that government makes and it affects are everyday lives. As the government gets into this debt, the citizens suffer more because the economy suffers. So if the government were to use money wisely and take care of it then, I believe that the economy would not be in such debt and in bad shape. Going back to having a government that we deserve; I think that we deserve a better government. One that isn't going to take us into such debt and bring down the lives middle/low class. There is obviously going to be higher paid people and high class, but the government does not realize is as they raise taxes, they not only take away from the higher class; they take away from the lower classes and makes it very hard to live for them. As a student I see these major issues, the ones that they broadcast on tv, but it seems that there are much deeper issues too. I feel like once we have achieved a way to fulfill these deeper issues, things could get better for us as a country. The government is at fault, there has been way to many faults and holes, so that they government needs to be more knowledgeable about the average citizen because as they make these demanding decisions it affects the average citizen a lot more than an elected official. Mainly the government needs to better decisions because the ones that they are making now are not helping.
ReplyDeleteTo be entirely honest, I’m not sure whether we are getting the government we deserve or not, but I feel like we are getting the government we demand. I feel as if we are doing a good job as a country to speak our minds to the government and be able to say what we feel needs to be done. Many people write letters to local governments to saying what they feel the government should change, or even to the federal government, just suggesting ideas for change. We have a democracy, a government by the people, for the people, so if we want something to change it is our responsibility to do so. We need to take the initiative and make our government what we want it to be. If we want there to be a law about a certain part of our life we don’t like, it is our responsibility to tell the government how we feel, otherwise, how will they know to make changes in the law which are “necessary” for our lives to be the best possible.
ReplyDeleteThe role of an average citizen is to be involved with the government. Primarily, this involves voting. They must know how the candidates feel on certain topics so they can make the best decision on who them want to represent them. Knowing the candidates allows for the voters to give their power to someone else and be represented at a higher level and make the decisions the people want to be made. Once people understand, their will be less complaining about ALL of our leaders. Every elected official will always get ragged on because we will never all agree on one person, but if the people can understand exactly what each person does, we can make more informed decisions.
It is also the responsibility of people to pay their taxes to the government so that the government can have money to do the things people expect them to do. Without the money from the people, the government has no power to make changes in order to keep people happy.
I agree with some of the other people here who have posted that we deserve healthcare, but I think it is broader than that. I think while we should get healthcare from the government, we should not just be given everything we need by the government. We should not rely on the government to do everything for us. Our people should be responsible for themselves at some points, but I do feel like the government should help occasionally, such as commissioning and funding welfare programs. I hope that everyone can understand that that it really is the responsibility of the people for our government to be successful.
Well to figure out what our society deserves as a whole, we have to look at our commonly accepted values and what we strive for. Who are the most successful people in our country? What do we do for those less fortunate than ourselves? How do these things effect out government?
ReplyDeleteThe common goal of our great nation is wealth, and to accumulate as much of it in the least amount of time. It's what we're fed from the time we start kindergarten through high school, "why do I have to go to school?" "so you can get a good job." All of our other values sadly fall short.
The most successful people in America are those able to sell their "product" to large quantities of people at a time, like sports and entertainment; Or sell a greatly needed asset such as medicine or health care. The first is ridiculous to think about, Oprah is the wealthiest woman in the world because she goes out on stage and talks to a crowd about controversial issues? The second almost hurts to think about, medical insurance is outrageously overpriced when compared to how much of a necessity it is in this country. Life saving medical procedures can put you into debt for the rest of your life, and some families can't even afford medicine.
Our government does surprisingly little for it's poor and elderly. Instead of educating the percentage of the population that falls below the poverty line and then helping them find work, we tell them it is OK to stay at home and do nothing because we'll keep giving you money if you keep asking for it. Instead of providing free health care to all, our government sets up a system that provides basic needs but doesn't cover you when you need it the most. Instead of setting up government run and funded nursing homes for the elderly, we give them a budget to spend on grossly overpriced services.
What does our society deserve? More. What has our society earned? Exactly what we have. That's because deserving and earning something are two totally different concepts. As human beings we all deserve a free education. Free health care. Financial help when you lose your job. A home. Compassion. But because of our policies we have none of this. We're more concerned with our paycheck.
The government we deserve should be able to maintain order while sustaining humane treatment of its people, protect the people to the fullest without an invasion of privacy or personal freedoms, and it would serve the interests of all the people and not simply the most powerful. We are not getting as good of a government as we deserve, as the government we deserve is practically unobtainable. Many aspects of the ideal government are contradictory. For example, quite often protecting comes at the cost of privacy or freedom, and in our democracy, we must often choose between candidates to represent us who we believe will support what we value more in order to try to reach a compromise with our image of perfection. In regards to what we demand of our government, there are two trains of thought. On one hand, we do, as we are given the chance to elect our representatives and have a courier of our voice heard in Washington. On the other hand, if we demand something, we cannot have it at the moment. One who has a pencil does not demand a pencil, and one who is complacent with their government does not demand what they want, as it would be suggested they already have it. As a whole, satisfaction tends to be mixed within America, and what disturbs me is that it can fall along party lines. Many people are perfectly fine and don’t have a care in the world for the government so long as their party is in charge, and many people feel the opposite when the opposing party holds office. The majority of people, it seems, still have some form of hope to change the government and achieve their personal vision of an ideal government. Ultimately, it isn’t possible for a perfect government to exist, but people can still make changes towards a more perfect government, even if the means are difficult, impractical, or controversial. As it stands, it’s the role of every citizen to voice their opinion in a civil and respectable manner. Voting, blogging, and sending letters to their representatives are among some of the basic ways of fulfilling their role. Sadly, this can be less valued than it should be, as rather than forming opinions after looking at the issues for individual candidates, many would rather turn their heads to the flickering light of a screen and take in biased information through major news networks on both ends of political spectrums. As difficult as it is, we are responsible to turn away from the mass media and sort out fact from fiction and make an informed and personal decision as to who to pick to represent us in our government. Until then, more and more people will continually be let down from the government because of inaction.
ReplyDeleteI think, at the moment, we are mostly getting the government we deserve. Sure, there’s scandal and greed coming from the people in power, but officials are trying to get us what we want. It doesn’t seem like it, though, because the people of the United States don’t seem to understand that everything comes with a price. People need to understand that there will always be a downside to getting what they ask for, such as more taxes, which is why they need to start focusing on the big picture and the future, not just the present where it seems like the economy is crumbling at their feet. Ignorance in what is going on politically is a big problem in America. To me, it seems that many citizens know more about where celebrities went to dinner or about the winning basket in last night’s game than about the new law that congress is debating over or the President’s new plans for the country. People keep asking the government for more and more and aren’t content because they don’t seem to know how much the government really is trying to do for them.
ReplyDeletePeople also need to try harder, themselves. They need to take charge of their own lives and money instead of complaining and waiting for the government to fix everything for them. They just need to realize that not everything the government does can benefit everybody. Some people will feel like they’re getting the short end of the stick, but it happens, and they just need to see that the government isn’t trying to personally cause them trouble, but that it’s just trying to give the people what they want. It’s also important for citizens to take the time to learn about the candidates that they will be voting for. Multiple times I’ve overheard people sharing “information” about Obama or congress that is just outrageous and blatantly untrue. If you’re going to be a part of the elections and have a say in what you want for your country, you need to at least know the true facts about the people and be able to make an educated decision.
Even though people don’t seem to be content with the government at the moment, they can’t just blame the officials; they need to--not blame themselves--but look at their own involvement in making choices that will greatly impact their lives. It’s fair to say that many times the people with power have abused their privilege, but that doesn’t mean the entire government is going to make those same decisions. There is room to change, and when we help this change happen, I feel that many of the speed bumps we hit will be smoothed over so that when a bigger problem comes along, we can put all of our work into solving that instead of having to balance it with all of the smaller problems people have.
The Government we deserve should care more about its citizen’s then money. It should be focused on slashing taxes, cutting social programs, and rolling back regulations. A smaller government would be ideal in focusing on defense and national security. Government, despite is flaws, plays a valuable and indispensable role in promoting the public good. Government programs are actually improving the lives of all Americans in innumerable ways. Government is not the problem; it is actually the only solution to most of the pressing problems we face as a nation – including infrastructure decay, rising unemployment, global warming, and a worsening health care crisis. If we want an America that is prosperous, healthy, secure, well-educated, just, compassionate, and unpolluted, we need a strong, active, and well-funded public sector. We are not getting the government that we deserve there are a huge United States debt, an increasing unemployment rate, and there is a need for a health care reform. The government needs to stop spending money it does not even have. The government needs to help the economy so that there are more job opportunities for its citizens so that the unemployment rate decreases again. The United States needs a health care reform, but not the kind that they are thinking were the government has control over everyone’s health care, because we will become like Canada; we would have to be put on a waiting list to get anything done and where most procedures are not covered by their health care. We are not getting as good of a government as we demand right now, we feeling hopeless to change it. We demand a government that can get us out of this economic depression and national debt, but so far we they have not been able to improve the United States state of being at all. We have such a low unemployment rate that has only happened once in the Great Depression after that stock market crashed and they need to start to repair the economy to decrease the unemployment rate. The national debt is just getting higher and higher they are not doing anything to improve this they just keep on spending on the war and other things. The role of the average citizen in this ideal government is to pay taxes, obey laws, serve on jury duty, register for the draft, and to vote. The power to govern comes directly from the people, not through primogeniture or the force of arms, but through free and open elections by the citizens of the United States. Citizens should work towards the betterment of their community through economic participation, public service, volunteer work, and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens. The most important right citizens have is the right to vote. By voting, the people have a voice in the government. The people decide who will represent them in the government. Before voting in an election, each citizen should be well informed about the issues and candidates.
ReplyDeleteWe as Americans are not getting the government that we should; however, we are getting everything that we deserve. There are always people who will just go with the flow and pretend that they have no say in the government, and they will remain complacent. However, the number of these people has dropped significantly in recent years, as more and more people believe that the government is not adequate. And of these people there are those who complain and do very little to actually influence the government (most of them) and then there are those few who actually try to have their voice heard. The “ideal” government seems impossible to achieve, but our current government could at least be improved if more of our citizens openly voiced their opinions. And even then, with such a large population as ours, there will always be those who disagree with the way things are run, but at least the majority of people would be satisfied. Furthermore, our government has never been perfect or even “ideal”, but at least in the past, our government officials weren’t so heavily influenced by the money they receive from businesses.
ReplyDeleteGood portions of the people of this country are merely sponging the opinions of others. They know that they want there to be a change, but instead of forming thoughts about what needs to be changed and how it could be, they merely watch all the slanderous news stations and take the opinions they hear as their own. Now they merely agree with mass media, rather than formulating ideas to actually significantly benefit THEM, the honest citizen. The opinions of the mass media are not always wrong, however they are usually not applicable every citizen. And if every citizen merely absorbs the ideas of the mass media, they are only harming themselves, because even if change is made because of these opinions, it will be nowhere near as useful as change that came from the actual thoughts of individuals.
I believe that if people want their “change” then they need to be willing to change themselves. A great deal of people voted for Obama because they were unsatisfied with the way things were, and that’s great, but they cannot just sit idly by hoping that the government will provide all the change that they desire. If the country truly is going to “change”, we need the most important part of the country, the people, to change with it. These people need to get out and actually voice their opinions, to try and make a more agreeable government for the majority, because I already said that it is impossible to satisfy everyone. Perhaps if everyone who so callously voted for a great change in the government would actually clarify the kinds of change that they desired, the government could actually become more ideal.
I feel like the government we deserve would really only be possible in a perfect world. We would have universal health care but our taxes would be low, which can’t really coexist. I think we deserve a government that is always clear about its objectives in going to war before the war starts. Also, nobody deserves to be 11 trillion dollars in debt. Two people in love deserve to have the right to be married, whether it be a man and a woman, two men, or two woman.
ReplyDeleteI do not feel like we are getting the government we deserve and really should have as we reach 2010 in America. One major issue is that to me, our government lacks transparency. Obviously, the government can’t share everything with the public, but I think we should all be able to know what we are spending money on and where 100 percent of our tax money goes. It’s our money we deserve to know where it goes. Another issue our government has is that there isn’t any type of universal health care in place as of right now. I think it is barbaric and inhumane to deny anybody of a potentially life saving treatment or operation because they cannot afford health care. Universal health care is not socialist and it won’t destroy America; other countries such as Canada and France have been very successful using it. Gay rights in America are an issue at this point in America should no longer be an issue. If two people are in love and want to get married, how is it possibly an outside party’s business to stop them? The federal government should follow the example of Massachusetts and make gay marriage legal in all 50 states. Also, our 11 trillion dollar deficit is a huge pressing issue especially now in times of economic uncertainty.
No we are not getting as good of a government as we demand, however it did not seem like the demand for change and improvements really became prevalent until the last couple of years. Currently, both republicans and liberals are demanding health care change, although they are fighting for different modifications. There has always been a significant demand for gay rights, and the unnecessary fight against it has always been there, but not a lot has changed for gays recently. It seems to be a trend in politics to forget about issues such as gay marriage when more pressing things come up such as our economic decline and the war on terror. Just because there is a lot of important issues going on in our country does not at all mean people should stop demanding what they believe to be their right.
The role of the average every day citizen should be to participate as much as possible. They should vote in every election and be as knowledgeable of the issues and candidates as possible. Voting blindly without knowing anything about the candidates or the issues is wasting a right that our country’s forefathers died for us to have.
I feel like the underlying theme of this semester will be helping students understand whether they are a liberal or conservative or if they are somewhere in between.
I feel that the government s doing all it can do for me and the other people around me. The other day in class, when we talked about how the government is involved in our lives, I notice that they have alot to do with it. Such as the tooth paste I use, the speed limits, the water I use to shower and many more, but my point is that they already play an important part in our lives. So much that Dirk Beveridge feels that citizens should become more indepent and responsible. Others could argue that we need more support and that the governemt needs to give it to us, so John Damson figure's the "best long term solution is to allow the fair and free market of supply and demand to find the best solution for all Americans." I agree and disagree that we are getting as good of a government as we deserve. I agree because they are constantly trying to help us with our daily lives. By which they make sure clean air laws that reduce air pollution that would otherwise greatly worsen our condition, that the electrical system built in our homes works, and many more. I also disagree because the government hids things from it's people and I really don't think that's something we deserve. No we are not getting a good as a government as we demand becuase our people are constantly demanding things from the governemt, and it's all to much and the question still remains can the government really satify everyone? The need for change is a big one. I hear all around that we want change, could it be because that we aren't satfied with our lives, now or that were are just bored and want more excitment. And when this change happens, who's to say the it will be a good one or even matter. The government plans to fix the wrongs and the demands of the people but we will not know the outcome if they do fix it. I also have heard debts about the voting age and the it should be lowered to 16. This isn't a bad idea for most people already know who they want to vote for, but still to this day tons of citizens over the age of 18 don't vote, which is one the roles the average citizen should take part in. The role of the average citizen is to try to remain aware of whats happening in the world, vote and pay taxes. their could possibly be more, but right now thats all I know of.
ReplyDeleteTwo main characteristics to describe the government that is currently taking place is irresponsible and corrupt. The endless debt that Illinois and the United States have is proof of how irresponsible our government has been. Take a look at the past governors that Illinois has had. Governors Rod Blagojevich and George Ryan are both currently in jail. Government officials should not be constantly all over the news for poor political practices. Our governors are not being remembered for life changing politics. They are remembered for their jail time. The latest sex scandal of an elected official and once respected politician is no longer breaking news. This kind of government is not the kind of government that the United States deserves. From a national standpoint, we are not spending our tax money wisely. The national cost of war outweighs the cost of many government funded programs that help the people. Tax dollars should be spent on creating a better health care plan and not additional military technology. The local government of Illinois has proven to be corrupt. We cannot continue to elect corrupted officials that have no care for the needs of the people. An elected official needs to put the needs of its state before his financial status. To solve these problems voters need to be more active. They have to look at what they believe in and thoroughly investigate if the candidate fits these characteristics. Currently, the voters are not being active in campaigns and research. The change to a better government relies on educated voters. Without voters being more involved and educated, the government will never change. To be an elected official a great amount of wealth is needed. Having solid morals and beliefs that people trust in is only half of what a potential candidate needs. A potential candidate needs money and a name brand. These qualifications have to be changed in order for there to be more honesty and respect in today’s politics. In the government of today there is a feeling of hopelessness. This is due to past corrupted government officials and uneducated voters. We will continue the path of hopeless in government if these two subjects do not change.
ReplyDeleteI do not feel that right now we are getting the government we deserve or the one we demand. Clearly, a government that satisfies every citizen’s individual want or need is unreasonable and impossible; I still believe the government could be doing a better job. Politicians have spent dollar after dollar and demand more tax dollars from us to get them out of the large debt that they created in the first place. Citizens assume that the government is doing what is best for us because they trust the government to do that and they trust the government with their tax dollars. Our government needs to stray away from small issues and focus on larger issues like the wars, education, the financial crisis, and healthcare. The government should not just throw money at the financial crisis and hope that it goes away; they need to get more involved. People should be more educated to handle their personal finances so they know what they can afford and not borrow money foolishly that they know they cannot pay back. Even though the amount of jobs lost per month is slowing, with an employment rate that is higher than 10% more needs to be done to help create or get these citizens their jobs back. Our unemployment rate is twice the rate that it should be. Many people see the health care bill as a bad idea because they feel that a large number of people would take advantage of it and it would be a misallocation of funds and taxpayer dollars. Isn’t it the job of the government to take care of their people and not take care of the wallets of the medical industry who deny people health insurance because they are too much of a risk? I do also understand that the health care bill would cause an increase in taxes and people would not agree with that. The role of an average citizen in the United States is to vote and live their life not worrying about if the government is going to screw up, but to also be educated about what the government is doing and not just assume they are doing what is best for you. More educated citizens would help the government do a better job for us now and in the future. We need a government that is going to protect its own citizens and not have politicians who make decisions on personal benefits and for financial reasons. I believe if the government takes steps doing that it can take steps to making America better and getting rid of many of the large issues that country faces today.
ReplyDeleteWe deserve a government with gay rights, education reform, reasonable unemployment rate and teachers salary incentives. Marriage for gay rights should be allowed and they should also be recognized as a regular couple. They should not be taxed near double of what a regular citizen is taxed. An education reform is necessary because the school system had gotten weaker and weaker. If nothing changes in the schooling system their students will continue to not be fully educated. Having successful students come out of high school and colleges will bring a lot of intelligence to the country from and economic stand point. Therefore after the kids get a quality education they can later turn around and use their knowledge in real life. For teacher salary incentives the salaries that teachers and superintendents receive are flawed. Some teachers that love their job should not be making half the salary as someone that could care less about the future of their students. When a student receives a teacher that loves their job and wants to help students learn it makes a difference. We are not getting as good of a government as we deserve because we are $11.4 trillion in debt, 9.4% unemployed, no gay marriage, teacher motivation and human health care rights are all types of problems that nobody can agree on a solution. The debt is so large that the government needs to stop spending money before the debt gets any worse. Too many Americans are spending and maxing out their credit cards with money that they do not have. The government needs to get involved because it has been proven that the American people cannot do it themselves. Banks are also lending out money to people that in a financial stand point can not afford to pay it back by any means. Banks need to make sure that the person that they are loaning the money to is financially able to pay it back. With a ridiculous unemployment rate more jobs need to be created. We deserve an elite education system that sends children and young adults out into the real world with tons of knowledge which can therefore ensure them a legit shot at a job. For the health care program if an illegal citizen walks into a hospital he/she has to be helped. That system will be abused by many illegal citizens with no doubt We are demanding a better government because the Obama administration tries to fix things like health care, creating jobs, bailouts and no car bailouts. The average citizen votes in all of the elections and knows what each candidate is bringing to the table and what the issues are.
ReplyDeleteI think a type of government that we deserve is one that informs its citizens. Our government hides certain information from us, which leads people believing the information from the news and other media networks. Research Center survey released last week, “thirty one percent of Americans don't know who the vice president is, fewer than half are aware that Nancy Pelosi is the speaker of the House”. Also a government that citizens deserve is one that gives good healthcare benefits to all, listens to the voices of the tax payers, has established good pensions plans, and protects its citizens from attacks or any outside forces.
ReplyDeleteIn today’s society I think we are not getting as good as a government as we deserve. The government is not organized on spending money in different programs and other areas. The lack of money management has lead to has lead to a promising of eight billion dollars to workers in pension payouts which is more than what the government can afford. The government also promised more money in healthcare after workers retire which it also does not have. Also the tax payers money is not being wisely spent. The way that Governors and legislatures want to spend that money will “having dug a deep hole, they want to fill it with more of your tax dollars”.
In today’s society I think we are not getting as good as a government as we demand, many people are against the war in the middle east and want our troops out of the region. The reason is instead of using taxpayers money on guns, arms, and other military equipment for our troops we could be spending it on many other things. We can be using the money on giving the youth of America a better education by building more schools and funding more after school programs for kids to get involved in the community. We could also be focusing on healthcare reform and provide better coverage’s for all citizens. This money could also be used for research in many areas of studies, and other domestic issues.
The role of a citizen in a government is to promote honesty, exposure of corruption, and voting for a leader. In a presidential election “Every vote counts”, through this a citizens can have influence to create the best lifestyle for themselves. Also a citizen can point out and raise awareness of problems which grabs attention of many governors and senators that can get the job done. The role of a citizen is very important and is a key role of the flow of any government.
The government we actually deserve and the government we think we deserve are two very different things. Americans are under the impression that our government should be the epitome of perfection. The government many Americans want is unattainable. They want everything to be fair but “fair” means something different for everyone. The upper classes believe they should be treated differently than the lower classes and vice versa. But if each class is treated differently is it actually fair? Obviously not. What Americans need to realize is that there will always be something they are unhappy with in the government, this is inevitable since there is no way a select few politicians can please all 300 million citizens. However, just because this is not possible does not mean our government should simply give up, which often seems to happen.
ReplyDeleteThe government covers up bigger issues with insignificant ones but tries to have the media cover it in a way that makes it seem like it is actually making a difference. Sure, a better healthcare system would be nice, but what about the military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan that have been going on for nearly seven years? What about all the people dying in our country from starvation and other poverty related factors? Our government needs to stop focusing on one minor thing and think about what’s best for the entire country. But this won’t happen now just like it has not happened in the past, simply because our politicians go to whatever will get them the most money. They try to cover this up by stating what they are doing is what’s best for the country and will help every citizen, but that is merely a fabricated statement. Yes, their one project will probably help many people, but so will fixing other things in our country. Unfortunately, politicians’ do not usually think just about what America wants. Instead they think about what they can do at the moment to gain American citizens trust enough to get them through the next election.
America deserves a country where the government does not think of just the next two or four years, but what will actually help the entire country twenty and thirty years down the road. Sadly, that is not what we get. In order to fix this problem Americans need to vote for people who actually have an interest in everyday citizens, not just the big businesses who will get them the most money. Americans are ignorant and are too wrapped up in the democrat vs. republican debate to actually notice what their candidate wants. Many people vote for a particular party simply because they think that is what they want or they grew up listening to their parents talk about that party, so they do not know anything else but to vote for them. Instead, people need to actually research the candidate themselves, and vote for who is best suited to run the country, not what party they belong to, since many times politicians will hide behind the label of democrat or republican in order to gain more votes. If Americans took the time to understand who they were voting for perhaps our country would be in a little bit better shape than what it currently is in.
I believe we are not getting as good as a government as we deserve. People can argue that we aren’t protesting enough or getting involved in social issues enough, but when we pay the taxes that we do, I believe that we aren’t getting as a good as a government we are paying for. I think it goes without saying that all members in the government should spend our tax dollars wisely. Saying that people are voting without being informed and that people are just complaining and not doing anything about issues, is attacking the wrong group. The people we elect aren’t taking their responsibilities seriously, for people to blame the voters for our problems is ludicrous because the fault lies within the people actually causing the problems. A government we deserve looks like one that ensures the safety and good quality of life for all its citizens instead of just the rich ones. In my opinion the government should stay out of businesses so the economy can better its self naturally. Although I am one of those people who has not familiarized themselves completely with current issues, I believe that our economy has gone in and out of a happy equilibrium for decades so for the government to get involved seems, to me, like a unwise decision. The government also constantly raises taxes, because of this I would think that with the amount of money we are pouring into the government that they would be beyond exceptional, but instead the national debt has spiraled into the trillions. This, to me, is unacceptable because during campaigns all candidates of all parties promise to better the economy. Because of all these people inside the government who have a common goal to improve the financial situation one would think that they would find a way too actually go through with this, even if their ideas on how to change the economy is different. Also a government we deserve would end a war we have been in for 8 years now sooner, especially when the army we have is full of people who signed up for the job. The brave soldiers who volunteered to defend their country are put into harm’s way for reasons unclear to many of them and in return for their sacrifice we see little progress in a search for an end to this war. I am a supporter of Barak Obama but he, like other politicians, has promised on things that he then goes against later on, for instance he has promised a quick end and withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan but he then sends an increased amount of soldiers into Afghanistan. I am in no way saying that I have the ultimate remedy to the crisis going on in our government today nor do I act like I am in any way knowledge able to how everything works or that anything I have stated above is an unquestionable truth.
ReplyDeleteI believe the government we deserve should be one where the people’s voice is heard and our elected officials are simply there to make this voice heard through different laws and bills. For the most part our government today is getting this job done and doing the best it can to keep the citizens of our country happy but with the recent economic struggles along with the war in Afghanistan and health care issues, it has become increasingly difficult to meet these demands. With the state of the economy, businesses all over the country are being forced to downsize or shut down altogether. This is causing millions of people across the nation to lose their jobs and leaves them with no means of providing for their family. Our nation is in the trillions with debt, yet we continue to put our money towards new technological warfare rather than using it to help families get back on their feet. I don’t believe people should be allowed to mooch of the government’s welfare for the rest of their lives, but it should be used to allow them to live comfortably and help them until the economy straightens out and they can find new work once again. The faith of our citizens in the government right now simply is not there and nor should it be, especially in the state of Illinois where state citizens are close to being in as bad financial as Michigan and California because of elected officials not fulfilling their promises. And what can citizens do to stop this but simply keep paying the tax dollars the state tells them they owe and watch the money be practically thrown out the window and still ask for more. The state needs to reevaluate itself and think about actions that will benefit the citizens of the state rather than making them worse off than before. If they are incapable of doing this then it is time for a change and the whole government should be replaced with elected officials who will do what they’re elected to do which is look out for the well being of the citizens. At the same time, however, it is these citizens who elected these poor officials because many of them were ignorant to who they were electing and what they stood for. Our government should be for the people and by the people, but for this to be effective the people need to become better educated about the workings of their government and know exactly who they’re voting for when they enter the booth. This change won’t happen overnight, but it is necessary so that the people can get as good a government as they deserve.
ReplyDeleteI think an ideal government is the one we have now. With that, I think for it to be a good government, the people in charge have to make everything work. Because of the debt that we are in, it is highly impossible for our government to reach its full potential. If we were to be in a situation that our government can strive, many people would be able to get the health insurance, or social security that we deserve. People want this type of government to work, but everyone is starting to become hopeless with the fact that so many things have to be done for us to even think about getting back on the right track. The citizens have to just believe and do what they can for themselves, so that the whole government can build off of the little things. I also think activism is undeniably an important element to being a good citizen. That is not a point I have to justify because it is self evident by looking at history. All changes have been results of some person or group's initiative to make a difference. I believe that standing up for something you believe is important because it is the only way we grow and become better. Government works just like everything else in the world, it is based on survival of the fittest. If we introduce our ideas they may thrive survive and improve our government and its longevity. However, when we are passive with our support for ideals, we pass up the opportunity to give back to our government by improving it and making it better. Former President John F. Kennedy once said "ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country". Our government gives us protection and structure, in return our job as citizens is to improve the way it works and so we can make it more beneficial for ourselves, but with a more selfless drive. The quote that I believe best describes citizenship is:
ReplyDelete"Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions - it only guarantees equality of opportunity."
- Irving Kristol
This quote simply shows that our government works hard to give us rights and protect those rights so that America remains the land of freedom and opportunity. Regardless of the situational differences from one man to another, there is always the path a man can choose to take to create change and make our country a better place. That initiative for improvement is citizenship. And because of having citizenship, we as the people of the country, can do the smart things with our money and other things that can help our government.
The government that we demand is different than the one that we deserve. If we got the government that everyone wanted, we would be paying close to nothing to taxes and have universal health care for everyone. However, as good as that would be, that is impossible and will not happen. I do believe that the government we deserve should fill us in on every issue and every decision it makes because we as the people and citizens of the United States should have a voice in the decision the government makes. In a way, we are getting the government we deserve by having the rights as a citizen to step forward and not only suggest, but communicate our desires, wants and beliefs to our elected officials, and to vote them out of their position when they don’t exceed our expectations. We have the right to petition our government and have the right to determine who represents us. I believe we as a country need consider who our representatives are, and what their intentions are if elected. However, I also feel like being in the year 2010 and living the “most powerful country in the world” we shouldn’t be in 11 trillion dollars in debt. Also, I believe our educational system is not as up to par as it should be. I believe that many poor children don’t get the education they deserve if any at all. The role of the average citizen is to get a good education, a good job, pay taxes, and vote. The problem is that when someone doesn’t get a good education, it’s very hard for someone the get not only a “good” job but to get a job at all. Our unemployment rate is quite high around this time and I don’t believe everyone deserves that. Also, someone can indeed get a decent college education, but because of our terrible economy, will have a hard time finding a job that will pay of their student loans from college. A good education is very expensive, and once in debt, and without a job, it’s very hard to get out of debt. I believe that banks should be more ‘careful’ with who they loan money out to also because if they loan it to people that can’t afford to pay them back, its near impossible for the U.S. to get out of debt. It is the voters’ responsibility to be educated and aware of what is going on in the world, and who the candidates for political jobs are. We need to have higher expectations from our political party. If we can improve our educational system then our candidates for these jobs will be more qualified with a more intelligent country and more educated decision makers.
ReplyDeleteThe government we have currently is not perfect, it’s most likely close to the opposite of that considering how the economy is failing, unemployment is just about 10% and growing, the national debt is over 12 trillion dollars, and we’ve been at war for over eight years. Yet with all these problems, the current government is the one that the people wanted. All of them went out and voted, and this situation happened. Now how can this happen, if the majority of people voted shouldn’t the government then be perfect. Well lets examine this “majority”, first of all, only around 61% percent of the 208 million that were eligible voted in 2008. So that means that only around 128 million voted people out of the total 308 million citizens in the United States. 128 million is hardly a majority, and the number becomes even smaller when considering that Obama received 66 million votes. Going only on population and voting statistics, this means that only 1/5th of the current population is represent by the current president. This is a major problem, yet this would not be as big as a deal as it is if the population was educated. By law, every child is required to go to school. But when the schools have such low requirements to pass a grade and eventually graduate high school. Also, most schools require a student to pass a government class to graduate, yet the class itself is really easy, with no actual effort needed to pass. So when these most people graduate, they have a minimal knowledge of how the government works, not a good enough education to have an good job, how are these people expected vote on issues that concern the entire public. Yes, it is mostly the people above 25 that vote, but still considering that most people don’t go to college their education ends at 18, so unless they choose to inform themselves, it doesn’t matter if their 18 or 25. But wait doesn’t the media tell the public information, well of course it does, yet one has to sift through all the bias and get to the real information, and then they still should do their own research and by now most people give up cause its just too much work. So how can any expect to have a functional government when only 1/5th of the people are actually represented, and many of the voters aren’t properly educated? In reality, America needs a government that first and for most is able to provide an education to all its citizens. Second, a government that is able to represent a majority of its total population, not just 66 million.
ReplyDeleteIn reality, after these problems are solved, the American government needs to take a step back from its involvement in the economy. Throughout the 220 or so years that our constitution has been around, whenever the government was involved with the economy, it always started to fail. From John Q Adam’s tariff of abomination’s to Jackson’s pet banks all the way to Bush’s/Obama’s bail outs, the moment the government was too involved, the precious economy failed. Yet this doesn’t mean it should completely leave, just give it slight nudges in the right direction, not force it somewhere it doesn’t belong. This would also mean that it reevaluate its budget, the cold war as been over for almost 20 years, and there hasn’t been any real threats, so why is the defense budget so high? Many of its programs such as social security, welfare, and Medicare are great ideas on paper but fail to work in the real world, as many veterans who actually need medical help, get denied, and many senior citizens can’t survive on just their social security checks. If the American government wants to survive, it needs to completely reevaluate its role in American society.
The government we deserve should represent the majority of the American citizens and not just focus on special interest groups. This nation is truly in the middle in terms of political views; however in our current government we are very liberal. This does not represent moderate America, which we are. We also deserve a government that keeps citizens safe, all other issues go to the wayside if safety is compromised. A start to our safety consists of treating war combatants as just that, opposed to an every day American criminal. The government needs to secure all air travel even if it may be offensive to some people. Economically, the ideal government would support small businesses;seeing how small businesses employ over eighty percent of the population. By punishing small businesses, job creation has been crippled. An ideal government should be fiscally conservative, not spending more than we have. By doing so, we are ensuring the prosperity of future generations and not drowning them in our debt. It is harmful to America to owe foreign countries trillions of dollars. A government we deserve should protect its workers by not allowing the subcontracting of work overseas. Overall, the ideal government should reward citizens that work hard, ensure our safety, be wise with money, and make decisions based on a moderate view. Currently, the government is not what it should be. Recently, there was an attempted terrorist act on a jetliner headed for Detroit. It was only dumb luck that prevented three hundred lives from death. Our government does not place certain safety regulations that it should. This same situation can occur again if our government does not take the steps needed to provide a safe travel. Our government bailed out the big banks but it has yet to improve our economy. The current government has an unemployment rate of ten percent. The government we have does not represent the people, and doesn't take into concern other views besides the ones of people in office. Major chances need to take place in our government or else we will fall straight into the ground. For year now, we have dug ourselves into debt, unemployment, and overall unhappiness of the citizens. This spiral will continue downwards unless our government reevaluates where our nation is head to. Citizens are not happy with the way government is now and they feel hopeless that either party is not going to do the right thing. I tend to believe that politicians, whether democrat or republican, are self serving and do not represent the people who elected them. It will be very hard to find a politician that we can trust and that will do whats best for the country. The role of the average citizen is to work hard, take care of their families, to care for others, be aware of issues in the world and be knowledgeable of where they stand and how they can affect the future.
ReplyDeleteThis article makes many good points about how our government works with politicians. Every election we are promised bigger and better and what do we get, nothing but more taxes and lies. Obama initially promised that he was going to remove our troops from the Middle East, well after some time I think he realized what that would do. Every politician brings their plan to lower taxes and does the exact opposite. The government also doesn’t spend their… excuse me our money wisely. 4.9 billion to banks that disappeared into bonuses for their associates sitting on the beach of their own island. Although it isn’t officially stated anywhere politically, the government is progressively gaining control over private funds such as banks and small businesses. This is not where we want to head as it will annihilate liberties that this country is based upon. A few weeks ago someone commented to me how we are freely imprisoned. Born into an exclusive club and never allowed to leave. The membership fee? Just pay your taxes and don’t ask questions as to what goes on within the government. At first I was skeptical as to what he was saying and then I thought about it. Isn’t there a punishment for criticizing the government, why would they be so conscious about criticism if they had nothing to hide? But many Americans aren’t concerned about this but more about who got kicked off American Idol last week or why the Bears keep blaming their quarterback for all their problems. We’re supposed to be involved in our government and we’re losing our power rapidly. Our government should be run with a stronger citizen influence but still let them have privacy for specific projects. Everyone just complains about why the economy is so bad or why we still have troops dying over seas. The truth of the matter is that many of these people voted for our leaders because of what they promised and not for what they are capable of. Yes Obama as the first African American president is a great step for society but what influence does the Chicago political machine have on him. Who’s really pulling the strings in the white house, Obama or the machine? As citizens of America we need to take action and regain control of our country. Stop complaining and do something about it. Don’t let the government take the banks or your power of speech against it. Health care reform seems great until you see that it’s going to raise taxes. Politicians may not lie all the time but when they don’t, they’re not telling the whole truth to make what they’re pushing for seem like it’s flawless.
ReplyDeleteIn a perfect world everyone would have a job, and would have all which they need to live, however, this is not always the case. Poorer countries may not have the necessary productivity to sustain their economies, working conditions may be awful, or sometimes people may not even have the right to own and operate their own business. This situation is probably caused from too much government intervention. On the other hand, if there is too little government intervention the workers rights could be exploited in order for the industry owners to make more profit. In order for a nation’s economy to be successful, that nation must have high productivity, rights for all of its population, and a high standard of living. This can be achieved through some government regulation and the successful use of some points of the market economy system. Some countries that have, or had, a failing economy used centrally planned economic ideologies. I believe that what we have as citizens here in America is alot better than what other nations have. But this does not mean that our nation should be giving hand outs such as free healthcare to illegal aliens which are being paid for by all actual U.S. citizens through taxes. The government should be getting more invloved in making goods instead of buying everything from China so that their economy grows faster than ours. The U.S. government spending to scale to percent of GDP (gross dometic product) has hit its second highest since the Great depression. By increasing production i believe that this country can get back on its feet.
ReplyDeleteFirst off, my answer to the question “are we getting as good of a government we deserve” is an obvious no, but who is to blame the government or the citizens. There is a saying that “what you put in is what you get out” and that is exactly what is happening within our society. I believe that the people haven’t really put as much as they should into our government so we are getting what we have been putting into it. When our government was made its purpose was to give people the power of decision and gave them a voice. As time went on people have lost that voice and in these times it’s difficult to care about politics with all the social distractions. So we as a people have been living our lives acting like our nation isn’t in debt or that the unemployment rate isn’t rising in an epidemic fashion. I believe during the Obama election people did start to open their eyes to the problems but we have barely began to get to all the problems of this nation. Obama entered his presidency in probably one of the worst times with no help from George Bush’s presidency. Obama’s most famous slogan was about change and it seems that there is just too much for him to change at once. His hands seem to be full with the problems of: health care, our nation’s huge debt problem, education, and the war. The peoples’ role in this society is to vote for the officials who will be leading our country. They are also suppose to inform themselves of national problems to be informed so that they can make a difference by demanding their government to do something about said problems. To answer another question is that I don’t think that people are neither complacent nor hopeless. I believe that the people are just so used to having the government to making all the decisions and all they are used to complaining about it but not really doing anything about the problem. So in order for our government to change I believe the people need to take a more dominant role in the government for things to change for the better.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the answer to this question goes, we as a nation demand better government than we deserve. We demand perfect democracy and perfection in our leaders, but what we as a nation deserve more of a totalitarian regime. The reasoning behind this is is simple.
ReplyDelete1) We as a nation are far too greedy for our own good.
2) We as a nation tend to overreact to everything. I could go deeper into this point, but I'll save that for another time.
3) The level of intelligence in our country as a whole just isn't high enough for the people to decide on government issues.
Now, if these problems didn't exsist, successful democracy in America would be possible. However, the role of the citizen in this government would remain largely unchanged. Sit down, shut up, and pretend your voice matters.
I think the government we deserve wouldn’t be so corrupt. They would do more for the people. What the majority of the people want they would get. The local governments would be less in debt and working on getting rid of the debt, as well as the main government. By doing this they would not add major costs to living but would cut expenses that are not as important. In my opinion we are not getting as good of a government as we deserve, although now with all the problems people have to step up and it is getting better, such as with Barrack Obama. With his Health Care plan, and his place in helping the economy, this is what America needs.
ReplyDeleteI think we are not getting as good of a government as we are demanding right now. Although with the economic crisis, health care problems, global warming, and all the other issues right now, the demand for a better government is increasing and with it the government is becoming better. But as of yet the government is not up to standards, there is still much that can be improved on and must be improved on. I think a lot of people are hard at work to help make the government better, some people think that what we have now is good that it doesn’t need to get any better, it is better as is. As for some other people feel like it is useless, they do not vote, or put even a small part in the government because they think it is hopeless and a waste of time.
I think in an “ideal” government, the average citizen would get their votes in for who they want to win an election and maybe put up a few signs for them. They should try to let these government officials who they voted for know what they need or what problems they think there are so that they can be fixed. I think in our government now, a lot of citizens don’t vote, then there are those who vote for only a few elections, and after that there are those who vote for every election, donate, and help campaign for them.