The Future for America

America does not have the ability to govern itself, the citizens of the united stated have never even chosen a president. So how can there be a future. When one of the most qualified candidates lost the election to someone who has no political knowledge what so ever.

Rural America felt forgotten, Clinton spent most of her time campaigning in the big cities. Trump's speeches played on the emotions of the people in rural areas. Ethos and tearing down an opponent is what is left of the American Rhetoric, not a government pushing issues on facts and current events.

People will say get over it, that we chose him as our president. But that is far from the truth, he did not win the popular vote, and up until last night people were hopeful that there would be a big number of faithless electors.

Trump 2016: Dawn of a New Era

Many Americans did not want a Trump presidency, and even more did not expect one. The United States will undergo a lot of changes as a result of this abnormal election. Donald Trump has neither a background in politics or in the military. While some speculations may say that speaks for his qualifications what it certainly shows is his morals and values have not been seen by American voters before. Trump is truly the first of his kind, a fact that demands attention. Many people are looking at Trump the wrong way, if you like him or not there is still a lot to know in order to understand who he is and how he became the president elect, as well as a lot to be learned.

There has been a lot of backlash among Americans who did not vote for him. A common belief is that he is a bully and a danger to America and its people. This belief far to often misses the very reason it is even significant. Trump could only be these things if people supported him. A madman on a street corner shouting obscenities is no threat to anyone, but that changes when half the country stands behind him. If anyone has a problem with Trump they need to realize that the problem they have is actually with their fellow Americans. Trump was voted for, he won enough delegates to become elected. That is how our democracy works. The problem those people should be facing is that millions of Americans felt so abandoned or neglected or abused by their government that they turned to Trump. Trump, a man with no history in either politics or the military was chosen by the American people, his power is in the hands of the people who gave him that position.

Trump knew what he was doing. Trump's accomplishments  have to be recognized, he has made a lot of money. Corrupt or not, he knows how to play the game, take loopholes, and manipulate the world around him. The same goes for his campaign, Trump brought together a wide rang of people and unified them. Trump was able to manipulate the public in a way that attracted people to his cause. His ability to draw the support that he did cannot be ignored. Trump was never blindly parading the country hoping people would jump on the bandwagon.

One of the most important things to know about Trump is that there is still much to be learned about him. Trump has an uncanny ability to know what to say. Trump has always been able to fuel the fire and say things that pull in one audience at a time. Whenever Trump went made "outrageous and radical" comments he was actually targeting people who felt that way. Trump only proposed radical ideas when he knew that some of the people listening would feel the same way.  Trump has said many times that he can do or say whatever he wants and he will still gain supporters. Is that not reason to believe that what he has said was just to gain support? It is unwise to discuss this characteristic in a way that makes him out to be wild and erratic without also discussing the possibility of him just using the radical facade to gain popularity.

Americans against Trump should not be to worried yet, there is still the possibility that he was just saying whatever he needed to say to win. Trump would not be the first to run for president that said things he did not mean or make promises he will not deliver. Only time will tell.

Rhetoric on the 2016 Campaign Trail

American political rhetoric has quickly turned into bashing candidates, steering away from the real purpose of political campaigning, which is to promote candidates beliefs. The 2016 election was a perfect example of how candidates have drifted away from the focus of self-promotion and moved toward insulting the opposing candidate and their bad character. In previous elections, the goal for campaigning was for the candidates to state their views and why they think it would be the best option for the country. Candidates would use different types of rhetoric that appealed to their own character. Candidates would act in a logical manner and respect the opposing candidate, despite their different ideas on how to run the country. 

However, this election season was different. Instead of persuading the audience that they were the best candidate for the country, they would take the negative approach and try to convince the audience why the opposing candidate was bad. Not only did political ads attack their ideas, but they would attack the opposing candidate's character. For example, calling Hillary Clinton corrupt and a liar, make the phrase "crooked Hillary." Clinton made a video of kids watching Donald Trump make negative comments on tv, asking if they want their kids to have him as a leader. These ads attacked the candidates as people, which is different from campaigns in the past. It's not necessarily good rhetoric because it takes away from the goal campaigning, which is to state candidates views on important topics.

Is The Internet Loosening Our Grip On the Truth?

This article was an interesting read, and I think it is a controversial topic for a lot of people. I agreed with most of what this article said. however I can understand the view points of the opposing side.

The article starts out saying that "the internet is distorting our collective grasp on the truth. Polls show that many of us have burrowed into our own echo chambers of information." I do agree that the internet can, and is giving distorted information to many people. For example, there is a lot of fake information, or just speculations, about who is winning this election. People tend to read one headline or article and jump to conclusions without really researching it. This is definitely a problem.

The article sums up my argument later in the article, with this quote, "the root of the problem with online news is something that initially sounds great: We have a lot more media to choose from...
In the last 20 years, the internet has overrun your morning paper and evening newscast with a smorgasbord of information sources, from well-funded online magazines to muckraking fact-checkers to the three guys in your country club whose Facebook group claims proof that Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump are really the same person."

Where We're Headed: It's Not All Bad

The current American political system has been through much turmoil over this past election season. Never before has there been a candidate such as Donald Trump to win the office of president of the United States, being an outsider with such radical ideas. Although, on the surface, the current direction of United States politics seems to be headed into a downward spiral, we need to stay optimistic about the future of our country, its ability to bounce back, and its ability to govern itself.

The astounding demographics of the voters in the 2016 presidential election reveal much about the ways in which the country is changing. President Elect Donald Trump did well in areas of under-educated voters, winning 80% of all counties where 90% or more of voters lacked a college education. In addition to this, only roughly 8% of his supporters were racial minorities. The most telling demographic, however, is that 62% of Trump’s support base is made up of white men and women who lack college degrees. 

Throughout the past 8 years, the Obama administration has worked tirelessly to find a way for America to work for all of its inhabitants, not just the typically privileged. This large, select group of voters was swept up in a radical conservative backlash to the social progress recently made with regulations such as the Affordable Care Act, and the precedent set down by the Supreme Court that same-sex marriage is constitutional. The very group that was left out in all the social progress was the one that rose above expectations and elected the officials which will be installed this next January. As if so happens, all three branches of government has the potential to be a very accurate representation of this specific demographic.

A common feeling Americans, including myself, have after receiving this information is that we will not be represented equally in a government run but one political party. Another concern is that such a polarizing figure as Trump has divided, and will continue to divide, our representatives in Congress. 

Just as America has faced nearly impossible obstacles in the past, however, it will continue to thrive in the face of opposition. America has a long history of uniting during difficult situations and fighting through them. Even if a divided and unstable government is what a Trump Administration would bring about, we must stay optimistic about the future of America’s ability to come together and work through the hardships that will need to be endured, as well as America’s ability to bounce back and cause legitimate political change.

Really a Breath of Fresh Air?

Although the popular belief was that our nation would swing left in this 2016 election, it seems as though there is a strong disenfranchised core group of citizens that seem to act the opposite.

Hillary Clinton's support team went into November 8 thinking they had already won, however a surprising turn took place, as Trump voters emerged in shockingly large numbers. This goes to show how out of touch Washington D.C. and the media are with the American people, how else could have their predictions been so off. Based on the election results thus far, American's have something to say about who is in their government and how it's run, and people are just now starting to take notice. 

People are fed up with Washington D.C. making promises that they don't fulfill, for instance affordable health care for everyone. Rates have only gone up, and several health care providers have already dropped out. As well as Hillary is seen as establishment politics, the same old same old, the nation's citizens are seeking change, and new leadership. They don't care if Trump wrecks our government because they want to see rebuilt differently. 

As well as, people are fed up by the amount of scandals the candidates were able to get away with. In previous campaigns, just one slip up would lose the election for them. However, both Hillary and Trump have had countless screw ups, yet remained in the running. This may be because he is not a career politician therefore his scandals were not as damaging, they were looked past for he was the bit of fresh air so many American's were looking for to be in charge. 

If anything, this 2016 election has shown that the government and media in America don't truly understand and capture how the people truly feel. Let's hope that they will take the citizen's true opinions in to mind for the future, as it is the only way to keep our country sane and free.  

Why has American politics become a exchange of insults?

American politics, a stew of chaotic insults. Why do presidential candidates focus so much time and resources on bashing the other candidate? One might think that the struggle for power in becoming president is a higher priority for these candidates than focusing on their goals and ambitions for when they get into office. Do they really have America's best interests in mind, or do they just want their own room in the White House?

When did many Americans start valuing a candidates ability to tear down the image of their opponent greater then valuing what they believe America needs to build and grow? This can been seen many times this election, through ads on TV to the debates between Clinton and Trump. Many ads are funded that just to make a candidate look bad. In a ad called "She knows Putin too well", the video presents facts of what Clinton has done to help the Russians, questioning what more she might do to aid the Russians if she becomes president. In another example, Clinton released an ad questioning what Trump might do to the daughters of families if he becomes president. It shows a series of shots of young women, in between footage of Trump saying insulting thing about women. Why are resources spent on these kinds of ads?

 Why are people debating the scandals of the candidates, instead of the ideas that each of them has for how they could help America advance? A example of this could be seen in Hillary's private email scandal, or Trump's woman abuse scandals. News seems to be absorbed by these scandals as well. The internet is swarmed with news articles telling the new exciting scandal that they may or may not have found on a person. In contrast, this is the sort of stuff that many people want to see, and therefore more and more of these stories are released.

Candidates now need to spend much more energy making sure they don't trigger anything that could cause another rumor, taking away from arguing the issues and solutions they want to bring to America.

Since When Was 'Political Party' a Synonym for 'Cult'?

With only a few days left until the 2016 election, I feel I can safely say that our political system is an utter mess. I'm incredibly afraid for Tuesday's election, and rather pessimistic about the outcome no matter which candidate wins (though I must say I am more pessimistic about certain outcomes than others). Politics has lost all sense of uprightness that it may have had, resorting to personal attacks and extremist stances in both candidates and in the voter population.

The first thing that scares me is how unqualified some of the candidates (ie. Donald Trump) are. Setting his highly offensive platform aside, it baffles me how a man with literally no experience in politics can be viewed as equal in fitness to a woman with a political career of over thirty years. A man who has never been a politician is one step away from the highest level of political office in the country. That unqualified people have been given such chances at office is a terrifying sign that our political system is falling apart.

More than that, politics has become very much about throwing insults and slinging mud. The presidential debates have been a show of insults and one liners, bickering and name-calling, instead of a discussion of policies and effectiveness in office. Even outside of the presidential race, the whole political atmosphere has become highly unprofessional and people have begun to speak without thinking. Take, for example, Mark Kirk's sarcastic comment to Tammy Duckworth about her family coming from Thailand to fight for George Washington. An unsolicited and frankly racist comment such as that would have been well out of place in any earlier election season, but this year it hardly seems surprising. America has spiraled into a state where politicians don't have to appear representative or professional and can say whatever comes into their mind with minimal backlash.

The voting population as well has become much more unruly, and has also turned to personal attacks. People split between parties are not simply divided over some policy issues and willing to accept another's stance without agreeing with it; they are almost like warring factions, fighting bitterly and taking an opposing political stance as a personal threat to their morality and core beliefs. People have begun physically attacking each other and threatening death simply because they support another political candidate. Voting is no longer a choice of which candidate has more beneficial policies, but rather one of which candidate reflects your exact moral compass.

This has also lead to a great deal of voters, especially younger voters, who feel that neither candidate is at all acceptable and they have chosen to vote third party or to simply refrain from voting. Since the political climate has become so personal and the candidates are no longer representative of a set of policies but of every error or success they have ever committed as a human being, many voters feel that they cannot pick a candidate and remain morally true to their own values. Voting is supposed to be about picking someone who you may not agree with but you feel will be more beneficial, or at least minimally harmful, to the country. Now, it seems as though a voter must be willing to actively defend every action a candidate has ever taken, or they cannot support the candidate in any way, shape, or form.

Once the election is over, this won't go away. A deep rift has been formed between people in this country, and no matter the outcome, there will be many many people who are personally offended. There will be a great surge of anger, there may well be riots and violence. Politicians will be placed under incredible scrutiny, picked apart by the media and by those opposed to them. The president could fail to clean out the dishwasher one night and soon they would be criticized for being unorganized, unhelpful, disrespectful, and entirely unfit for the office they hold. Perhaps that last statement is an exaggeration, but many would agree with me that it could very well not be. The fact that it is even a possibility for such a thing to happen speaks volumes about the state of politics in America.

In short, George Washington was right. We should have stayed away from political parties. They have divided the nation in a total extreme, no longer just over policy but over personal actions. It seems almost cult-like, each faction on a witch hunt to prove its adversary to be immoral as well as politically ineffective. It's become almost surreal with the amount of violence and disrespect that has become commonly accepted in relation to politics. I fear that this will become the norm, or that things will escalate even further. I hope very much that it does not.

Live blog, Debate 3

Clinton begins the debate with some very strong words about how she feels the supreme court should be run. She seems to, at least in this part, want to try to pull some voters that are part of the LGBT community, and women rights activists that might have been on the wall. She also has laid a strong foundation for her debate.

The Best Quote Of The Third Debate

"Let's please be quiet, for the candidates and the American people"

This quote was uttered somewhat exasperatedly from tonight's debate moderator, Chris Wallace. He actually did a much better job than the past two debate moderators at a few things. Wallace kept the audience in line, the few times they threatened a cacophony of boos or laughs, shut them down very quickly. The first time the audience even gave so much as a collective thought to yelling out, Wallace said "Let's please be quiet, for the candidates and the American people." Most of the time, and he was consistent with it throughout the debate, he told (mostly) Trump and Clinton that they had to shut up when their speaking times passed, as hard as that is for them to do.

The Literal Demonization of Hillary Clinton

In a recent advertisement, "Shut It Down", put out by the Trump-supporting Make America Number One PAC, the creators use a variety of visual and auditory techniques in order to enhance their ethos based argument that the Clinton Foundation and Hillary herself are entirely corrupt and unsuitable for the presidency. The background music, flashing words, and lexicon used in the ad create a sense of fear or trepidation about Hillary, which enforces the negative attack on her character.

The most noticeable thing about the ad is probably the background music, which consists of the soundtrack to an opera that could only be set in Hell. It's foreboding, loud, frantic, and downright terrifying. On top of this, the words on the screen are flickering and glitching, and are laid over a background of flashing lights that look like fire.

If these borderline-demonic visuals weren't enough to make the viewer fear for their life at the mention of Hillary's name; the word choice within the ad clinches the deal. The ad is a negative attack on Hillary's morality, calling out her corruption as a political candidate. The ad calls on Republicans and Democrats alike in order to prove her corruption, showing that the accusation is not biased, but instead common knowledge. Apparently, everyone knows how immoral Hillary is.

Of course, the word corrupt frequents the screen, but what I found more surprising was the use of the word "bedevil". Yes, bedevil. It certainly enhances the attack on Hillary's character by equating her actions with those of Satan himself, and since America is a majority Christian nation, it plays a bit into pathos and people's religious fear of sin.

This ad against "Crooked Hillary" uses mainly ethos in order to make Hillary look corrupt and unsuitable for the Presidency. This argument is enhanced by the video techniques that make the ad appear terrifying and even hellish, and the religious word choice that associates the Hillary campaign with the devil and sin.

Tacos Trump Hate

Today, a Trump protest was not your typical protest. Protesters built a "wall" made out of taco trucks around Trump's Las Vegas hotel. 

The wall was a pretty strong wall- made out of about 40 taco trucks, signs/posters, and many protesters. The protest was held in Las Vegas; where the population is about one third Hispanic.

The idea was inspired by Trump's call for a wall to be built between the U.S. and Mexico, as well as the Latinos For Trump founder, Marco Gutierrez, saying that taco trucks would be "on every corner," if Trump lost this election.

This rally was organized by the Culinary Union, along with Latino Victory Project, United Here, American Bridge, Center for Community Change Action, For Our Future, PLAN Action and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

Debate #3, Post #3

In conclusion, I think that both candidates repeated themselves a lot, Trump more than Clinton. Also, both candidates were vague on their plans for the country and how to get the country in the right direction. Trump made digs at Clinton about how she hasn't made any changes in the thirty years she was in office, her role in the middle east, her husband, etc. Clinton talks about Trumps statements about women, his tax returns, etc. Both of the candidates focused largely on how the other candidate is flawed instead of mainly focusing on their own political plans for the country. Clinton spoke to all Americans in her last statement which I think helped her campaign. When Trump made his last statement, he focused on how Clinton will not make a difference in the country, instead of making statements that would help him get votes in November. Overall, this debate was more civil than the first.

Live Blog #1

Trump constantly explains how things are going to get better but never explains how to do so. Trump was asked about creating more jobs. He talked about how the gdb will rise from 1% to 4% or even 5 or 6%, but then he rambles off about creating new companies (which he still does not explain how to do this). He also is constantly insulting our current president. First by talking about the horrible leadership of today, to just ranting about needing to repeal and replace Obama care and how much of an issue it would be if we didn't. He has obviously come a long way from the first debate, but he is still interrupting and criticizing Hillary's comments instead of waiting. At one point while she was talking about an issue Trump just leans into the mic and says "your husband disagrees with you", which shows his true immature side he has been trying so hard to hold back.

Debate 3 Live Blog

Hillary's response to some of Donald Trumps recent actions with the outbreaks of sexual and verbal attacks was truly moving. Trump claims that he has not and will not apologize for his actions because they are not true. Hillary brings up some of the things that Trump has said such as, "she's wouldn't be my first choice" to show how he is degrading to women. What extended her response above and beyond was the expansion on the other controversial topics such as his mocking of a disabled reporter on national television. With all of this evidence, and him not responding and apologizing, it puts Trump in a bad situation when it comes to popularity.

Debate 3 Live Blog #3

"Nobody has more respect for women than I do" says Donald Trump in response to Hillary Clinton in the third and final debate. However, there have been multiple accounts and reliable sources saying that he has mocked women as well as sexually degrading them as he pleases. No person has respect for women if he or she states that they will kiss or do other inappropriate things to them without there permission. Can we really trust someone such as Trump with our country if he continues to lie to the people of the United states. Any person who says "Grab them by the Pussy" has no respect for themselves as well as women and furthermore people in general.

Debate #3, Post #2

Both candidates say that the other candidates economic plan for the country will cause the national dept to go up significantly. Both of the plans are somewhat vague and both of the candidates think that the other plan is the worst for the country. It is very hard to tell which plan will be the best for the country based on watching this debate.

Debate 3 Live Blog

It is clear that Trump has improved his debate techniques since September 26. He is still interjecting and interrupting both the moderator and Hillary, which is not surprising, but he is trying to keep his cool. He is presenting his beliefs and sticking by what he has said in previous debates and speeches. Trump is far more prepared for this debate and he is doing his best to intimidate Hillary for the first time in a while.

Debate 3 Live Blog

Trump's views on being pro-life when it comes to abortion are relatively reasonable until he gets to the point in which there should be a form of punishment to the mothers who do decide to get an abortion. For example, a woman who gets pregnant due to a rape should not have to be punished for wanting to have an abortion. On the other hand, Hillary's argument does have a flaw as well, in that a woman can decide to have an abortion in the final weeks of the baby's due date. I think that the two ideas of the candidates could be combined to make a more stable argument and law.

Scare Rhetoric:Láqueo rhetoric

Hillary digs at Donald for using "scare rhetoric" with his word choice when talking about late term abortions. She reprimands him logos, his character, by saying this, mentioning a few other times that his language is representative of his character (not great, she says). It will be interesting to see how many times she might cite his language throughout the night, and vice versa.