January 27

Blog #11 – Bringing Change to Today’s America

As we enter the 20th Century in our classroom and studies, we approach an exciting time period in which America’s reforming impulse took shape in several different forms.  One group of reformers took on alcohol and the Prohibition Experiment took off in 1920 when the 18th Amendment went into effect.  More reformers focused on the plight of the urban poor and downtrodden and had hoped that this situation could be remedied with laws.  Yet still a 3rd reform impulse attemtped to take on city hall and the federal government by changing the way people were elected and how people voted.  By 1920, women had earned the right to vote with the 19th Amendment.   Lastly, the power of big business seemed unstoppable and incompatible in the home of the modern world’s first democracy (where profits trumped one man= one vote easily).  Corporate giants like Standard Oil and Northern Securities were broken up by the Supreme Court as harmful to the American economy because they limited competition. 

When I asked you to look at what you might reform in America, I’m sure you could find things to reform.  President Obama outlined many programs or areas that he would like to see America work on for the next year. 

He wanted to help make not just new manufacturing jobs but also more white collar professional jobs too, and part of this is b/c the economy has changed so much in the past generation or two:

“The rules have changed. In a single generation, revolutions in technology have transformed the way we live, work and do business. Steel mills that once needed 1,000 workers can now do the same work with 100. Today, just about any company can set up shop, hire workers, and sell their products wherever there’s an Internet connection.”

The president reminded us of our history as a democratic pioneer:

“…we are the first nation to be founded for the sake of an idea -– the idea that each of us deserves the chance to shape our own destiny. That’s why centuries of pioneers and immigrants have risked everything to come here. It’s why our students don’t just memorize equations, but answer questions like ‘What do you think of that idea? What would you change about the world?'”

Finally, the president stated a major initiative (and how to pay for it):

“…in a few weeks, I will be sending a budget to Congress that helps us meet that goal [of reaching a level of research and development that we haven’t seen since the Cold War]. We’ll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology…And to help pay for it, I’m asking Congress to eliminate the billions in taxpayer dollars we currently give to oil companies. (Applause.) I don’t know if — I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re doing just fine on their own. (Laughter.) So instead of subsidizing yesterday’s energy, let’s invest in tomorrow’s.”

President Obama also wants to hire 100,000 new teachers as well.  And he mentioned keeping undocumented immigrants (maybe the new buzz word for illegal aliens?) in the U.S. after they’ve been educated here. 

Then the president mentioned rebuilding our infrastructure from high speed railroads to broadband internet access. 

“Within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail. (Applause.) This could allow you to go places in half the time it takes to travel by car. For some trips, it will be faster than flying –- without the pat-down…Within the next five years, we’ll make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans.”

And, newsflash, the recession is practically over!  He wants to put a freeze on domestic spending (not military). 

“But now that the worst of the recession is over, we have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable. Every day, families sacrifice to live within their means. They deserve a government that does the same.   So tonight, I am proposing that starting this year, we freeze annual domestic spending for the next five years. (Applause.)”

A repsonse to Obama’s SOTU Address:

“Not exactly a Sputnik moment” – http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2011/0126/Mr.-President-this-is-not-exactly-a-Sputnik-moment

Michelle Bachman’s reply for the GOP – http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2011/0126/Michele-Bachmann-State-of-the-Union-response-where-she-and-Obama-may-agree

Your job list three to five things that you would want to reform on a local, state or national level (with a very brief explanation as to what you think is wrong), and then write more on one of them and why you think that particular reform needs to go to the top of the country’s agenda. 

Due Friday, January 28 before 11:59 p.m.

250 words minimum.

Sources:

1. SOTU Transcript: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0126/State-of-the-Union-transcript-2011-Full-text-of-the-president-s-speech

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Posted January 27, 2011 by geoffwickersham in category Blogs

65 thoughts on “Blog #11 – Bringing Change to Today’s America

  1. Chris Robbe

    1.Welfare- I believe that too many able people are dependent on our welfare system. Welfare was made to support the people who have had a tragedy in their lives and need help getting back on their feet, as well as those who have disabilities and have a generally unfair life. Too many people are ignoring the goal of welfare and aren’t attempting to get off of welfare because when they make enough money, the benefits are taken away.

    2.Drinking age should be lowered to 18 years-
    The major issue that I have with the current age is that at 18 years old, you are fully considered an adult and can be drafted into the army. If you are forced to be shot dead to protect your country (Drafts), you should be able to have some beer. Also, beer becomes a forbidden fruit when it’s illegal for 20 years of your life, I can see why not having young teens getting drunk is fine but once your an adult in all other ways you should be able to drink.

    3.(most important)War in the Middle East- The war has cost us over 3 trillion dollars, we are in a deep recession and there are little, if any reasons to be there. We started because of the Taliban and the possibilities of nuclear capabilities (which never existed), since then the threat of nukes has been eliminated and the Taliban are simply an organization that can easily move to any area that they desire. We have installed democracy and have gotten the stability that we desired in the beginning.

  2. Ben Cooper

    1. I think the new law being passed for young drivers in Michigan is ridiculous. A 12-6 AM curfew is perfectly reasonable. Having to be off the roads at 10 o’clock is too early. This law would interfere with school and sports events, and some jobs (like babysitting).
    2. Another law that should be reformed is the minimum drinking age. I don’t think it makes much sense that even when you are considered an adult by society (18 years old), that you are not legally allowed to drink. Many underage people get access to alcohol anyways, especially in college. I think that it’s possible if people had experience with alcohol earlier, they might be more capable of making the right decisions (not drinking and driving, etc).
    3. The third thing I think should be reformed is education. In the 1970’s, our education system was one of the best in the world. Unfortunately, now we are falling behind as a country in terms of education. We are surpassed by Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan, Russia, and England; just to name a few. This problem also isn’t the simplest one. Educational quality varies from exceptional to abysmal from state to state and county to county. I think increased promotion of literacy, perhaps some sort of nationwide program would go a long way towards beginning to fix the problem. I have also noticed that many of my peers have been turned off to reading due to the rigid and boring reading curriculum throughout their scholastic careers. I think more choice in reading would also help our educational system.

  3. Denny Walsh

    1. The first thing that I believe must be reformed is affirmative action. I do not know how on earth this is legal. It is blatant racism and I cannot find it justifiable. I may seem ignorant racist myself in saying it but it is true. By definition affirmative action gives better jobs and education to less qualified individuals based purely on the race and ethnicity of the person applying.

    2. I believe that welfare needs to be entirely eliminated. Welfare was meant to be a safety net for the unemployed, but I do not think that the unemployed should have one. Unemployment benefits are not only extraordinarily expensive, but they also encourage unemployment.

    3. I believe that minimum wage should be gotten rid of. Minimum wage is inflationry at best and doesn’t benefit anyone.
    4. I think that the tax on people with higher incomes should be decreased. I do not see the logic behind making it more difficult for the people supplying jobs to the nation to stay in business.

    5. I think that social security needs to be eliminated. Social security doesnt serve much of a purpose anymore. I do not think that the government should be in charge of making sure that people handle thier money well.

    I think that minimum wage is the biggest problem facing this country right now. When minimum wage first came about it was purely infationary. employers were forced to pay their workers a certain amount and therefore had to raise their prices in order to afford to stay in business. This made it so that everything that the employees would need to buy was now too expensive and they are right back where they started. Now, on the other hand, because minimum wage has increased so much and the cost of shipping has gone so far down, it has become more cost efficient to manufacture goods oversees and ship them here then to have them produced in the united states. This is why so many jobs are being shipped over sees and if there wasnt a minimum wage, people would no longer have to pay the extra amount for their goods because of shipping costs.

  4. Drew Hendrickson

    1. I believe that welfare should be regulated more so than it is right now. People shouldn’t be able to avoid getting a job by using welfare as a reason. If you are not actively searching for a job, you either have a medical reason for your lethargy, or you lose the welfare. This would promote self-reliance as well as weed out those who are draining the government of crucial funds that could be better invested elsewhere.

    2. I think that affirmative action needs to leave. It is a solution to racism and discrimination using racism and discrimination. If a qualified white person and an under-qualified black person are applying for a job, the white man should get it. If the situation is reversed, the black man should get it. The entire point of anti-discrimination is to remove racism and unfair treatment due to race. But by hiring the less qualified minority member instead of the qualified white person, you are actually causing more of what affirmative action is trying to remove.

    3. I think that the new driving law for teens is dumb, for lack of a better word. While I probably won’t be leaving my house after 10 pm, being back BY 10 pm is inconvenient. Friday nights and Saturday nights are a time when teens can be out and relax after a week at school. So instead of penalizing an entire generation for a few bad choices on the part of a few kids, maybe get some more patrol cars out after 10. And it also disrupts some jobs, such as babysitting or later shifts at a retail store.

  5. Chase Dino Turner

    Michigan needs to do many things to improves thier laws
    1. i think that Michigan should improve benefits to the unemployed because so many ppeople are unemployed, i think especially the major car companys should help the men and women that they fire from thier jobs, should help them out because they fired so many people. leaving them without jobs and a steady income, so michigan defently should change thier unemployment benefits.

    2. the new driving laws are completly inconvient and they will not stick, they dont really expect kids to obey these laws, they better grandfather this law. but mainly michigan should make the driving age 18 and make it harder to get your license because many kids are extermly irresposiple and they get them and thier friends and other people killed because they are to immature to pay attention to the road. michigan would really benefit for chaning the driving age from 16 to 18. plus the written test and road test need to be harder because i know both of those tests were very easy.

    3. lastly michigan needs to crack down on drunk driving much harder and they should make it harder for minors to access alchohal, and by cracking down on drunk driving i mean bars limiting people to one or two drinks, or making it so you must do a breathalizer to start your car, because innocent responsiple people who control how they drink die in drunk driving accidents and the people who were drunk survive its completly rediculis

    those are the the three laws that i would change in michigan if i could

  6. charles zuccarini

    one of the things i belive that we should start doing is allowing alcohol to be fully leaglized to all ages withing reason. because i dont honestly see how us banning it altogether for younger kids realy does much other than keep some people from getting drunk for a few more years than they normaly would. hey after all a good majority of the worlds other countrys dont have a drinking age. so why should we? but i do belive there should be limitations to keep people from being dangerouse. in italy for example there is no drinking age. in fact they even sell alchohol in school. but they do limit it so that if you get so drunk your a threat to others saftey that you can be incarerated or into serious trouble.

    second of all i have come up with a brilliant magnificant plan to solve our immmigration problem! all we need to do is make all the immagrants go way out into the coast and rig up some huge fisherys. so that way we have them all in the middle of the ocean fishing. and then thats how they can make their money. and thats where they can live… in their offshore fishing habitats. and then they make their income with the fish. the us diet becomes healthyer becauseof the fish and it raises our economy!…. and if none of that works we should round em all up and dump them in canida. i mean after all its canida… whos going to care. and they have more than enough space.

    and for my last argument i belive that we should get rid of the death penalty. i mean so the people are horribal viciouse rapests and murderers but so what! they dont deserve to die. i belive that we should force them into doing the hard physical labor of our contry as punishment. but they dont get any pay. and if they refuse then what we could do is we could go and give them to all the immagrants in their offshore fisherys and let them figure it all out. after all. we are america. and we got better thenings to do than that.
    now after all of that i think im going to go ahead and ramle on for a bit about pointless improvements to our country and or the world that probably wouldnt work.
    1.so one thing that we could all do is use all of our resources to make a gigantic like bullet proof glass dome thing and ankor that to the bottom of the sea. then we ove our country down there and start mass producing nucleaor wepons. then we sell all of those wepons to the uptop area so they stockpile them and bosts our economy. then when they all blow each other up when the radiation clears we can all take over and start the world our way.
    2. another thing we could do is like just start over everyones econmy so that nobody has anymore serious money problems. and just erase all of everyones debt then weed all be off cool.
    3. and my last option and personaly my favorit. we could just let italy be in charge of everything! cause we all know how if italy took over eveything would be all right in like a week. italy would be all like a whaaaat youa gota problema witha the econamieo! well then BAM! instantly the economies fixed and were all happy. then italy would be all like whatsa this youa sayin to me ya little pisano? world hunger? bah! then BAM! BADA BING! instantly all the italians everywhere zap pasta to eeeeevvvvveeeerrrrryyyyybbbbooodddyyyy! bang world hunger solved. and if the italians took over there would be no more racial tensions. why? because EVERYBODY ITALIANO NOW! and then italian would be a worldwide language. so everybody would understand each other. and so the world would be a better place. and as for the sun blowing up hah. we get two italians from jersy to go up there. they will be back in a week tops problem fixed. the people will be like hey mr italian president howd ya get the sun to stop explodin an all? then the italian president would look him in the eye and say. “DONT WORRY ABOUT IT! now where my cannoli?” and thats how the world would be fixed if the italians ruled the world. all our problems solved.

    now mr wickersham if you have actualy read all of the stupid things that i have written on this then i must say. that you have the patience of a saint. and the tolerance of a rock. and for that. i commend you. now what you could do is just ignore the fact that this blog is a day or two late and just be about the coolist teacher ever. or you could still be a cool joe and take the normal route and grade me as is. but if its any consolation prize. regardless i promis to you that i wont make any stupid ongoing rants about pointlessness. but if you would at least be so kind as to not mark me off for all the random “crap” that i have typed on here well… that would be just peachy good sir.

  7. Cameron Crawford-Mook

    1. Political discourse needs to be elevated—there is far too much emphasis on “us” and “them”; we need to be more united
    2. Minimum wage needs to be raised—currently you could be working at minimum wage and still be below the poverty line
    3. schools need to emphasis hands on learning as opposed to simple memorization—I feel like I could learn a lot more in school if had the chance to see real-world applications of what I’m learning

    The state of political discourse in our country is disturbingly low. Political talk show hosts tend to take such a hard line on their side of the issue that they are incapable of acknowledging ideas put forward by the people on the “other” side, even if the idea is a good one promoting compromise. This atmosphere is not only impractical to helping to move our country forward; it also promotes an atmosphere of hate of the “other”. A very common example of this is the shooting of Rep. Giffords. True, these talk show hosts didn’t directly promote the shooting of a congresswoman, but they did encourage a mentality that created an environment where someone who was a little loose shot her, expecting to be hailed as a hero for his actions. Congress people and political leaders need to be leaders, showing citizens that it is possible to disagree with someone’s ideas without hating the person.

  8. Devan Moosherr

    1. The first thing that I think we should reform is the new driving laws being implemented. I feel that a 10pm curfew is way too early to have to be home by. My football games won’t be ending by that time and that will give me no way to get home. All of the practices that I have in the summer really takes a toll on my parents, having to drive me there and back late at night. If I cannot drive myself there and back then I will have no way of going to practice. Also, kids just want to have a good time, and restricting the driving times to only 10 at night would really mess up their days.
    2. The second thing I would reform would have to be how long school lasts into June. School lasts until the twentieth, only allowing us with around two months of summer vacation. People that play sports get only a couple of weeks to enjoy summer while the rest are spent playing sports. I feel that school should end in May because it would be more beneficial towards the students’ lives. We need time to relax and not be worrying about what assignment is due the next day, every day of our lives.
    3. The third thing I would reform would be the income for the unemployed. Because Michigan’s economy is so bad, we should be doing extra things to help get people extra money in these tough times that we have.

  9. Katia Lev

    1. I think the first thing to be reformed is education. Our education standard in America is so much lower than in any other country, and while people insist that immigrants are taking their jobs, many times it is because they are more qualified to do so. This is not at all saying that Americans are less smart than the rest of the world, but it does mean that we have a lower education than them, making it more difficult for us to get into and excel in college, as well as finding a job after.

    2. I think the time we start school is unreasonable. Some students and teachers wake up as early as 5 am just to make it to their buses/to school on time. If we started school an hour or two later and got out an hour or two later, there would still be time for all the after-school activities going on, and also extra time to sleep in the mornings, increasing student productivity.

    3. I believe that there should be more of a regulation on teenagers with illegal substances, like drugs and alcohol. So many fatal instances occur when teens have access to these substances, and the sad thing is that the majority of these “accidents” are so easily preventable.

  10. Nathan Willey

    1. I think that the first thing that this country should crack down on is drunk driving because it is extremely dangerous.
    2. The second thing is the Mexican border because many immigrants come here illegally.
    3. The education system in inner-city schools is awful. We can’t honestly expect people to be able to come out of the ghetto if they’re getting poor education.
    4. I also think that the government should look at the minimum wage policy. I admit the minimum wage is growing but not fast enough for a lot of people.
    5. I also think that the minimum drinking age should be lowered to when a person is considered an adult by society (18).

    I decided to primarily discuss the problem of drunk driving. It is an awful decision to make and in some countries, if a person is charged with drunk driving, they are lined up before a shooting squad and killed! Now I don’t think we should go quite THAT far but something needs to be done. Right now, the first time a person gets a DUI they almost in a way get off with a warning and then from there the punishment increases. No, I feel people should go to jail the first time they are caught. This topic is pretty close to me right now because a friend of mine just got killed because of drunk driving. This problem isn’t just going to solve itself. People need to start making a change, starting with the government being more aggressive.

  11. Ben H.

    Ben Hafen, 4th Hour

    1. As Cameron Crawford-Mook stated above, there’s a wide political division in our country. It’s always “us” against “them”; there’s absolutely no middle ground, no gray area. Those who attempt at an outside opinion are shot down before their opinions can take hold. How ironic is it, then, that one of the rallying cries for the Revolution was “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”?

    2. While still on the subject of divisions, those between social classes are alarmingly large. Also alarmingly large are the numbers of those in the lower class–the homeless and destitute. What’s even more alarming is that these numbers are steadily increasing, thanks to the economic “recession”. The people of the US are already restless. How long until we finally snap?

    3. The economy! Dear heavens, how long has it been since the start of all this chaos? Far too long, if you ask me. And what’s the current figure on our debt to China now–how many trillions of dollars? At this point, it wouldn’t take much from China to topple us as a nation, and if I’m not mistaken, the feelings between our two countries aren’t exactly stellar. The best method I can think of regarding the recession is going back to the source, finding out what went wrong there, and doing whatever we can to reverse it, but who knows how well that will work, if at all? And what do we do about all this debt we’re incurring? Just printing more money will skyrocket inflation and only make the economy worse. That’s a fine job you’ve done, Sirs Presidents.

    As much as I’d love to ramble on about the near-hopeless state the economy’s in, that’s not the major issue. The last two issues of the social classes and the recession as a whole could be solved so much more efficiently if we Americans set aside our differences and banded together. People are always finding ways to discredit “the other side” for some reason or another, or to prove how “their way” is better. Really, though: why? Who cares? We spend so much time and effort trying to one-up each other that the original issue gets completely lost in the mudslinging. If the so-called “Democrats” and “Republicans” could just work together to find solutions, we could get things done so much quicker, so much more effectively.

    In closing, I would like to restate that crucial point from the Revolutionary War: United we stand, but divided we fall.

  12. Calvin Greer

    1. This new driving law for new drivers without a level 3 license is crazy! 12am-6am worked perfectly fine in the past, I don’t understand why all of a sudden there’s this drastic change. The passenger rule saying that only one non-family is allowed in the car makes sense, you hate to put kids at risk by being in the car with inexperienced drivers, but 10am!? Come on. The government knows that that is a stretch beyond their wildest imagination and that probably 50% of 16 year olds won’t even abide by it (I will no worries!)
    2. The legal drinking age should be lowered to 18. It’s no secret that high school is when kids start getting interested in drinking, and it’s definitely no secret that a large percentage of high school seniors drink. I think 2 good things would come out of this. First, more kids would wait until the legal age to drink because the wait doesn’t seem sooooo eternally long, and two, I think that drunk driving for people between 18 and 21 would be reduced by a humongous percentage because they wouldn’t be worried about getting questioned by their parents on why they didn’t drive home.
    3. The minimum wage should be raised. An hour is kind of a long time, and for the amount of money companies in this country have, the amount they’re paying per hour to people who are working hard for them just doesn’t seem like it’s cutting it. People have many expenses and many taxes to pay for this country, and they need money to support themselves and their family. The number right now just seems a little unreasonably small.

  13. Patrice Bell

    1. The first thing I that think should be reformed is the time The school day starts for high schoolers. I think that 7:30 is way too early for a teenager to have to be in school. I think that the times should switch with elementary schools because that is a more reasonable time. Teenagers would have more time to sleep, which would result in less crankiness and better focus throughout the day. Also, if a students parents work early I. The mornings and the teenager is the first to leave the house, who is there to ensure the safety of the younger siblings? If we had more time in the mornings, we would be able to get our younger siblings to school safely and on time.

    2. The second thing I would like to reform is the legal drinking age. If a person is legally considered an adult at the age of 18, they should be able to drink. I know that some people at this age aren’t mature enough to handle alcohol, but with the laws about underaged drinking aren’t forcefully enforced, who’s to say they won’t drink anyway?

    3. The third thing I feel should be removed is the death penalty. I understand that if a person killed another, they should be punished. But if the entire problem is stemming from the loss of a life, why should another be taken?
    I would like to talk more about the death penalty. Almost everyones heard the saying “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” if you kill a person for killing a person, your teaching children that revenge is ok. And essentially, that’s what the death penalty is. Another thing is that if a jury finds a defendant guilty and that person is killed, what happens if it is found that the person was actually innocent? Now two innocent people have died and a murderer is still on the loose.

  14. indya sanders

    1. The education system should be reformed because children who live in low income areas do not receive the same education as children in higher income areas because low income areas have low educational funding. Children who live in Detroit, Oak Park, Highland Park, etc. do not receive a “good” education as children who live in the Birmingham, Troy, Bloomfield Hills. Children should not have to suffer because their parents do not make enough money to live in a nicer community. Some children are force to go to schools with no bathroom doors, no toilet tissue, books that are damaged, force to be in ridiculous class sizes, and reduced graduation credits do to the poor teaching done by staff as a result of lower funding. All children should have an equal education no matter where they live because education is key in todays soceity. This should be priority number one of today’s agenda because edcuation is becoming more important today then any other year. You can cannot leave high school and expect to get a job at a plant because that time is over. We need a good college degree, which is a result from getting good grades at a good high school. We are no longer competing against your state or country, we are competing against the world.
    2. Another problem is the drinking age limit, I think it should be lowered from 21 to 18. If you can buy cigarettes, get a tattoo, vote, drafted into the army, voluntarily go to the army, be tried in court as an adult,get a real drivers license, get a piercing,play the lottery,go to a club,and own a credit card I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to drink. If you really want to protect an 18 year old raise the draft years, a person is old enough to die or have your leg blown off but not to drink. You can damage your lungs (give yourself cancer), your body with ink, ruin your credit, and waste your money on the lottery but not able to have a beer.
    3. Another problem is how many years a pediophile gets in prison. There is no reason a pediophile to get out before a murderer because you can do physical and mental damage to child. Pediophile’s take away childrens innocent that they will never be able to get back and should be punished for doing so. They Should not be able to roam free with minor stipulations after 6 years becoming unknown hazards around children.

  15. Dorian Ballard

    The three thongs that I want to reform on a local level would be 1: education 2: sanitation and 3:equal opportunity. These t here things are very important in making a community function correctly. Sanitization is a very important issue. If a city doesn’t look good it doesn’t get a lot of tourism, people don’t feel good, and overall moral for the city goes down. It has been proven that people who live in a clean city are happier which results to less crime, and more volunteering inside of communities. I think that more opportunity should be available for people to participate in. opportunities like cleanup projects where everyone can do something. Equal opportunity is very important as well. When I say equal opportunity I mean presenting substance to everybody in a community. Equal opportunity leads to diversification. Moe ideas and better knowledge will be in circulation so people will be exposed to more and have different experiences. Now for the big one, education. Education is a must and should defiantly be taken to a federal level. Education is the future. If we want America to continue to be as prosperous as it is we need to invest a lot more money in urban and suburban schools. The kids that are taught in public schools are the future. We need to invest in the future by investing in schools.

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