For four consecutive months, Gallup has reported that Americans continue to mention government as the most important U.S. problem. While 'Government,' 'Economy,' and 'Unemployment' have gone back and forth, claiming and reclaiming the top spot, Government now has a 7-point lead.
There's nothing like a slight treasonous scandal to pull a political writer out of a little sabbatical. When hearing of the controversy revolving around the Iran nuclear deal, I couldn't just sit on the sidelines. So here I am immersing myself in a political debate that should have bigger ramifications than it probably will.
Treason is defined in the dictionary as:
CONCORD, N.H. -- BenSwann.com reported Wednesday on a recent speech from U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), during which he said he would "literally use the military to keep [Congress]" in session to deal with non-compliance on defense spending. Graham was speaking to the Concord City Republican Committee, a stump speech ahead of a potential 2016 presidential run.
NATIONAL -- In 2012, not counting Obama and Romney, there were 26 candidates on presidential ballots in a least one state. They garnered between 518 and nearly 1.3 million votes. Some of these candidates ran as independents; others represented third parties, including the Green Party, the Constitution Party, and the Justice Party. They represented ideologies ranging from Socialist to Libertarian.
NATIONAL -- The higher education system has hit some turbulence recently.
In February, a group of students claimed that they would not pay back student loans for their time at institutions under the umbrella of Corinthian Colleges. These students claim that the "predatory empire pushed hundreds of thousands into a debt trap."
In a recent article on The Washington Post's The Fix, columnist Chris Cillizza discusses the disturbing hyper-partisan trend in American politics and how it has worsened since America's news sources "splintered into a million pieces." The article describes the following paragraph from Dan Pfeiffer as the single-most depressing paragraph about American politics:
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill Tuesday that would end the federal prohibition on medical marijuana. The bipartisan "Compassionate Access, Research Expansion and Respect States Act" will be the first bill to be considered by the Senate that would legalize marijuana for medicinal purposes.
OAKLAND, CALIF. -- CBS News recently revealed the results of an investigation that further proves that the problems with the Veterans' Administration not only continue, but are systemic and widespread within the organization.
OREGON -- Oregon native and entrepreneur Mark Frohnmayer no longer believes that the top-two primary system is a viable solution to the problems facing America's political system. While top-two aims to solve the lingering issues surrounding a hyper-partisan political environment by opening the voting process to all voters, Frohnmayer does not believe that it solves the most contentious and unappealing aspect of political campaigns: the overabundance and influence of money.
Step 1: Seeing what the situation really is
One explanation for the present state of this world is that the Age of Ideology is in the final throes of its protracted demise. Following the internecine savaging of Nationalism in World War One, the defeat of Fascism in World War Two, and the implosion of totalitarian Marxism in the Soviet Union and its empire, ending the so-called Cold War, the only multi-nationally applied ideology left afloat and intact was Liberalism. Now it, too, is foundering.