Episode II: A New Hope?

With the election over, President Obama having been re-elected, the Democrats holding a majority in the Senate, and the Republicans losing many seats in the House, but still maintaining a majority, we can finally say goodbye to all of the inane, redundant campaign commercials. We finally don’t have to put up with each side calling the other a liar, and then presenting completely opposing viewpoints on each other’s candidates. We have finally reached a hiatus in what seemed to be a never-ending, brutal ad campaign between the two major political parties. We can finally get down to what really matters: running the country… right?<n>

Maybe I’m being too hopeful, but maybe we can see an end to the bickering and fighting between the two major parties in Congress. Maybe we can see the end of the gridlocked battle lines erected in the House, so that we can really work towards a recovery. Maybe we can see the end of (now shown futile) attempts of many, many Republicans to completely discredit President Obama in order to prevent him from having a second term, and see them finally start to cooperate in order to restore America to where it should be. With the new stance taken by Speaker Boehner in the House, it seems like we might be able to see these men and women put aside their political goals for the greater good of the country.<n>

John Boehner spoke to his party shortly after the election, telling them, in no uncertain terms, that they had lost the election badly, and that they could not allow what had been happening for the past two years to continue any longer. Regardless of whether or not this is their strategy to keep their party alive, or he really wants them to be able to work with Democrats in the House, it is a very refreshing change of pace. While not all of the Republicans in the House may agree with the stance the Speaker seems to be taking, a large number of them seem to have finally “fallen in line”. We can only hope that this behavior will continue indefinitely, as what this country needs most now is to be united, not divided, as so many of these people have accused the President of trying to do. After years of a bitter stalemate and stagnation within Congress, we may at last see the action taken needed to get this country out of this recession, and back on its feet.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/us/politics/boehner-tells-house-gop-to-fall-in-line.html?smid=fb-share

Mainstream Media Liberal Bias? I say not.

As a fore note: I really dislike most radio talk shows. That out of the way, and regardless of the fact, I feel that political radio talk shows are terrible. Unregulated, and very, very biased, you can take almost nothing they say without a grain of salt, or maybe even a whole salt shaker. Using a radio talk show to attempt to keep oneself up to date on current events is like listening to a crowd of cheerleaders gossip about the school geeks: you’re going to get very opinionated, one-sided, and not very accurate information. You may say that not all talk show radio is like this, and you’d be right: sports talk show radio sometimes just goes on about facts. But the sports version of talk show radio isn't what we’re discussing here.

After the dissolution of the Fairness Rule under Ronald Reagan gave rise to such monstrosities as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck: all hyper-conservative, right wing lunatics, who feel they have nothing better to do than blame government for every problem anyone has ever had, and whatever Democrat they are able to for problems that have yet to even really arise. While I may be letting a little bit of liberal bias slip into what I’m saying here, it’s not a lot. Having listened to Sean Hannity repeatedly, I can easily say that half his show is tossing blame around for problems (the target of said blame almost always being President Obama), while the other half is criticizing big government for everything else that is wrong with the country, according to his narrow-minded beliefs. It’s frustrating to listen to, and more frustrating to realize that some people like and believe everything he says.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, the proprietor of conservative talk show radio, Rush Limbaugh, is responsible for one of the largest conspiracies to have arisen in the past century: the Mainstream Media’s Liberal Bias that he has made so many people believe exist. He has used this in many situations in order to help justify his, as I have heard quoted, “somewhat extreme views, because he has to make himself heard amidst a sea of liberal opposition.” To this I say: what liberal opposition? It simply does not exist. It is truly hard for me to believe that people are willing to take this kind of affront lying down. I feel that it has gone on for far too long, and that the facts need to be set straight, that this single-sided argument needs to stop, or at least be shown for what it is. I feel that the old Fairness Rule should be brought back, to combat misinformation, and to help produce a more educated society. Isn’t that what a democracy relies on?

The Storm that may have Brought Us Together

Hurricane Sandy never sounded all that threatening, living in the Albany area as we do. Some ‘frankenstorm’ was coming up to annihilate the eastern seaboard, but as far inland as Albany is, we barely saw anything on RPI campus. Of course, the storm hit much harder than many of us had anticipated, and wreaked untold havoc upon New Jersey and New York City. Of course, with a national disaster, the first thing everyone thought about was how the storm is going to, bad puns aside, turn the tides in the then upcoming election. With many dead, and a rather sizable portion of the New Jersey and New York areas without power, and some without homes at all, the first thing many political pundits do is blame the opposition for causing the storm and using it as a political weapon. Ignoring the faulty logic in these claims, do they really have to politicize it?

Unfortunately, politicizing tragedies seems to be becoming almost a sport, where each person to politicize the current strategy first tries to outdo the person who did so before them. Romney wisely kept quiet about the effects of Sandy, other than to wish his condolences to those affected and to attempt to raise some funds to help those people out. Many conservative pundits, though, decided to take it upon themselves to blame the president, and the rest of his party for using this hurricane to stop Romney’s momentum and win the election for the Democrats. As usual, we saw politicians make a play for their own power and status, rather than focusing on the real problem: millions of people without power, many of whom still don’t have power, and the many areas that are still rationing gas in order to make sure that everyone gets some.

I do, though, thoroughly applaud the President on his efforts to put aside politics and work towards fixing the real problem. The fact that Governor Christie of New Jersey, a staunch Republican and long-time critic of the President, complimented Obama on his efforts made me feel proud, both as a New Jersey native, for having a governor willing to put aside partisan politics to help his people, and as an American, for having a President willing to do the same. While I still feel that an overwhelming majority of politicians are out there to make a name, and a small fortune, for themselves, and to further secure their own power, I feel more confident now that there are some of them who are looking out for us, the small guys. It has slowly begun to restore my faith that our Democracy is not yet beyond saving.