The Grand Old Trainwreck

To say there is discourse through the Republican party would be an observation a blind person could make. There is a true mess going on on the right side of the spectrum. The fight between classical conservatism, neo-conservatism, and populist nationalism has split the Republican party, or a more accurate way to describe it would be to call it a shattering of the very foundation. A civil war over the meaning of being a Republican.
While viewing a Trump rally, and the chaotic aftermath of attendees leaving in Cleveland, I noticed something obvious about those who went in support of Trump. They supported the views, more than they supported the man himself. It's not the larger than life persona of Trump that is the driving factor of Trump supporters, it is mostly that he is the voice of their long unrepresented views. It's a belief in lost American exceptionalism, that this country is being taken away from them by some hidden elite class, that China is really taking all of our jobs away.
Ted Cruz on the other hand, plays mostly to those who are truly conservative, and the evangelicals. The kind of people that started the Tea Party movement. Those who believe America was founded on Christian values, and somehow was founded by God himself. This can be seen in there rhetoric on the 2nd amendment, calling it a god given right to own guns. Because in the book of Genesis it reads, "on the 6th day, god said let there be guns." And even worse, the way they talk about the constitution is like it was write by the hand of God instead of a group of wealthy white landowners. These true conservatives have no time for compromise, and have shown it in the Senate by shutting down the government because they didn't get there way. These are the people who supposedly embody the true American spirit, extolling our vets, while refusing to give them housing, or proper healthcare.
These are the two people most likely to gain the Republican nomination in my city of Cleveland this summer. The best way to sum it all up is by Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina when asked to make the choice between Trump and Cruz, "It's like being shot or poisoned, what does it really matter?"

Make America Great Again

Since President Obama has taken office, there has been an amazing campaign to destroy America. From the horrible economy, where oil prices have been gouged from $100 per barrel, to less than $30 per barrel, and the DOW has plunged from less than 10,000 points, to the ludicrously low 16,000 points. How can we sit by and allow this?
Illegal immigrants are pouring into this country, with net illegal immigrant levels at -4% nationally. There's more illegal immigrants leaving, and our president is just allowing them to, and wants to give them amnesty. How are you suppose to do that Mr. President? They have to be here for us to complain about you not doing anything about them. That's why Donald Trump is planning to build his wall a few months early. No Mexicans leaving until Obama leaves office.
Trump has a plan. He's going to fix our economy by firing it, and hiring his own better economy, the biggest shiniest economy with a giant sign that says "Trump" on it. Muslims? You're fired. What do you think this country is? A country of liberty and freedom?
If you believe that what we need is a president who's state of the union will be half him talking about his poll numbers, and the other half and the rest incoherent rabbling about nothing. Then lets make America great again and vote for Trump.

Racial Superiority Explained

When you look around the nation, and see in big cities, areas of high African American population concentrations, you also see high rates of crime, drug use, and poverty. When looking at Africa, you see a mess of disorganized countries in a state of perpetual civil war. Tribes, where mud huts, and spears are the cornerstone of their technological development. All of this must mean something. For as a human, I must identify patterns even if these patterns are drawn from faulty association, and as a white person, I must obviously factor race into this.
As it says in the bible, God created Adam and Eve. These figures are shown to me, through European lenses, as being white. Mostly thanks to renaissance era paintings, drawn by white men who didn't even know that the Earth revolved around the sun. My conclusion drawn from this is that God obviously created white people. So, where did these black people come in? Who are they to trounce around on this planet, created by God for white men to do white people things? Since I have never seen a picture drawn from the bible of a black person, I cannot comprehend their existence.
What can be drawn from all these arbitrary conclusion I have based on my delusional work view? Well, its obvious that people who aren't white just aren't as good. It's clear that black people in inner cities are leeching off welfare and too lazy to get jobs. Shown by the statistic that nearly 75% of people on welfare are working poor. It is also obvious that black people do drugs constantly, as 50% of black people use drugs, compared to the small figure of 50% of white people using drugs. It's even more obvious when you see that nearly 80% of drug offenders in jail are black. We just aren't locking enough of them up, that's obviously the problem.
Another conclusion I can see is that obviously non white people aren't as intelligent. Inner city schools have a drop out rate of 50%. With their extraordinarily low levels of funding, it's amazing how these kids aren't graduating. Also, immigrants who come here and don't speak English or know very little, score terribly on tests like the SAT, a test where comprehension of English is mandatory, what's going on there? Obviously they just aren't as intelligent as white English speaking Americans.
The thing is, if you just watch fox news and listen to what people tell you the bible says, then you too can come to this enlightened way of thought. Why question it, or think any further into that anyways? It's not like actually learning is ever useful.

The Republican Model for America

Imagine this, a country of black people running loose, Muslims walking the streets in suicide vests, and white people hiding in their homes in fear with no guns to defend themselves. Sounds like some third world country right? Well its the image of a liberal lead America in the future.
Look no further than the Grand Old Party for a remedy to this illness.
They're the party that freed the slaves, so no matter what they can't be racist, just as a start. Since they've proven they can't be trusted with their given liberty they decided that maybe it should be taken away until they learn how to behave, and look more white. On the topic of Muslims, they shouldn't even be considered Americans. If we just make them visually identify themselves as Muslims so we can arraigned them neatly into groups inside fences, or send them back to the middle east to be with their fellow Muslims, this will solve all of our problems. I mean, what do they think we do in this country? Allow people religious freedom? Please. Only Christians can complain about restrictions on religious freedom.
To touch on guns, everybody should get one. Like it says in the book of genesis, "and on the fifth day god said: Let their be guns." In proper Christian faith, we should give every person a weapon of death. Every white child born gets a gun, because the black ones will just rob the doctors. What a utopian America where each person is walking down the street with a military grade assault weapon strapped to their back. No one will be in fear when at any second, any person can shoot an instrument of war.
So if you're tired of all these illegal coming here and leeching off welfare while taking all of our jobs, then make sure you vote Republican this November.

Iowa Caucus

Besides the obvious surprise of Donald Trump losing to Ted Cruz, I'd like to touch on my preferred party. Even with an extremely narrow lead, Hillary declared victory in a speech that sounds oddly familiar. As she echoed most of the same views of Sanders, some views she never took a firm stand on until this speech.
What I take out of the Democratic Caucus is that there is a firm split between a new age young more liberal base, and your rank-in-file Clinton 1990s Democrats. This split is permeable, the similar views of the two candidates allows for Democrats to hop back and forth on their preferred candidate with ease, though most are firm in their support. The problem is will we be able to overcome this split and function as a single party, or will it cause a schism within the Democratic party and lead to infighting akin to that of the Tea Party schism in the Republican party. The key is that Democrats have to be willing to support whoever the nominee is, and it seems like that is what will happen. If the Democratic party stays together, the splintering Republican party will likely have little power within Congress. On top of the contentious views expressed by Trump and other Republicans during the primary, unhappiness with the GOP will likely cause the party to adapt and put distance between itself and the more populist/nationalist conservatives.
The trend here is this election may define the direction of both parties over the next 4 years in very drastic ways. The political landscape may be shifting underneath our feet.

Is That Really What the Founding Fathers Wanted?

We often hear Republicans making bold statements about the views of the founding fathers. After the Hodges v Oberfell court case (the case that legalized gay marriage) we heard Republicans yell about these "9 unelected lawyers in robes" and how, "the founding fathers never intended for the supreme court to make decisions like this". Everytime Obama issues an executive order you hear about how, "Emperor Obama is trying to rule as a tyrant", and the founding fathers meant for the system to work through congress. Plus, we hear all the time about how this or that is unconstitutional. So, how do the Republicans get this special insight into the minds of the founding fathers, that the rest of us don't get? Well, the thing is. They don't.
To begin, lets start with Hodges v Oberfell and criticism of the supreme court. In the third article of the constitution, it is stated that the supreme court will be comprised of judges appointed by the president and approved by congress. These unelected judges will serve as long as they'd like under good behavior. These judges were to be unelected to keep them free from playing politics to get votes. Judges are suppose to be free from political motives, and make decisions based on their views rather than the voters views. Alexander Hamilton wrote about this in multiple federalist essays during the process of ratifying the constitution. During Thomas Jefferson's presidency, in 1803, the Marbury v Madison decision was made, giving the supreme court the power of judicial review, and a few years later, McCulloch v Maryland (1819) gave the federal government power over the laws of state governments. All of this put together makes the Hodges v Oberfell decision 100% constitutional, and gives it precedent over any law regarding marriage in any state. Anything Republicans have to say about it is purely emotionally driven and a bunch of hot air.
Next, the problem of executive orders, and "Emperor Obama". This one I often see on facebook where conservatives post pictures about how many executive orders Obama has issued, and then compare him to Joseph Stalin, or some other historical dictator. A couple of reasons why this is unfounded. First, Obama has issued less executive orders than both Bush's, or Reagan. They were never called tyrants or dictators now were they? (Well, George w. Was but come on) Executive orders are essentially how the president interprets a particular law and seeks to enforce it. It is his job to issue executive orders. In fact, other than veto power, it is just about the only direct power the president has over the country. An executive order cites an already existent law that was passed by congress, and declares how the president sees to properly enforce or enact the law. These executive orders can be reviewed by the supreme court who can then rule them unconstitutional if they over step the power the president has, or are found to be unreasonable interpretations of the law cited. Therefore, even with executive orders, Obama could not give himself dictatorial power over the nation.
We hear all too often about the unconstitutionality of laws or regulations, yet when held up to scrutiny, these cries often do not hold up. The key is to look beyond the rhetoric. Inform yourself about the issues and decide for yourself.

Decades of Hate

For most of us who have been around since the mid to late 90s, most of our lives have been filled with spectres of terror, war, and gun violence. We grow up in an age of school shootings, and suicide bombings. That's scary enough to deal with. The fact that we have our elementary school kids go through drills incase a shooter come into their school, they'll be ready, is entirely upsetting. The fact that these shootings happen repeatedly yet nothing is done about it is even worse.
The times we have seen make a lot of us cynical. We look at society and see a technological takeover, run by people who don't seem to care, and kids who are beyond apathetic towards education, or basic physical activity. All of this creating a frustration in the minds of those born during the 80s and 90s, who have grown up with technology, but not raised by it.
Beyond that, the social awareness of police brutality thanks to cameras on cell phones, and the huge network of social media has exacerbated this frustration and cynicism. We look at everything through a misanthropic lens. Yet we continue to do nothing. Most of my peers, rather than educate themselves on these matters, simply withdraw from the political process, often falling victim to rhetoric and false prophets of stability and peace.
During the few decades we've been around, there have been profound changes to society, from the internet, to television, and the phones we use. All of this in some form helps shape out ideologies, and beliefs. We see more of what is going on, thanks to the lightning speed of news outlets and social media. But a lot of what we see is ignorance and hate. As globalization continues, people will continue to move around the globe in search of a better life, a good job, a place to settle down. Right now many see that place as America. But xenophobia is rampant, and these same innovations we enjoy become mediums for hate and even violence. Promoting white supremacy, extreme nationalism, and pragmatic beliefs of society, and social order. A new age social Darwinism if you will. A belief where Latinos and African Americans are inherently less intelligent, a push for a "pure" America. Still, globalization will not go away, it will continue, possibly increasing the size of those who follow this new push of nationalism.
As the 21st century continues, these are issues we must face. Will we as a nation fall victim to nationalistic tendencies, and work towards making a more "pure white" America? Or will the original creed of America continue on, an America of philosophy rather than ethnicity. An America of dreams instead of hate. A unite America, not an America battling over partisanship and bigotry. The torch is being passed, will we march on, or will we allow the flame of liberty and democracy to fade away into the silent night.