Jeb & Mitt

The Republican Party has taken a turn to the right. Many moderate Republicans have had to turn to the right to survive politically. Those whom refused have been vanquished by ultra-conservative forces. Two men, whom may very well run for President of the United States, embody the moderate Republican agenda. These men are Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney. While Romney swung to the right during the 2012 Presidential campaign and primaries while he was Governor of Massachusetts he was a moderate common sense Republican. Quite a rarity these days.

If the Republican Party attempts to run an ultra-conservative candidate (such as a tea party backed candidate), they will certainly lose the general election against the Democratic nominee. Jeb Bush and Mitt Romney are the best chance the Republican Party has of recapturing the White House in 2016.

Governor Bush and Governor Romney have served in the highest echelons of business and have held one of the highest political offices in the United States that of Governor.

However only one can run for either to be successful. Both of them appeal to big business, posses similar philosophies, and can draw in voters whom are tired of Tea Party obstructionists and anti-modern views on social issues. Both are simply logical moderates with years of executive and business experience.

I believe Governor Bush is the best chance for Republicans to pull in swing/moderate voters and defeat the presumed Democratic nominee Hilary Clinton. Governor Bush has proclaimed, bravely (at least politically) his view on controversial issues such as immigration and gay marriage While Governor Bush didn’t come out firmly in support of gay marriage he did say that same sex couples along with rule of law must be respected. On immigration, well, Governor Bush is married to a Hispanic women born in Mexico and has strongly supported immigration reform. I say that gives him the advantage over any Republican when it comes to garnering the Hispanic-American vote. Unlike Governor Romney who said in the nineties he is to the left of Senator Ted Kennedy on abortion, Bush has proclaimed his views just a few months before potential nominees will announce their candidacies and cannot as easily cop out of them by saying his views have changed. Governor Romney was attacked constantly for ( in the 2012 Presidential Election) changing his values and views on issues he supported as Massachusetts Governor and Senatorial Candidate. Voters like firm leaders whom profess their views clearly and do not hide from them.

Jeb Bush has the powerful Bush name behind him. Much like the Clinton name the name Bush can be helpful as well as a hindrance. It can invoke emotions ranging from awe to disgust. A famous name associated with two US Presidents and a governor polarizes and garners instant support. The name Romney is simply not as powerful nor as polarizing.

Finally Jeb Bush is associated with political success. While his father, President George H.W. Bush did lose his reelection campaign to Bill Clinton, his brother, President George W. Bush served two terms as President and he himself served two terms as Governor. On the other hand Governor Romney lost his parties nomination in 2008 and lost the 2012 Presidential election to President Barack Obama. Voters can at times forgive but party leadership will rarely forget about a candidate whom has lost a Presidential election, and so the Romney name carries with it a mark of defeat. Something Jeb Bush certainly does not.

I do believe Jeb Bush will run for President. If so he can capture swing voters, appeal to the Republican base (once ultra-conservative candidates our knocked out of the race), and out fund most competitors. Other competitors such as Chris Christie are just to polarizing or like Rand Paul too conservative to win in the general election. Romney is just a non-starter, he and Bush occupy the same sphere and the weight of Bush is just to great. I do believe Jeb Bush will seek the Republicans nomination for President of the United States and if so has the greatest chance of delivering the White House to the Republican Party. Nominating Governor Romney again will be a great mistake and a waste of a campaign.

 

A Conservative congress. Progress on legislation?

Speaker Boehner & Majority Leader McConnell

The 114th Congress has already begun, just yesterday Congressman John Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, was reelected as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Speaker Boehner needed 205 votes to win the speakership and won with 216 votes. For the past years Speaker Boehner has had to hold a possible revolt from the more Conservative elements of the GOP, namely the Tea Party. This year only twenty-four conservative Republican representatives went against the party line and voted not to elect Congressman Boehner as Speaker of the House.

Luckily for Speaker Boehner, the Republican Party, and the rest of the country Tea Party influence has been waning the past few years. The Republican National Committee during the 2014 midterm election cycle heavily vetted its congressional candidates and poured massive amounts of money into congressional primary campaigns to squash Tea Party backed upstarts whom threaten to taint the Republican Party with insensitive, ridiculous rhetoric and policy.

With that said I fear that this division within the Republican caucus right at the beginning of the 114th Congress may be, as it has been in past years, a preview of things to come. The Republican mainstream has had to take a decidedly right turn as ultra conservatives have routinely attacked any GOP members (including the congressional Republican leadership) whom sought compromise with the Democrats and to a greater extent President Barack Obama’s agenda.

Although the fire of the Tea Party may be dying down, grassroots conservative groups are still a forced to be reckoned with for the GOP. Speaker Boehner, along with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, may reject compromise in order to whip up conservative support for Republican’s in 2016 and retain the loyalty of rank and file members.

Speaker Boehner

With the Republican’s controlling the House and the Senate by good majorities the burden of legislating now fall upon the shoulders of Republican representatives. There still exists ultra conservatives in both the House and the Senate whom will force party leaders such as Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McConnell to reject common sense legislation proposed by Democrats in order to whip up their conservative base. Though the threat of a loss to Democrats in the 2016 Presidential elections looms I fear that again the 114th Congress will be a do nothing Congress and that the Republican Party will remain the obstructionist party.

Hacking Away at our Freedoms

Cyber warfare will usher in the next stage of conflict between nations. Cyber warfare is when one nation, through digital means, digitally attacks another nation. The attacks can target infrastructure, steal information, disrupt relations with international allies and are generally hard to pinpoint and punish. While seemingly less dangerous as other forms of conflict Cyber warfare and its co cyber terrorism cant threatened the national security of the United States and the American way of life.

Of course, why bring this up now? In the past few days Sony Entertainment was digitally attacked by unknown entity, this entity is assumed to be the rogue nation that is North Korea.

The theory is simple a plausible, Sony was scheduled to release the film the Interview starring James Franco and Seth Rogen, on December 25th. The films plot is that Franco and Rogan will conduct and interview Kim Jong-Un and attempt to kill him.

Image that appeared on Sony Entertainment’s computers after the hack

Not surprisingly North Korea, whom considers their national leader Kim Jong-Un a powerful savior, had a bit of a problem with the Interview. And so Sony was digitally attacked, disrupting the multinational companies for days and releasing confidential emails. The attacks and the emails sent the political and digital world into a tailspin.

While the US can respond and will respond, international laws regarding cyber warfare are difficult to enforce, and so little substantive harm will come to North Korea or at least to its leaders. To make matters worse, Sony along with several national movie theater chains decided, in light of the cyber attack, not to show the movie.

Political and entertainment scions President Barack Obama and George Clooney denounced the decisions believing its sets a dangerous precedent for censorship in the US by the decree of another nation.

I must agree, with President Obama and Clooney. Freedom of Speech, which film fall under, must be rigorously defended. Due to the actions of an outside nation, entertainment companies should not grovel to meet that nation’s demands.

The US must remain a place of free intellectual and cultural expression, a place were films like the Interview, that mock political leaders, can be shown and celebrated, if it does not, our very of life, our freedom to express ourselves, would slowly but surely unravel.

The Jury is Out

The American legal system, it forms the backbone of our nation, protecting we the people from government abuse and our fellow citizens. It seems that the stalwarts of our legal system, the protectors of our legal system, the protectors of our civil liberties should be beholden to no outside interests.

I am of course referring to those black robe masters of the law, the American judge. Judges,should be clear to enact judicial proceedings in a courtroom without having to take account any factors besides the facts on hand. In the United States that is simply not the case, we have in our midst a phenomena that threatens the sanctity of the judgehood and our legal system, the phenomena of Judicial Elections.

Judges preside over court proceedings, they are often educated individuals whom possess a passion for the law and have the ability to preside over courtroom without biased concerning the case at hand. Judicial elections jeopardize this unbiased that I believe is the hallmark of a great judge, ruling on a legal matter using the facts at hand.

Elections, as is the purpose of elections, makes you beholden to those whom elect you, in the United States people who stand for office are elected not by those whom they represent but to those who donate to them, Judicial elections are no exception to this rule.

Companies have realized that judicial elections garner relatively little attention an is an extremely cost effective way to win legal cases or defeat legislation that could harms said companies commercial interests.

Judges must be appointed, the tenure of all judgeships should not be life long yet sufficiently long enough to outlast any elected official that could appoint them. Elections, force judges to make promises that they are expected to rule on, such promises and the rulings to follow could easily conflict with what a judge should do depending on the particularities of a case. While more democratic on the surface judicial elections harm the sanctity of our Republic and the liberties of its citizens.

Through common sense practices, we the people, could craft the American legal system into what it was intended to be, a shining beacon of law that relies on just defenders, just rulings, and the rigorous appreciation of facts.

The Midterms: A Test for America

“They be a corrupt one and the hour be late,” kinda said author of Herman Melville. In two days time the fate of which political party controls our two chambers will be decided, though in reality the fate of both the House of Representatives and the United States Senate was decided along ago.

Basically pundits, citizens, and anyone with halve a brain believes that the Republican Party will undoubtedly capture control of the United States.

The nation can look forward to a Congress controlled by one party and Executive Branch controlled by another. I cannot say with certainty what will happen but only look at the state of the government during the last two years of George W. Bush’s Administration. During this time the Republicans may have controlled the Executive Branch but Democrats had captured control of the House of Representatives and the United States Senate due to President’s Bush unpopularity. This period of divided government lead to political grandstanding and gridlock.

I fear with Republican control of congress complete and Democrat’s controlling the Executive Branch for at least two more years this government will maintain its current lack of productivity.

There are several reasons why Democrats will lose control of the senate and undoubtedly lose a few more House of Representative seats. One there is a historical trend in the US where the party in power, after an incumbent presidents reelection, loses Congressional seats. Two President Obama is very unpopular in the minds of most Americans, they will not reward Obama’s party with Congressional Representatives in light of his perceived failures.

Third, people whom would vote Democrat such as the young, poor, and ethic minorities rarely turnout in large number for midterm elections. Instead you are simply left with a subset of the population, the Republican subset, whom include the white, the old and the rich.

With the above factors in mind, Democrats, undoubtedly will lose control of the Senate. Obama has failed in the mind of the public, his party will be hurt because of such perceptions. I hope the new Congress will be able to work with the President, I believe though that we are going to see continual legislation coming from Congress and President Obama continually vetoing such legislation.

In the end few members of this new congress will standout and few notable pieces legislation will be passed. Simply put the current political system is broken, these midterm elections will do little to change that.

Compromise: A Necessary Good

The Founding Fathers were forced to compromise some of their deeply cherished beliefs to find the United States of America. From slavery, check and balances, even the location of the capital itself America was formed upon the ability to put the needs of the nation ahead of the needs of one selves. The Founding Fathers understood what politicians today don’t or can’t; that compromising ones ideals for a better future does not mean you must compromise yourself.

Today such traits are not welcomed in our national leader, instead such traits are vilified. Instead of compromise one is accused of compromising integrity or the trust of ones constituents. It is a shame what our nation’s political process has come to, battle lines are drawn and a politician must not cross them.

For example a popular social issue in the United States, is Marriage equality for same-sex couples. The Democrats are pro-marriage equality, the Republicans are anti-marriage equality. So Democrats take up one side and Republicans take up the other, no one is left to fill the void.

Instead of our national representatives creating meaningful federal legislation states are left to sort out the fate of same-sex couples. This is not an issue of states rights but simply of the ability of citizens to engage in “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.

Of course some progress could be made on the marriage equality front with the creation of meaningful compromises such as preserving traditional marriage for religious/spiritual reason but giving civil unions the same legal rights as marriage. Of course any politician whom attempted such a compromise would be called names such as a “flip-flopper” or even worse a politician.

(Disclaimer: I fully support marriage equality)

The example above is only one example of how political compromises can truly put this nation back on the path of greatness. Compromise is not a weakness in politics (generally) but a strength. The media, gerrymandering, and most prominently the American public contribute to this toxic anti-compromising political culture. Only through politically literate citizens will compromise be seen as a means of putting the nation forward.

Mining Space: Humanity’s Cosmic Expansion

Space, the Final Frontier, has long been a topic of human interest. I believe interest in space peaked in the 1960s during the space race between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. Is then that John F. Kennedy gave Americans the challenge of putting a man on the moon, while the man would not live such a goal would continue.

Mission Accomplished.

But then what?

America, and may I say the world, grew disinterested with space exploration. We had gotten man to the moon but was it possible to go farther still. Budgets cut, economies damaged, exploring the cosmos fall far on priorities. Yet the trouble for American space exploration was not over.

On August 31, 2011 the US space shuttle program was grounded Currently the only way to get to the International Space Station (ISS), a pinnacle of human space engineering, is to take the Russian’s Soyuz spacecraft. On top of all this no space faring nation takes bold leaps in the realm of manned space travel.

Luckily there are a brave few entrepreneur, willing to challenge the unknowns of manned space explorations. Elon Musk I believe is the most prominent and influential man in the field of manned space travel. His company, Space X, is regularly awarded multibillion dollar contracts to deliver cargo to the ISS. Currently Musk is working on developing a rapidly reusable rocket and has plans to put humans on Mars by 2030.

While I wholeheartedly believe in Musk’ mission and believe he will succeed, there is something else that is required to push humanity into mass space migration.

It is a time-honored tradition of greed; space must be profitable in order for space migration to take off. Currently space is not profitable, from a purely economical standpoint space is worthless. Of course space exploration is more than about a simple profit, it is about engaging in the human spirit of exploration and ensuring the continued survival of humanity.

Yet the need for a source of space capital remains. I believe that such a source of space capital can come from those fast traveling cosmic rocks known as asteroids.

Asteroid Mining!

Asteroid Mining is the future of space commerce and space exploration. Compare it to the exploration of the Americas during the Age of Exploration (1492-1700). Once riches such as gold and silver were discovered and harvested a wave of European nations began sending people to the new world. I believe the same parallel can be drawn between the exploration of the Americas and Space exploration. One, asteroids are a major source of material wealth, asteroids contain metals such as platinum, iron, nickel, and cobalt.

The problem is that currently no manned made object has ever landed on an asteroid although the Rosetta is currently in the process of doing so. Another problem is the mining of asteroids, while I certainly believe that we have the technology to mine asteroids it simply hasn’t been done. The reasons, I believe, is that it will cost billions of dollars to track, land, and then mine an asteroid. But I believe it will be done within my lifetime, an organization, a man, a woman, or a government will successfully be able to mine an asteroid.

Simply put asteroid mining must become a commonality, not an impossibility. And so it will become. Once space is commercialized the mass colonization of mars and our solar system will begin.

O Gerry, Stop Splitting Districts

America is becoming more and more politically partisan both the American People and our supposed representatives in Congress have become more and more determined to seek hard life left wing or right wing policies while rejecting all forms of legitimate compromise. While there are more than a few reasons that hyper partisanship has become the norm, I believe the root of the problems lies with the political technique known as gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the redrawing of congressional districts to gain a political advantage in elections.

Gerrymandering was invented by Massachusetts Governor Elbridge Gerry, in 1810 he redistricted Massachusetts to account for populations changes. While the original intent behind gerrymandering is muddled one thing is certain: gerrymandering today is simply legal corruption used to reap massive political advantage.

I don’t believe many citizens of this nation are of aware of how gerrymandering works and how it effects them. Under the current political order every ten years, the time when population census take place state legislatures are allowed to redraw congressional districts due to changes in “ population” (at least in theory). In practice gerrymandering is used to create districts that keep the political party doing the redistricting in Congress. Far more than many Americans realize state legislatures are extremely important (or at least important once every ten years), if a political party controls the state legislature that party effectively controls whom in that state is elected to Congress.

For example lets say your the Republican Party of Arizona, you have noticed in the past few decades that Arizona’s population has become more and more Hispanic as immigrants migrate from Latin America to the United States. Before you know it your traditional white Republican voters become the minority in some congressional districts putting Republican Congress seats at jeopardy. In this instance the state legislature, Republican controlled, redraws the district cutting out Hispanic voters (whom currently votes Democrat) and packing in as much white Republican voters as possible. In this scenario the Republican in Arizona are able to hold on to their congressional seats thus benefiting the national party. ( Disclaimer I simply chose the republican party in this example Democrats do the exact same thing.

The process explained above is why congressional districts look like this

What is one to do to combat gerrymandering and the larger threat of partisanship? For one a non-partisan commission, perhaps crafted from a private organization, could be set up to divide congressional districts. However the problem is that non-partisan commissions quickly become very partisan, such is the political America realities. A second more viable solution is this: have state constitution amended to state that congressional districts must be divided mathematically. With todays technology it should be easy to create an algorithm that maps out a state and then divides said state into congressional districts into impartial bits.

Such is the woes of American political realities. Hyperpartisan gerrymandered districts leads to the election of hyperpartisan congressmen and congresswoman whom must pander to their partisan voters lest they be voted out of office.

Gerrymandering is simply one problem that must be fixed in order to return our nation to greatness and reinvigorate its political process.

North Korea: A New Path?

Kim Jung Un is thought to currently be disposed of by high ranking members of the North Korean Military. Whether this means murdered or simply overthrown we have yet to know. Of course any speculation would be rumors but let us speculate. For one we all should have seen this coming, having a young, less than extraordinary man take control of a militaristic dictatorship is just asking for trouble. The trouble was exacerbated when Kim Jung Un began killing off high-ranking members of the military elite; he also caused tensions with the United States by actions ranging from the development of ICBM (Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles) to the detainment of American citizens. This change may yet change relations between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States, better yet it may benefit the lives of the North Korean’s.

North Korea now sits at a crossroads; I see the path ahead will lead to the development of a better North Korea. Let me preface my claims with this: under no circumstance is North Korea’s military elite benign selfless rulers. Yet they know the ruling family of North Korea has lead North Korea to a perpetual reputation as an international joke, a regime so insecure that it must keeps its people beyond ignorant just to hold onto power.

I believe I can see the future of North Korea, at least for the relative short term. For one the current ruling military will stop provoking the US, I believe that the North Korean military will wish to end severe sanctions against North Korea imposed by the US. These sanctions allow no food aid to go to North Korea due to its testing of ballistic missiles. I believe that North Korea’ military will work with the US in order to bring food to its starving population. Not out of altruism but to increase productivity, their comes a point when the suffering of ones people wreck economic havoc.

In the long term, if the military regime lasts, I see a North Korea with an improved economy, an improved society, sadly still a nation that I believe will combine the promise of capitalism with the horrors of autocracy.

Victory Together or Defeat Alone

It’s a turn in tack for the United States. The United States sits at a crossroad, I believe the path we follow will determine the future of the United States. We are a prideful patriotic people long accustomed to a great smashing victory against an evil but rationale enemy. ISIS, along with any other non-state actors, is not a rational enemy whom we can defeat in a head on battle. Barack Obama earlier this week, in a startling departure from his previous war policies, laid out a new path for the United States.

President Obama has laid out a plan to destroy ISIS and disrupt terrorist activity from the deserts of the Middle East to the shores of North Africa. Yet we all know that such a task cannot be accomplished in a single presidential administration nor by a series of strategic airstrikes. With his popularity plummeting and Americans sick of a lack of leadership in the world President Obama has laid out a plan that will send Americans back to the Middle East.

While I am no Dove it would seem that since September 11^th 2001 the United States actions against terrorists have been primarily reactionary in nature. Terrorism is used by groups whom lack the power to fight through conventional and legitimate means. They use the terrorizing of civilians and suicide attacks to strike fear into the heart of industrialized nations, a glaring example of course is the United States.

Americans must lead but not alone. Europe besieged as it is by economic and political crisis must help the US in the fight against terrorists in the Middle East. If Americans truly want victory in the Middle East we must accept the fact that victory is decades if not centuries away and that the age where a super power could unilaterally act is long past.