DGAmerican Governments America as a country knows that there is strength in numbers which is true in most cases. It is a country that prides itself on the idea that it is a place of freedom and many believe it still holds true to this idea. In most cases that may be the case but the line seems to be drawn on the case of sexuality. The issue I look too, and hope that others outside of the LGBT community, is part of the long battle for the right to be who one wants to be. In July 2017, President Trump had announced over Twitter the administration’s new policy that would ban most transgender people from serving in the military. Not only was this new proposed policy endorsed by President Trump, but it was also released officially by Secretary of Defense James Mattis in 2018 and was passed by the Supreme Court January 2019. The fight for those in the LGBT community has been a long a difficult battle with acceptance of one another under the flag of freedom not being an easy goal to obtain.
This ban however did not start with the Trump Administration. The first ban on transgender military service began on May 17, 1963 with the application of Executive Order 10450 which allowed businesses to terminate employment of those who were or were suspected of being homosexual. This included federal employees as well as military service members. Legal battles were fought against this action but it was ruled by the courts that it was valid while using an Air Force member, Leyland as an example. The person had undergone a gender reassignment surgery and was discharged shortly after. The courts had determined that genital surgery was similar to amputation surgery, which by military standards, effectively makes the individual unable to meet the demands of a soldier. (Witten 2007) It wouldn’t be until the presidency of Barack Obama that the ban would be ended on June 30, 2016 with some officials were mentioning that the ban was expensive as well as un-needed since there was no signs of skill impairment regardless of sexual preference or those who had undergone gender reassignment surgery. This however would as current President Trump would come into office and announce the administration’s new policy on banning those who suffer from gender dysphoria from serving in the United States Military. The LGBT community has battled long and hard to get to where they are today. Support for each other has been the staple of the community so everyone can live their lives happily and free to be who they want to be. With that said, the transgender ban does place a struggle on multiple aspects, not just for the community but for the lives of Americans as well. The ability to serve and fight for one’s country is a great honor to many families who have one of their own serving currently and for those who have had members serve in the past. It is easy to forget that the ban doesn’t hurt just a single group of people. There are those who support the ban regardless because of what they believe is right. It is thought that those who are confused about their own gender, could be a hinderance in the field. While I personally don’t believe such a thing is true, I can see why they would think that a transgender person would not be effective rather than a “normal” person. But that is something that those who support the ban should take a moment to think about. As I stated before, this ban does not affect just transgendered people. It affects Americans who wish to fight to protect their country and stops family legacies from continuing. There are many families who pride themselves on serving their country. Whether it be a father or a mother serving, the family will most likely influence their children or other families to join. To stop someone based on their gender preference would be to stop this chain of events and may discourage more from joining. If anything, one should take the point of view as a commander of an army. An army needs people and it is a good thing if a large number of people are joining. If I, as a commander, were to stop a group of people from joining, it would cause the number of people joining to reduce. A loss is a loss and there is no way to truly compensate for someone being extremely vital to the function of the army regardless of who they are as a person. With the 2020 election in sight, it is important to note that there has not been much word on the ban by the upcoming candidates. As far as it looks, I have not caught wind of any candidate aiming to help get the ban reversed but I believe it is something that may be on their mind. Military service is an important part of American life. It is a choice that any can make and that choice should be protected for everyone.
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I AMAmerican Governments An important issue that has not been brought up so much is the retirement of the penny. The main branch of the government that produces coins is the U.S. MINT and have been doing it for over 225 years. Since 1792 the Mint started producing copper, silver, and gold coins. The first circulation of 11,178 cents to the public was on March of 1793. In 1857, Mint stopped using copper because it was becoming more expensive and started adding nickel to the copper. And in 1864, they completely changed its composition to pure zinc. From the time of the production of the penny to around the late 1900, the penny was used to buy things. In today’s day and time, we cannot buy anything with a penny…not even an ACTUAL penny (US MINT).
The current production cost of a penny is 1.5 cents per coin so why keep spending money on something that we are not using? The one-cent US coin is mainly made of zinc with some copper. The penny is the most circulated coin in the United States. Last year alone, the Mint produced more than 8.4 billion pennies for circulation with a total of $69 million in losses. If people would see the bigger picture, that money the and taxpayers are losing can be used for funding for other important programs. The penny has become unprofitable due to inflation and the rising cost of metals since 2006. The inefficiency of making pennies is one of many reasons why other countries such as Canada, Australia, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden have quit producing their least important coins. An example of that is Canada. When Canada stopped its production of their penny in 2012, the penny was 1.6 cents to produce and was not adding anything positive into their economy. Today, when making purchases, Canadians either round up or down depending on the total to ignore the fact they are penniless. In most recent elections, there have not been many talks about this since most people do not see this as a priority. In 2006, Representative Jim Kolbe presented the Currency Overhaul for an Industrious Nation (COIN) Act that would ban the penny and rounding off all cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents. People had mixed feelings about it, so nothing was ever done. On March 29, 2017 it was introduced again as the Currency Optimization, Innovation, and National Savings Act of 2017. This bill suspends the production of one-cent coins for a ten-year period to see if banning the penny is successful. As of 2019, there have not been any news or bills passed on this issue. @AmericasVoiceAmerican Governments This issue has always been a very popular topic to discuss, the topic in question being the Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA for short. The program defers deportation proceedings for two years for individuals who qualify; it also gives those who are approved work authorization to stay in the US temporarily. The program was created by then president Barack Obama on June 15, 2012. To be eligible for DACA the applicant must be between the ages of 15 and 31 as of June 15, 2012, under the age of 16 when entered the united states, lived in the US continuously sine June 15, 2007, present in the US on June 15, 2012 and at the time of applying, in school graduated or have completed high school or honorably discharged from the military, and lastly not convicted of a felony a significant misdemeanor or three or more other misdemeanors. DACA is neither an official legal status nor pathway to citizenship but it does allow them to be “lawfully present” without being threatened of deportation. According to USCIS as of September there were 689,800 DACA recipients. There are roughly 1.3 million people who meet the criteria and could have applied. A lot of the DACA accepters are heavily concentrated in California with 28 percent and Texas with 16 percent.
This topic for the most part has two sides, those who are directly affected by the program and those who are against it. Those affected by the program as stated earlier are undocumented immigrants who where not born here in the US but have spent the majority of their lives here and really the only home they know. The other side would be those against the program that disagree that those undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the US for various reasons. Both sides have stated claims on why they believe their point of view is the correct one. For the DACA recipients their argument for the program would be that since they where brought into the country at such a young age they have more claim to the US being their home then the country they left and cant even remember sometimes. If the program would to be dissolved it would cause drastic changes to those who lives depend on the programs existence. The other perspective is people disagreeing and saying the DACA program is not worth keeping and would be just be better getting ride of it completing. Thus in their idea would get rid of all the undocumented immigrants more drastically deporting them back to their native country. It really just comes down to the differences’ each side has from the other. Both sides have valid reasoning for the cause to either support the program or to get rid of it entirely. Immigration has always been one of the top issues to discuss in the country especially during elections. Ever since the creation of DACA, there has been speculation on whether it is a good idea to keep it or not. Since president Trump has been in office he has been trying his hardest to get rid of DACA and keeping other immigrants from coming into the US. He has so far been able to rescind the program so they are only accepting renewals and no longer accepting new applications. The topic of immigrations was discussed often prior to the midterm elections. Some democrats have stated that Trumps actions of separating parents from children due to deportation have helped solidified more votes for a change. Since then there has been a court ruling that has directed the White house to fully reinstate DACA. The decision came from Washington based U.S District Judge John D. Bates. With the house now being mostly Democratic this is good news for DACA recipients. Just recently the house Democrats introduced a bill that will offer 2.5 million immigrants a chance at a permanent status. The bill HR6 is called the Dream and Promise Act, which will allow Dreamers to apply for legalization as well as Temporary Protected Status holders to apply for green cards. There where three representatives that introduced the bill. They were Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY), Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA), and Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY). Nydia Velázquez stated, “We are not going to allow Donald Trump to send back them back, and we are not going to ask them to live in a constant state of fear and uncertainty” from that statement and the what the bill does we can see where the democratic party stands going toward the 2020 election. Going into the 2020 president election immigration will play a strong topic for those who decide to run. I do believe that DACA recepient and other undocumented immigrants will play more a factor in political terms. Whether it may be in the form of directly helping in campaigns or indirectly by just helping getting the issues out and heard. One example would be from senator Bernie sanders who has already hired an Arizona activist who has declared herself as an immigrant without legal status. Belén Sisa has been hired to be deputy press secretary. Sanders stated, “Our campaign is about transforming our country and creating a government based on the principles of economic, social, racial and environmental justice.” SUSAmerican Governments America has been one of the most diverse countries out there. We are given plenty of opportunity which has made us evolve as a nation, and we continue to raise the countries standards at a higher and higher rate. Everything around us has had the opportunity to mature and grow, but has this been the case for our people’s health and well being? Look again...
Our dietary habits are the leading driver of death and disability, causing an estimated 700,000 deaths each year. Heart disease, stroke, obesity, Type 2 diabetes, cancers, immune function, brain health – all are influenced by what we eat. For example, our recent research estimated that poor diet causes nearly half of all U.S. deaths due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes. There are almost 1,000 deaths from these causes alone, every day. By combining national data on demographics, eating habits and disease rates with empirical evidence on how specific foods are linked to health, we find that most problems are caused by too few healthy foods like lack of fruits and vegetables and instead gain too much salt, processed meats, red meats and sugary drinks (Mozaffarian, 2017). Point being, America has been struggling with health issues all throughout the nation. The biggest cause of these health issues include the food that we grow and eat. As a nation, we need to step up our game and change the flaws in the quality of our food. This also means the way that we raise/feed our animals, how they live, and where we get our products from. This is a harm to everyone in the nation, and we should all be given the cream of the crop by simply giving the respect that is needed. According to FoodDive, author Lillianna Byington writes about how voters decided to pass a measure regulating the amount of space farm animals have in cages and crates. The results were highly disappointing as the animals were not treated with respect. These results mean poor quality in product. Starting in 2020, animal confinement would change by banning the sale of eggs from hens which confines to less than one square foot of floor space per hen, as well as the sale of calves in areas with less than 43 square feet of space per animal. Then beginning in 2022, egg-laying hens would have to be kept cage-free and breeding pigs would need at least 24 square feet of usable floor space per animal (Byington, 2018). This could lead to a multitude of problems because of the fact that our food is being mistreated by the way it lives before it dies. If we could wrap our heads together and realize that we shouldn’t be completely opposed of what is right for our lives and the future generations to come, then we would be more willing to go forth with this project of improvement. For instance, the ballot measure in Massachusetts passed in 2010, and scheduled to take effect in 2022, mandates all pork, veal and eggs farmed and sold comes from animals not confined to small areas. But the initiative has faced backlash from critics in the farming industry who say it would force out-of-state farmers to comply and that violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to regulate commerce between states. Currently 13 states are suing Massachusetts to stop the cage-free egg voter initiative (Byington, 2018). Unfortunately the California measure could see similar legal struggles if other states don't want to comply with these new standards to sell their products in the state. But if both the ballot measures withstand the potential legal battles ahead, more states across the country could set new standards for animal cages. And this isn’t the last of it.To put this food reform situation altogether, the food policy plate is full to overflowing. According to Sean McBride, the Farm Bill is mired in politics. New approaches to trade have created instability for farms and farmers. Federal agencies don’t quite yet know how they are going to regulate plant-based and laboratory-grown food. This is just a start. The federal government’s dietary guidance for consumers, the 2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, is stuck at the starting gate. The United States Department of Agriculture has not issued congressionally mandated labeling regulations for foods containing genetically engineered ingredients. It is stated that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working on a national nutrition strategy as well as a regulatory framework for the use of gene-edited crops (McBride, 2018). We are a nation that has grown to be one of the top countries in the world. Our health should be on the top of this list as well. Without changing the ways of our food quality and “ignore” these issues, then we will continue to be have a major decline in our food industry. We need to make a change, and it’s got to happen now. Anti-buffetAmerican Governments What are the issues?
In United States, millions of households contribute to the food waste crisis which has resulted in the creation of billions of dollars in food waste over the years. Not only that, this issue has a massive impact on aspects of our economy, education systems, agricultural habits, and the environment as a whole. The solution should be to band together with organizations such as the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) in order to reduce 50% of the food waste that is currently thrown out by 2030. What is food waste? Food waste is simply defined—it is the food we discard both intentionally or accidentally. This wasteful practice occurs everywhere; at home, school, the workplace, while shopping, in a restaurant, on a farm, etc. According to the USDA, food waste takes up to 30-40% of the total food supply. Why do we have food waste? Poor planning: People are too busy to properly prepare a list of groceries prior to going to the market resulting in over-buying and food waste due to a lack of planning. Additionally, instead of bringing the leftover food at home for the next day, many individuals continue to eat in restaurants which can often create further food waste. Over preparation: Preparing several meals at the same tine will be more efficient and convenient. However, the food might go bad before eating it and we can grow bored of the same meals. Bulk buying: We tend to buy more when food is on sale even though we don’t really need them. Agricultural production, harvest, processing and distribution: Food waste resulted from damage, spill, transportation, attacked from insects or diseases. How does food waste affect our life? Waste of water: 70% of water is used for agriculture as well as food processing and preparation but most of the food goes to waste. Waste of energy: The U.S. uses a lot of energy for agriculture, the food distribution process, and powering home cooking appliances for food that will not be eaten. Waste of land: Up to a 1/3 of the entire 1.4 billion hectares of the food producing farms in the country’s food products will go to waste every year. Environment:Food waste is one of the contributing factors for global warming and climate change. Food waste ends up at landfills will produce a tremendous amount of methane which can be more harmful than CO2. Political Impact: According to the Press Release No. 0021.18, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed to improve coordination and communication across federal agencies attempting to better educate Americans on the impacts and importance of reducing food loss and waste by joining the Winning on Reducing Food Wasteinitiative. How to reduce food waste? From the consumers:
MDAmerican Governments The topic I will be discussing are the enduring concerns on the working conditions teachers face in the K-12 educational system. Educators play an important role in the educational system that ultimately ends up effecting student’s academic success in the long run. Some concerning working conditions that K-12 teachers face here in the state of California are low salary wages, lack of adequate resources such as classroom materials, overcrowded classrooms, lack of district support, scarce staff and more. When these conditions are taken into account, strong and significant factors predict high turnover rates within teachers and also has a down fall effect on student academic performance.
One of the top issues discussed about teachers working conditions is salary wages. Teacher pay has been an ongoing problem across the country. A handful of states have had teacher walk outs and strikes to proclaim their impatience with low wages. These low salary wages force many teachers to look for second jobs in order to make ends meet. Having a second job can hinder the development of teachers, it can affect how well the teachers develop their lesson plans and how effective they deliver those lesson plans. The lack of resources in classrooms makes it difficult for teachers to meet the needs of students. Most teachers have to spend money out of their own pocket to buy basic classroom supplies, something that is not their responsibility to do. The lack of resources also has a trickle-down effect that hurts those students who need the extra support. Overcrowded classrooms also cause overburden and overload on teachers. Any classroom that has 25 plus students is already a difficult learning environment for students. It becomes more difficult when there are not enough resources for all students in the class. Overcrowded classrooms also make it difficult for teachers to keep up individually with all the students, in particular those who need the extra support. Historically, some of these concerns have been around for many years in particular the demand for a raise in teachers’ salaries. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, from 1969 to 2017 there has only been a 15% increase in teacher salary in California. Within these years there have been several strikes across California. Los Angeles being the second biggest school district in the U.S. has had an increase of strikes since the early 1950s until now. Between 1960 and 1974 there were more than 1,000 strikes that involved more than 823,00 teachers according to the Time article The History of American Teacher Strikes. The amount of strikes that these teachers undergo only goes to show how serious this issue has been and continues to be. Teachers have been fighting for fair working conditions for years now and till this day there has not been a median between teachers and politicians. Current defining moments for this issue have been the recent strikes that have occurred in Los Angeles and Oakland. Both districts were able to come to some sort of agreement that ended the strikes. These strikes are only reassurances that teachers are still being underserved. In the last election there were several forums where the next state superintendent of public instruction had mention the transparency and necessity of the five-year- old school funding formula that targeted funds towards high-need schools. These candidates that were running for state superintendent of public instruction. With Gavin Newsom as the new Governor, state board of education positions have changed. These new leaders need to allocate for K-12 funding and higher education in order to have significant impact on students. As of now, Senator Kamala Harris is calling for federal government to invest in improving teachers’ salaries nationwide. Harris stated in a tweet that public teachers get paid about $13,000 a year less than other college graduates. She intends to close the pay gap but using federal resources that are available to give America’s teachers a raise. 2019 CSUS Senior Grad MomAmerican Politics College graduates spend at least four years earning a degree to work in a career of their dreams utilizing that degree. Finding viable employment and housing has proven challenging due to the lack of work experience in their chosen field of study and the rising cost of housing. The lack of preparedness given to students while in college for life after college become surreal when faced with the reality that even after all the theory knowledge gained to do a job, it doesn’t hold much weight in the work force if you don’t have hands on experience. Confronting the reality of post college life makes living the American dream a fictitious thought for many college graduates.
Legislation on college education, employment for newly graduated college students and housing could help to regulate what happens when a college student graduates. One legislation on the 2018 election ballot was Proposition 10, but it did not pass. This Proposition could have helped with rising rent prices by placing a cap on the amount of rent that could be charged. The shortage of housing and the rising cost of housing prices in California makes it extremely hard for society to find and pay for a place to live. Rent controlled housing would be more affordable and allow society to live without additional financial assistance. Although Proposition 10 would benefit societies rental market it could hurt it as well. The bill could have created an even bigger shortage on housing and possibly caused landlords to lose money in the long run and not take good care of their properties. Basically, Proposition 10 could keep society from being potentially homeless. In a recent study, USA today reports that a person living in the United States needs to have an income of $75,000 a year to live comfortably. Because of the living index, the amount would change depending on the state. For the state of California, the median for a person purchasing a home is $425,000. The average price to rent a home is $1,900. The average price to rent an apartment in California ranges from $1,156 for a studio, $1,358 for a one bedroom, $1,723 for a two bedroom, $2,375 for a three bedroom, and $2,755 for a four bedroom. Compared to other places in the United States where rent ranges from $821 for a studio to $1,791 for a four bedroom, the cost of living in California is higher. California may be the sunshine state, but it is among one of the more expensive places to live, especially if you live in San Francisco or Los Angeles. The expectation is to graduate college and work in a job making $60,000 to $80,000 a year or more. But, the reality is college students find themselves in jobs making $40,000 to $60,000 a year. The less fortunate college graduates are more and more finding themselves working, in jobs that pay minimum wage or just barely over minimum wage. The minimum wage in California is currently $11 an hour if you are work for a small company with 25 employees or less. If you are lucky to work for a larger company that has 26 or more employees, the hourly wage is $12 an hour. By 2020, the minimum wage will be $15 an hour. None of these wages mentioned provides enough money for someone to live, especially if there is the issue of student loans, which adds to the problems a college graduate faces when entering life after college. According to Forbes.com, the average amount of student loan debt a college student or graduate has is approximately $29,800. The parents who are required to get loans to help their college student, have loans that average 35,600 in parent plus loans. The loans with interest compounded daily can make paying off the student loan seem impossible. Student loans are an issue that has reached $1.5 trillion. Some majors, such as medicine or engineering require more time and money and can equal higher student loan debt. College graduates are given a grace period before being required to start paying the loans back, but with a minimum wage or slightly higher than minimum wage job that can be difficult. Even with programs in place to assist with affordable payment options, in some cases, it is still not enough. Just another thing schools do not tell you about life after college. It is not for the lack of knowledge for a job, but for the lack of experience or because of the degree, now being over qualified that a college graduate is not able to find sustainable employment. It makes a person wonder, with the potential hardships that can come after college graduation, if education beyond high school is worth the time and effort? Although it may be a rough start out of college into your career, it is always worth the effort to gain knowledge that will provide a better future. |
AuthorUndergraduate student generated content. Blog posting and updating done by Kristina Flores Victor, Assistant Professor of Political Science at CSUS Archives
March 2020
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