The 2nd Amendment, Yo

1) The 2nd Amendment should be interpreted to allow for the differences that have arisen in today's modern society. The national guard is claimed to be the modern version of a state militia, but in all honesty the national guard is generally more loyal to the federal government then it is to the state government. Because of this change in what state militias are, the need for individual ownership of guns exist. The states must have the ability to create a force, even if it is weaker then the federal government, that could be used to oppose the federal government if need be. These forces do not need to be armed with fully automatic military weapons though because, if a state rebels it will simply need semi-automatic weapons to obtain the federal government and national guard's weapons within their state leveling the playing field. Furthermore, background checks and training should be required of any person who wishes to by a gun in order for the state to assemble a somewhat trained and reliable militia when need be. Because of how militias have changed, personal gun ownership must be sustained in order to give the states power.

2) If I had the final say on gun laws in the U.S.A. today I would require background checks and training for any person wishing to purchase a gun. I would also maintain the current restrictions on what types of firearms that can be owned should be maintained. I believe that if these restrictions were put in place then the power of the state would increase and the power of the federal government would weaken. The right to own a gun is not given to the citizens of the U.S. for individual benefit, it is given to the citizens of the U.S. in order to benefit the state that they live in.

Manifesto 2.0

1. If a large corporation were to go out of business, causing severe problems of unemployment and greatly disrupting the market, should the federal government subsidize them?

I believe that if a large corporation that would dramatically harm the economy then the should be subsidized in order to stay in business. This is simply because it is possible for a company to be too big to fail. The harm that the failure of a company like this would take so many consumers out of the market place that the economy would not be able to survive. These corporations should have to eventually pay the government back the money that they borrowed. If the government can save these corporations and these corporations recover then there would be no downside in this deal. It would  strengthen the economy along with the government. 

2. After looking at the 2011 budget (revenues & expenditures), my manifesto leads me to support/criticize it because...

After looking at the budget revenues and expenditures I feel that the government has not been successful in doing their jobs properly. Even if it will hurt their chance of being reelected it is their job to do what is best for the country. Social Security and Medicare must be cut or the budget of the U.S.A. will never be under control. The American people must accept the fact that they will not be able to survive unless they give up privileges that they were promised a long time ago. I will also criticize the lack ability in the government to find a way to successfully increase taxes in order to increase the revenue of the government. If the Government does not find a way to successfully   cut their expenditures and increase their revenues in the near future then it will collapse.

3. In keeping with my manifesto and after watching the movie I.O.U.S.A. explain the debt crisis faced by our nation, I propose the following solution...

I believe the only solution to solve the debt crisis is to greatly increase taxes on all of american citizens and make cuts to social security and medicare. The amount of the U.S. budget that these two programs absorb is atrocious and is growing every year.These programs should not be considered rights and should instead be seen as privileges by the U.S. citizens.  Also all taxes should be increased on everyone because all of the U.S. citizens should have to share the burden that they have forced upon their own shoulders.

My 30th birthday

      I believe that in 2024 on my thirtieth birthday the U.S. will have continued on its path of extreme spending until it could not support itself anymore. In order to counteract the massive debt it had acquired it has split into two distinct empires. The Western United State Republic has been forced to take on all of America's debt and is struggling to survive well the Eastern United Empire is flourishing with the pressure of debt lifted off their shoulders. I would have moved to the Eastern United Empire in order to escape the hordes of savages from the north that have been pillaging the towns in the Western United States Republic. A mongol horde from China has landed in California and because of there superior communication tactics and mobility in war they are destroying the remaining legionaries (Marines)  in the Western army.
     Meanwhile on the east coast the Eastern United Empire is flourishing. we have used the humid environment to produce spices and trade with many powerful countries. Because of the massive land reduction the military can now successfully protect the people and their products in the empire. With the debt removed and the new spice trade established the Eastern United Empire has a flourishing economy with no risk of collapsing. The Mountains between these two empires are also helping to keep the poverty of the western republic out of the eastern. There has also been a suggestion in the Eastern United Empire to change the name to the Bizantine Empire in  order to successfully separate themselves from the old United States. It is impossible to know how long the Eastern Empire and everyone is wondering if the Turks will crush the new Bizantine Empire and make an ottoman factory for all the world.   

Econ Essay

Menshevik Economics

By: Mike Jansen

Per.3A

The Menshevik party was formed during tsarist Russia and had a large part in the 1905 and 1917 revolutions in Russia.They were an offspring of the Social Democrats party, separating in 1903 in favor of a more Marxist view of socialism. Shortly afterwards the Bolshevik party split off from them in favor of even more radical and violent Marxist beliefs. The party was mainly led by Julius Martov from 1903 to around 1918 when the party ceased to exist. The parties main belief was that in order to have a successful government in Russia,  the proliferates must work with the acting Provisional Government in order to improve it. This greatly contrasted the Bolshevik belief that a violent overthrow was necessary, so they fell out of favor when the Bolsheviks began to take power in 1917 from the provisional government and prosecuted all who disagreed with their beliefs. The interesting thing was that after the 1917 Feb. Revolution the Mensheviks, a Marxist party, wanted Russia to become a capitalistic state. This was because the Mensheviks believed that socialism was the best economic system, but it could only be successful if a long standing capitalist economy had collapsed and socialism had risen with the cooperation of the bourgeoisie  to take it place.

To begin with the type of socialism the Mensheviks believed was called Marxism. It was based off of the teachings of Karl Marx, but was not as radical as the Bolshevik view. Karl Marx believed that in order to have a strong society, a strong economy was needed in order to create the necessary foundations for it. He is claimed to be a materialist who did not believe in the idea that a person's hope to better mankind through their actions drove them to work, but rather the economy they were in and the materials that were available to them drove them to survive. During his life Marx viewed the current types of societies as barbaric and primitive. To understand any society Marx claimed one must simply focus on the mode of production of that it relies on. Most importantly he believed that the relations of production, or who owns the means of production, and forces of production, the forces that encourage people to make certain goods, determined how successful a society is. For example in a capitalist society the relations of productions are the investors and factory owners, well the forces of production is the desire of these people to make profits. Marxist believed that by replacing these bourgeois with the state the desire to make unnecessary products for profit  alone would be eliminated and the society would be able to focus on producing what was actually necessary in order for it to flourish. Karl Marx did not deny that capitalism had been successful  in improving human society around the world but he felt that the class divide and and unnecessary products created by it would be harmful to the future of humankind. Most of the information on Marxism in this paragraph is based off of Ted Trainers brief introduction to Marxism cited below.

The Mensheviks did not believe in a social revolt, or an uprising of the working class was necessary in order to create a successful socialist society run by the people. Instead the Mensheviks believed that all classes of people, including the bourgeoisie, must live through the “horrors” of a capitalistic society in order to accept that socialism was the best economic system for all of the world. The Mensheviks were focused on representing the rights of the working class in Russian cities and their quality of life. The Mensheviks hope to eliminate factory owners, replacing them with soviets, or committees, that would be elected by the people who worked in these factories. These soviets would report to larger soviets until the reports reached the Central Soviet of Russia, the  largest soviet  in Russia. For example a steel factory in Petrograd, would report to the metal workers soviet, which would then report to the Petrograd soviet which ran the entire city and would report to the Central Soviet of Russia. It is important to realize that all of these soviets would have been elected by the civilians below them and reported to the government giving the government control over all aspects of life of the people below it. The Mensheviks also wanted to install socialism in the countryside by claiming all of the land then redistributing it in equal portions to the country peasants who wished to farm it. They hoped that by being given land of their own the peasants would be inspired to produce food for their nation relieving the food shortages in the cities. In summary, the Mensheviks believed in Marxism but wanted to enact it through peaceful means after the fall of capitalism in cooperation with the bourgeois.

Russia was a capitalist society in 1917, but the Mensheviks felt that it was not old enough at that time in order to precede the rise of socialism. Also it was lacking a true democratic government that was needed in order to establish socialism. The reason the Mensheviks felt a long standing capitalist system was needed because the people must have time to learn about and realize the flaws in capitalism in order to properly accept socialism. The Mensheviks wanted to wait until Russia had an older capitalist society, like Britian’s in 1917,which was ruled by a democratic parliament, before the switch to socialism was made. A democratic government was needed during this capitalist era because the Mensheviks did not believe a violent overthrow of the government was necessary in order to install socialism in a country. Instead they decided that the time would be correct for the rise of Socialism when the people of a country begin to knowingly elect socialist officials into government offices and accept their reforms. Basically, the Mensheviks believed that Russia was not ready for socialism in 1917 because it had never experienced a long standing capitalistic society ruled by a democratic government.

The beliefs of the Mensheviks are interesting because they have never been able to fully play out in any society. There has never been an instance of a completely independent  and democratic capitalistic society collapsing and being replaced with a true socialist system. The closest instance to this occurring was the Cuban revolution, but unfortunately for the Cuban people Castro felt it necessary to become a dictator creating a communistic state in Cuba. Therefore, one cannot rule that this system of beliefs will not work no matter how ridiculous it might sounds. According to the Menshevik beliefs, many of the leading countries in the world today have reached the point where socialism will rise and overthrow capitalism.. For example, France has recently elected an openly socialist president. This is just as it was predicted by the Mensheviks that socialism will rise when the people willing elect socialist officials into office. With this possibility that the time the Mensheviks were waiting for might have finally arrived it creates the question of whether society should continue on its same path and risk the rise of socialism or should change to keep the long standing capitalist tradition.  

Work Cited

    Cavendish, Richard. "The Bolshevik-Menshevik split; November 16th, 1903." History Today 53.11 (2003): 64+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Document URL

Hausmen, Craig. "Between The Revolutions." IB European History. Tualatin High School, Tualatin, OR. 12 Oct. 12. Lecture.

    Laqueur, Walter. "On Soviet communism." The National Interest 32 (1993): 105. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Document URL  

Pearson, Raymond. "The Menshevik Leaders in the Russian Revolution: Social Realities and Political Strategies." The English Historical Review 108.429 (1993): 1064+. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Trainer, Ted. "The Economic Sub-structure." MARXIST THEORY; A Brief Introduction. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Dec. 2012.

Fiscal Cliff

          If I had to explain the Fiscal Cliff to a fellow peer of mine I would tell them that it is basically a large tax increase compiled with cuts to government spending.  It would take away spending on unemployment, it would cut medicare spending, and it would take away 65 billion dollars over almost all government videos. It would also increase taxes across the bored for all people. Basically, America does not want the Fiscal cliff to occur because it would destroy the American economy.
      The reasons these parties created the Fiscal Cliff was because in order to compromise in the future congress will also set drastic deadlines that will force them to do something. The reason they made this deadline was to combat the rising national debt. Most republicans and Democrats actually agree on most changes except for the tax cuts for the top 2 percent of incomes.The reason the president doesn't want to extend the bush tax cuts like he did in 2010 is because the economy has become stronger and no longer requires them. The article I read about from the New York Times was the debt ceiling one. Basically what it did was reinforce this idea that the fiscal Cliff will occur if the government cannot come to an agreement  Republicans don't want to raise the debt ceiling and democrats don't want to give tax cuts to the richest Americans. Unless they can agree on a compromise the Fiscal Cliff will occur.
       It cannot be told what the outcome or compromise of this situation will be, but it must come soon if it is to take any affect. I personally agree more with the republican view of the situation. If taxes are cut, then they should be cut all of the way across the bored in order to be fair. Also I believe that the debt ceiling should not be allowed to rise any higher because all this debt does is harm the United States.

Government in the Economy

    I Believe that the government should be involved in providing the necessities that an economy requires to function but should not control how the economy directly functions. For example the roads and infrastructure must be maintained by the government and products needed for the production of other necessary goods, like oil, should have regulations that prevents the creation of a monopoly in that market. Also going along the same lines as above, the government should, in order to create more raw materials, be able to put taxes on some products in order to encourage private industries to produce certain products.
    Taxes should be collected at a flat rate across the population. For example 12% of all incomes and property values, and sales (12% is just a random number, not necessarily what it should be). If more of a raw product is needed, like corn, taxes could be lowered on it to encourage farmers to grow more of it. Government should use these taxes to pay for education, education should like the British were a test is taken to determine who should continue at the age of 16,  and the necessary infrastructure. Healthcare should be a privatized business. Job creation should be encouraged by the government by hiring private companies to complete necessary tasks in the country. Unemployment should be cut back and the amount of time that its supplied for should be drastically shrunk. Social service should be limited but the government cannot do that without risking a revolution. Infrastructure should be maintained by tax money by outsourcing to private industries.
   The U.S. should maintain its military at its current levels and should keep all necessary emergency workers as government employees. This is because they need to be guaranteed  a way for their families to survived when they are risking their lives every day.

Minimum Wage

I think the minimum wage should increase but not so dramatically that it goes all the way to ten dollars. I believe that an increase of that much would scare the suppler of jobs and cause layoffs of the lower class who the increase would be meant to help. I do think the wage must continuously rise with inflation in order to stay competitive and not force people to never stop working.