Hillary's Woman Card

During past debates, Donald Trump accused Hillary Clinton of using the "Woman Card" to get votes.

“If Hillary Clinton were a man, I don’t think she’d get 5 percent of the vote,” Trump said in a victory speech last Tuesday. “The only thing she’s got going is the woman’s card.”
-Donald Trump

Of course he meant to harm her campaign by downplaying her, but he actually did the opposite.  2.4 million dollars had been raised just in the last three days of April in fundraising Hillary's campaign after Trumps accusation.  Why?  The "Woman Card" of course!  Hillary's campaign has literally made Woman Cards to sell to her supporters.

“If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the woman card, then deal me in!” 
-Hillary Clinton

I personally think this was a classy response and a good use of negative energy to produce a positive result.  As much as I disagree with Clinton's policies and ideas,  I can respect her campaign for this.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-donald-trump-woman-card-donors_us_5727b4c5e4b0b49df6ac0b3e

The scary $15 an hour wage

I found this article very interesting.  Because at first, $15 an hour didn't sound too bad as a starting wage.  Sure, maybe I don't think it would be great for the economy, but I'll be the first to admit that making that much as a starting wage would be pretty nice at my age.

But why should it scare us?  It may be because the price will always be raised somewhere else.  The consumers will be paying more for their cup of coffee.  Sure, most of them will still drink their cup of coffee regardless, but what about products that people are less dependent on?  Will the public really be content with paying $5 for dollar menu items at McDonalds?  The money to pay the higher wage will come from the pockets of other people.  Teenagers will be getting paid well over what they need for their lifestyle by people who really can't afford the new prices at their favorite resutuarant.  That's why it should scare us.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/making-sense/column-15-minimum-wage-scare-us/

The Right to Religious Freedom

What is religious freedom?  Is it the freedom to practice whenever and wherever you want? Or is it more limited than that? According to the first amendment of the Constitution, every American has the right to practice his or her own religion or no religion at all.  I have addressed before the issue surrounding the using of the phrases, "In God We Trust" and "One Nation Under God".  Is the using of these phrases in line with the first amendment?  Our countries founders were all of different faiths and religions, but they all did agree that no matter the religion, everyone believes in something.  The first amendment, however focuses on the separation between church and state. This separation has saved our country a lot of heartache and conflict.

The United States has been successful in separating church and state in regards to schools and other government funded organizations.  Church schools, for example, cannot be funded by the government.  Those religions which wish to have their own school, must do so by means of their own funding.

https://www.aclu.org/your-right-religious-freedom

Minimum Wage Pros and Cons

Minimum wage started during the Great Depression and at that time, the wage was $0.25 an hour.  It has been periodically raised on twenty-two instances in correlation with inflation rates, the most recent raise being in 2009 when the minimum wage became $7.25 an hour.  And now the time has come to determine whether it is time or not to raise it.  Many different amounts have been thrown out from ten dollars to fifteen dollars.  I want to in this post look at some of the different pros and cons associated with raising the minimum wage.

Pros: The Economic Policy Institute states that raising the minimum wage would stimulate the economy and open more jobs to the people.  It shows that $22.1 billion net would be the result of raising the minimum wage to $10.10.  Increasing the minimum wage would cause a lower poverty rate. in fact it would bring 900,000 people out of poverty.  A higher minimum wage would decrease government welfare spending.  If people could earn a higher wage, they would be less and less dependent on the government to pay for their basic needs.  The Economic Policy Institute found that if the minimum wage was increased to $10.10, 1.7 million Americans would no longer need government support.

Cons: The Congressional Budget Office, in contrast to the Economic Policy Institute, states that the raised minimum wage would only hurt the economy and force business owners to lay off employees in order to afford the wages of others.  Increasing the minimum wage could cause more poverty because more people would be out of work due to budget cuts.  Somewhere, someone will have to pay for the raised income whether it comes from the public taxes, or simply the consumer.  If businesses are to be responsible for compensating the raised wage,  people will lose their jobs and that will send the poverty rates much higher.  A raised wage would hurt businesses and cause many to shut down.  This is especially applicable to small, locally-owned businesses who are struggling enough as it is to pay their employees as well as other costs.

In my opinion, the minimum wage should be raised, but not by much.  not to $10 and not to $15, but possibly to $8.50 or $9.

http://minimum-wage.procon.org/

Donald Trump"s Student Debt Plan

Donald Trump has a surprisingly similar approach to student loans as Hillary Clinton.  He doesn't think it's right for colleges to send students out into the world with thousands of dollars of debt to follow them wherever they go.  I agree with that.  When asked about his plan, he said,

“The saddest thing I see is these students are leveraged, [with] debt up to their necks,” he said. “They can’t breathe, they’re scared, they’re so scared — they have leveraged their entire life.”

As a college student paying tuition, I can relate to the feeling of not being able to breathe as I try to stay afloat with all of the constant financial demands of leaving home for the first time,  paying bills,  having a real job for the first time, all while trying to keep my priorities focused on school.  It feels like drowning sometimes.

As far as we know, Donald Trump hasn't yet released a full plan for how he will help these students, but he has alluded to having colleges be more responsible for the loans given to their students.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/what-will-trumps-plan-on-student-debt-look-like-2016-07-27

Hillary Clinton's Tuition Plan

As a college student myself, tuition is something that affects me greatly. I don't believe that tuition should be free at all.  I believe that having a free tuition would only lower the effort of students and add more entitlement to our already entitled generation.  Hillary Clinton has proposed her own solution for the problem students face when attempting to pay expensive tuition prices.  She has created a free college plan, which would require the states to pay more for higher education.  What we, as the entitled generation don't always realize, is that even if we don't have to pay for something someone does.  Someone somewhere will pay for our tuition, and why should they?  Are they receiving an education? No.  That's us.  Yes, everyone should have a right to education, but that doesn't mean it should be freely given.  Everyone who is willing to work, earn, and pay for tuition has a right to higher education.

As another note, under Hillary Clinton's free education plan, certain schools, including religious, faith-based institutions and most historically black colleges.  How is this fair?

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/20/opinion/hillary-clintons-tuition-plan.html?rref=collection%2Ftimestopic%2FTuition&action=click&contentCollection=timestopics&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0

Meaning of "In God We Trust"

Michael Newdow, a doctor from Sacramento filed a lawsuit in January 2016 to remove any mention of God on United States money.  His argument is that it creates a burden for atheists that they shouldn't have to deal with.  Apparently, there are atheists everywhere plagued with loose change in their pockets.  Why is it a plague?  Because it mentions God.  Newdow also attempted to remove "One Nation Under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.  Though, if this Californian doctor really wanted to eliminate the mere mention of God,  he might look more closely at the one-dollar bill and the history of the symbols on it.  The pyramid for example was put on the dollar bill originally came from a picture of a pharaoh crossing  the Red Sea on a chariot.  The motto chosen with this picture was "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God".  This motto, along with its symbol is direct reference to the story of Moses and the children of Israel escaping the Egyptian pharaoh.  This is just one example of many hidden religious references in our government.  If one is to make an attempt to remove everything, it's going to be a little more complicated than removing one phrase from a penny.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/01/24/dear-atheists-don-t-fear-in-god-we-trust.html

Minimum Wage

          The issue concerning the Federal minimum wage is one that has been around for years.  It affects a large percent of people.  The food industry alone creates jobs for 10% of working Americans, most of these jobs paying minimum wage at entry level.  Raising the minimum wage would force restaurants, especially locally, to either cut back on expenses or raise prices of their products in order to avoid employee termination.  Former Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner in speaking on this issue in 2013 stated, "When you raise the price of employment, guess what happens? You get less of it."  If the United States government makes a decision to raise the federal minimum wage, not only will it not help the unemployment rate,  it will become an even bigger problem.  In the same article, a small business owner, Melvin Sickler, agrees that "it would create a new hardship, particularly on small businesses, at a time that many of us are attempting to contribute to economic and job growth in a weak economy".  Sickler is not alone. In fact, 7 out of ten restaurants are locally owned, small businesses that need to work hard enough just to stay on their feet.  In these situations especially,  raising the minimum wage would have very negative effects on the overall economy and job growth.  More money would be paid to less people.

Sickler, Melvin ¿Mel". "Should Congress Increase The Federal Minimum Wage And Index It To Inflation? (Cover Story)."Congressional Digest 92.5 (2013): 19-29. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 Sept. 2016.

In God We Trust.

            Should there be a separation between church and state in the United States government? Most people would answer yes.  But to what extent?  Should phrases like "In God We Trust" and other references to God be taken off of monuments, money, and federal buildings? The current polls on this issue show that most citizens would answer no.  In fact, only 27% of people believe that the separation should go so far as to remove all references to God where the government is concerned.  The phrase "In God We Trust" became the national motto in 1956, and in 1957 it began appearing on paper money.  Since then, people have been opposing it, asking if it doesn't violate the separation between church and state described in the Constitution.  Those who are for the motto, and want to keep it, argue that the phrase doesn't allude to any one specific religion.

https://www.isidewith.com/poll/317890593

We the People.

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

So to sum up, the objectives of the constitution are to:
1. form a more perfect union.
2. establish justice.
3. ensure domestic tranquility
4. provide for the common defense
5. promote the general welfare, and 
6. secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.


http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_transcript.html