Honors Blog 2

This being the record breaking economic downfall of all time, I understand that this must be an incredibly stressful time for you, Mr. President. I advise you follow in Roosevelt’s footsteps and do as he did in the great depression during the early nineteen hundreds. One thing that really worked for him is always taking into consideration the ideas of his advisers. Before he was even president in 1931, he worked with Frances Perkins, industrial commissioner, and Harry Hopkins, his chief diplomatic adviser to being a direct work relief program. They lived in desperate times where the unemployment rate had gone up to 50 percent in some states. Even so, This program did not help much. But you know all of this of course. What I suggest you take from this experience is that it is important to take into consideration the ideas of others whom have your respect and admiration because one person alone cannot run a country. This is not a monarchy, and you need to use your relationship with congress and American society to make better decisions for your people. You will find out what it is exactly that they need and you will be able to have what you need in your bills due to your connections with congress. During “the one hundred days” it is said that all the important bills Roosevelt proposed were enacted by Congress. It is also important to remember that you are not running this country alone and that we are not nomads who are not feeling any of this recession's effects. You should do as Roosevelt did when he would broadcast over the radio to the American people. He spoke on a variety of topics to inform Americans and exhort them to support his domestic agenda. You must keep your citizens informed at all times. It is understandable that you are a very busy and a very important man and may not always be able to attend interviews where you have the opportunity to explain what is going on in the country we live in and what the plans are to get us out of these problems, but you should not be the only one who is informed of what is going on, and there are many ways that you can let the people know what they deserve to know. Another thing I believe is crucial is faith in yourself and your ideas, as well as the ideas of others. Things had been so bad in the great depression that the citizens did not even care that the president had no idea what would be of the new deal, which was a “series of economic programs in the United States between 1933 and 1936.” He believed in his ideas and though many of the laws that were passed during these year were later declared unconstitutional or abolished, it worked for the country and got us where we are today. It is important to remember to never carry the whole burden alone.

http://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2008/01/17/the-new-deal-sealed-the-deal.html

http://www.nps.gov/archive/elro/glossary/great-depression.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/oh4/newdeal/

Honors Blog

There are many elements of health care legislation in United States history that are significant, but the one I believe was among the most important in history that is being made today is the Affordable Care Act which was passed by the House of Representatives and Senate and signed by the United States president Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. The health care related arrangements will go on for a four year period from the time they were signed. This Act enables people with pre-existing conditions to get a private health care plan without the fear of being rejected by the health care providers due to the money they are going to cost them, and also allows them to receive the same charged as those without pre-existing conditions. The qualifications for medicaid were also expanded thanks to this act. On top of this, it provides support for medical research. The law expects each state to create a “federally approved health insurance exchange,” where people without insurance or small businesses without health insurance can purchase coverage from a range of health insurance providers. This law also requires individuals to prove that they have an approved insurance policy through their IRS tax returns or pay additional taxes, though there are some low income exceptions. One reason why I believe this is a significant element of United States history is because there are many arguments behind it. Being something that will affect many citizens, it is widely known and argued. Since the money that is going to be used to pay for all of this coverage is going to be coming from taxes some people argue that this is going to come with multiple tax provisions. According to Michael Bihari, former About.com guide who wrote an article about Affordable Care Act Tax Provisions, “...the purchase and provision of health insurance is entwined with many people’s jobs and tax-related benefits.” According to “The Health Law Partners” “In 2013, taxpayers with more than $200,000 in earned income ($250,00 for joint filers) will pay an additional 0.9% Medicare tax on the excess and an additional 3.8% Medicare tax on unearned income, including interest, rents, and royalties.” People are concerned that they are paying for other people's insurance, and they are angry at the fact that this democracy is acting in “communist ways” as some may argue, since there are people of greater income who are paying for things that have nothing to do with them, even though they are hard working citizens who earn their money and should have the right to spend it and use it on what they feel is right. On the other hand, citizens are worried about what people like “The Health Law Partners” say when they announce that in 2014, “individuals who are not eligible for government-provided coverage will be penalized if they fail to purchase essential health coverage.” This is obviously not a perfect law and there are large amounts of citizens who are displeased. There will never be a time when everybody has what they want and everybody is happy, but people will continue to ask for what they want and if people are displeased with this, then they won't stop until they get what they want. We are only moving forward here as a nation and all everyone's voice must be heard. It's a work in progress.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act
http://www.journalofaccountancy.com/web/20102724.htm
http://healthinsurance.about.com/od/reform/a/Affordable-Care-Act-Tax-Provisions.htm

Federalist Vs, Antifederalist Interview

In the 1850s there was something called the Fugitive Act. The Fugitive Slave Act was the most controversial bills that was passed in the fifties. It required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It denied a fugitive's right to a jury trial. The act called for changes in filing for a claim, making the process easier for slave-owners. Also, according to the act, there would be more federal officials responsible for enforcing the law. Many left the country and started a new life in Canada. During the next ten years, an estimated 20,000 blacks moved to the neighboring country. First of all, the fact that they made these bills in my opinion was antifederalistic in my opinion. It was giving states rights that they would all agree on and were coming up with a good way to control the situation while giving everyone what they asked. Also, another very antifederalistic thing I noticed about what the States did is that when forming the new states that they were getting, such as California, they decided not to make it either a free or slave state. They thought it would be better to let the future inhabitants of the state decide.

My cousin Lupe agrees that these ideas are antifederalistic and adds, "this solution was only temporary." I thought this was interesting because though this, in my and my cousin's opinion, was a very smart way to go about fixing these problems between the north and the south, the states ended up dividing in the end.

Blog Today

1. What are you most proud of in your Life: The Book writing? Try to describe this is detail!
I am most proud of all the good research I was able to find. I liked how even though there was no real verdict on whether or not there is a homosexual gene, I got to include a lot of good information that was relevant and argued many different ideas. I talked about a few different scientists and some religious websites who all had many different opinions.
2. What are some changes or new ideas that you have developed in your writing through the course of this semester?
Well, this actually makes me kind of frustrated with school because it seems like every year they teach us something new, or just a new way to do something that we already know how to do, but it completely goes against what we've learned how to do in the past. When we were earlier in high school and middle school the main rubric basically just said to write about everything in the introduction and then write something different in each paragraph. Now we have to write a short but attractive introduction paragraph and talk about many different things in each paragraph to make it flow. Although I really like how it sounds now, it frustrates me that we spend all of this time learning how to do something one way just so that at the end of the road, we are told that the way we do it is wrong and we need to learn something completely new.
3. If you had a little more time to work on your writing for Life: The Book, what would you do differently? What would you change about your writing?
The main thing that I would change would be to add more biology. I am not sure that I did a great job with this paper and it is not really my best work, but I stressed a lot over this project and I would add more about each of the different components of humanities. I also wasn't too sure if I was blending it correctly and I would use some extra time to make everything in the paper flow together even though it jumps from topic to topic.
4. How has the additional element of publication in a book affected the way you approach writing? It had changed it in the sense that I get more people's opinion in my work because I think it just sounds better that way, and it is the way that they do it in the real world when a book is being published so I think it is a good idea to get many different perspectives and tastes to add to your writing.