The Average Joe

Over the last decade, many in the GOP have created this myth of Ronald Reagan as the savior of the United States and American way of life after the Vietnam Era, high inflation, high unemployment and the gas shortage.  From this, he has become the embodiment of the Republican Party.  For every Republican I can think of, Ronald Reagan is their role model. Is their image of Ronald Reagan accurate ?  Unfortunately, this is a false image as history has proven…should you dare to challenge the status quo. It is worthwhile to find out how images are created.  More importantly, how false images come into being.  Many Americans have grown up accepting, with little question, certain images as accurate portraits of public figures.  As a historian, it is my duty to question whether or not these images are true to the original.  Because of the spotlight that is centered on their every move, presidents seem to fall perfectly into this category. Popul...

In looking back, I do not know when or how it happened.  Did it happen all at once or was this a slow and steady change?  If I had to, I couldn’t even point out a specific time, a certain instance in where or how it all changed.  I just do not know when the GOP became part of the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus.  In fact, while watching the GOP debates, I feel as if I am a little kid at the circus with cotton candy and popcorn.  Almost all of them appear to be the insane clown posse.  Due to longer believing in what the Democratic Party stood for, in 1962, Ronald Reagan said “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party, the party left me” .  Using that same logic, I can now say that I didn’t leave the Republican Party, the party left me.   I am now changing my membership to the Independence Party here in NY.  I have been feeling this way for a while, but after watching these clowns on stage at the GOP debates, it is clear that ...

Over the last decade, we have seen the ongoing erosion of our civil liberties and attacks on the middle class here in the United States.   Through war under false pretenses, illegal wiretapping , warrantless search and seizures , as well as prison without a fair trial…or any trial for that matter; we as a people remained silent.   There had been no indication that anyone seemed to notice.   The United States is not living up to its democratic principles. In the past, we as a people would protest against actions like these.   However, even if we wanted to freely protest at a presidential rally or appearance, we have lost that right as well.   The Secret Service can setup free speech zones to contain and control these protests.   In fact, here in the New York City, if a group wanted to protest, they must do so by obtaining a parade permit , which Mayor Bloomberg has failed to grant.   What idiot signed this into law and how did the American people a...

After more than 8 years, the Iraq War is finally over. Just last week, President Obama announced that the remaining 40,000 troops, which are non-combat troops, will all be returning home by this coming holiday season. All objectives that were laid out prior to the 2003 invasion, with the exception of Iraq having weapons of mass destruction…which was false, were met.    This war has cost the United States the lives of 4,400 troops with another 33,000 injured. As the United States prepares to leave, the US Embassy and two Consulates are just about complete and will be the only United States presence on the ground after all troops have left Iraq. The reason for this is due to the fact that Iraq will not give US troop’s immunity from their democratic laws, and rightfully so. They are now a sovereign nation with a democratic government in place.  Therefore, all must fall under Iraqi law if they are in Iraq.  Isn’t d...

Occupy Wall Street…It’s About Time Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to pass through the Occupy Wall Street protests on my way home. Since its inception, it has grown to thousands of people here in NYC and other major cities around the United States. All I can say is that it is about time, but they need a unified voice and leadership.  Although this protest has many demands, such as raising taxes on the rich and corporations, ending corporate welfare, lowering the cost of higher education, protecting Medicare and Social Security in their traditional forms; the common theme is corruption within the American government and the influence of corporations on U.S. laws and policymakers. However, this protest is still segmented.      It is the duty of every American to protest when injustices like these occur. Yet, it is also imperative for there to be leadership and unity amongst the protesters. Although the protesters appear to be...

As President Barack Obama is heading into his re-election bid for the 2012 elections, many political scientists and historians are seeing a number of similarities between the presidencies of Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama. President Carter had listed three reasons for his defeat in the 1980 Presidential Election. The first was the Iranian Hostage Crisis and his shortcomings on retrieving them. During the revolution in Iran that ousted the Shah of Iran, the rebels would overrun the U.S. Embassy and take American hostages. It has also become knowledge, through recently declassified CIA documents, that the CIA helped fund these rebels in the early stages of the Iranian Revolution due to the Shah falling out of favor with the American government. The covert operation to rescue the hostages, Operation Eagle Claw, was a failure. The Iranian Hostage Crisis is still considered among many historians as the most devastating diplomatic incident in contemporary United States Hi...

On August 10, 2011, the first Chinese Aircraft carrier embarked on its maiden voyage.  This signals a boost in international prestige for China, as well as a big step in modernizing their military.  However, I cannot help but read article after article as to how this can be a threat to the United States and its interests.  I have read headlines that range from “the end of American naval dominance” to “their aircraft carrier can complete with the United States’”.      Lets take a further look at this from a different angle than that of the mainstream media.  China’s first and only aircraft carrier, so far, is not a brand new construction.  Formerly known as the Varyag, this is a Soviet era aircraft carrier that was purchased by China from the Ukraine, a former Soviet Bloc nation.  In comparison to the aircraft carriers deployed by the United States, this is extremely limited in capabilities.  The Varyag will only be able to ...

It appears that the United States defaulting on its loans has been averted after a deal has been made between Congress and the White house in regards to a debt ceiling increase.   However, there are still very important questions regarding America’s stability and growth as we move passed the debt deal.   To be direct, the path we are on as a nation is unsustainable! The United States has a national debt of over $14 trillion and for every dollar it spends, forty cents of that is borrowed.    On the right side of the debt negotiations, Tea Party Republicans and Conservatives were outright opposed to tax increases and closing tax loopholes that allow those to avoid paying taxes at their tax rate; while Democrats were deeply opposed to spending cuts that would impact Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. If one thing has been demonstrated, it is that this government can be highly dysfunctional when it comes time to do something that will help the United State...

As we are approaching the drawdown of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, lets take a look at how much all of this cost the United States…not just monetarily, but also in human life. A new study from Brown University has estimated that the cost of the War on Terror, in regards to human life is 225,000 lives, which includes soldiers, contractors and civilians. When looking as to how much this will cost Americans, we are looking at a price tag that will be as high as $4 trillion!  This includes medical care and disability for current and future wounded veterans. If the War on Terror will continue in the capacity it is in today, by 2020 another $450 billion will be required to meet the needs of those wounded veterans. I cannot speak for all Americans, but I feel that most would agree that this is just ridiculous.  Aside from the astronomical price tag to Americans, which we will have to pay for one way or another sooner or...

As the United States has now hit the debt ceiling of $14 Trillion Dollars…That’s $14 TRILLION DOLLARS, the United States Government is now deciding on if it should be increased, and if so, by how much.  I cannot speak for all Americans, but I feel that instead of taking so much time and effort in trying to come to a compromise on increasing it, why am I not seeing serious talk on trying to decrease the size of the debt. Before we go any further, lets discuss some of the recent history of the national debt of the United States.  On September 15, 1981, President Ronald Reagan had signed the legislation that passed in Congress that allowed the debt ceiling increase to $1 Trillion Dollars.  Throughout the 1980’s, Reaganomics had led to increases in the national debt.  In simple terms, his policies of cutting taxes for the top tax rate, raising taxes for the middle tax rate; which had been done 8 times during his presidency, proved to be a major blow to Main Stre...