As you may have heard by now, our almighty Obama has turned his back on the American people, asking Iran for their help in defeating ISIS. If you are like me, you’re thinking: “well that doesn’t make any sense,” and you would be right in thinking that. Just earlier this week, we saw pictures and heard the reports of Iran’s celebration of the US Embassy takeover. Some want to brush this off as a “quiet and peaceful time of mourning,” but let’s call it like it is, there are a lot of people in the Middle East who blatantly just don’t like us ‘westerners.’ It is unorthodox for our president to be asking a country like Iran to aid us when we are fully capable of handling this situation on our own-given we had a president that had any knowledge of military campaigns.
First, let’s look at the relationship between Iran and Syria. Iran is Syria’s largest supporter, larger than Russia. Iran views Syria as a pathway to places such as Israel and will fight to protect that direct line. As well as this, Iran views Syria as an acting counterweight to the United States. This relationship was also sealed with the Iraq/Iran war, and was strengthened by the United States’ invasion of Iraq, where Syria believed they could be a possible target. Something else that is interesting to note, is Iran’s acknowledgment that Assad may be overthrown, and in turn has been funding and supplying weapons and training for the Syrians. The 2006 Hezbollah was viewed as a success and relied heavily on Iranian weapons and military tactics. The last I checked, Israel was one of our largest allies, so why would we partner with a country that was responsible for deaths of our ally’s citizens? Also considering that ISIS stands for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, this seems to pose an issue, doesn’t it? Could it be that Ali Khamenei is playing President Obama for a fool? Is it possible that our president is really this blind to the long running partnership between Syria and Iran? With Iran’s growing nuclear capability, could this be a decision that could change American life as we know it? Let’s be real here, if Iran jumps into the fight, they will not be supporting us, they will be fighting with ISIS against us and I wouldn’t be surprised if Syria jumped in to protect its alliance with Iran.
Yep, I also am unsure why the mainstream media has yet to pick up on this.
Something that I have thought of over the past several hours is Iran’s nuclear capability and the impact it could have on our military. Iran has long wanted to occupy the land to its west known as Iraq and has continuously voiced disdain for the United States. I have a theory, and it could be outlandish but we all know that 1500 ‘advisors’ will merely do nothing to stop the radical effort that is ISIS. In the wake of this, would we not send more troops to the region to better combat ISIS? Well what if we did? What if we decided to launch a fully manned operation in Iraq? This would leave a large majority of our military ripe for the picking in a land that Iran wants. Scenes from Pearl Harbor keep flashing through my mind, our ships grouped together, ignoring the idea of any tragedy such as the attacks that crippled our Navy that fateful morning- and let’s be honest, history has a funny way of repeating itself.
So what would happen if Iran is playing us for a fool? What if Iran is planning a nuclear attack? Would our military and almighty government be able to withstand such a strategic move under the not so watchful eye of President Obama? What would such an attack mean for the rest of the Middle East, including Israel? Would the most powerful man in the world, yes that’s Putin, lead Russia seizing the opportunity? Would that mean that China or North Korea would get in the mix? While our president has torn almost every relation we have, would anyone come to our aid?
Most importantly, could we be teetering on the edge of World War III?
When you think of America, you may think of Washington’s mighty monuments, our diverse landscapes, our pride in country, a cheeseburger, or you may think of our obsession with firearms. Our love of gun powder is one that runs deep, so deep that it is engraved into The Constitution, the very law that defined our existence as a nation on this great blue planet called Earth. As our nation has grown over the years, we have seen the gun debate catch fire, splitting our nation in two between pro-gun activists and anti-gun lobbyists. Although anti-gun supporters have valid reason to be concerned with America’s love of guns, it is often noted that their arguments will not breach to the core of the issues in America, which is mental illness and the increase of illegal firearms within our borders.
To better understand the pro-gun opinion, we must first tackle the main points of the anti-gun plea. The first being the number of gun crimes in America, although it is still tragic that in 2014 we still see mothers burying their sons, the estimated 480,000 crimes is not quite one-third of the 1.5 million gun crimes we saw in the year 1994. Also, we see the majority of these crimes happening in urban areas, where there are stricter gun laws. Even with the gun bans, Chicago tops the charts for the year 2014 having 1,129 victims of gun crime as of July 4th, 2014. To put to rest the fact that the homicide rate has dropped by a mere 5 percent, the shootings have increased and continue to increase as time goes on. (Guns, 2014) Not only this, but the majority of the guns used in these crimes were obtained illegally.
A major argument for the anti-gun movement is that as increased legal gun ownership occurs, more crime is committed with those legally purchased firearms. However, only 10 percent of gun crimes were committed with a firearm that was purchased legally. There has been a reported decline of 49 percent in homicides, with a 75 percent reduction in non-fatal crimes involving a firearm.(BJS) The year of 2012 proves this as we saw a record 19.6 million background checks with the intent to purchase a firearm.(Forbes, 2014) This leaves only the notion that there is another reason for these crimes being committed. As mentioned, only 10 percent of the annual crime rate involves a legally purchased firearm, while 40 percent of these crimes are committed with a firearm that was acquired illegally.(BJS) With these major arguments put to rest, we can now focus on the core issue, which is our nation’s increase in mental illness cases.
When these points are set aside, it is often noted that the next argument for anti-gun lobbyists will be the amount of mass public shootings. What is often left out is the sad reality that our nation is plagued by mental illness. It is often found after the fact that those who picked up the gun had at the very least, showed signs of mental illness. Elliot Rodgers is a good example, as he was in the care of several mental health professionals when he decided to viciously kill 6 innocent people. This may lie in the number of people that will have a psychotic break every 30 days. According to the CDC, at least 3 individuals will have a serious psychotic meltdown every 30 days.(CDC) It is not hard to speculate that individuals such as Elliot Rodgers, Adam Lanza, and James Holmes may have suffered from an instance like this and felt the only way to stop it would be to kill someone. To further add to this, the mental illness plaque sadly runs deeper.
Further understanding of America’s mental illness issue lies in the small details. According to the CDC, 38 million Americans suffer from a mental illness, and 10 million suffering from a serious mental illness. According to the CDC, in 2010 for every 10,000 short term hospital stay discharges 1.7(we will round to 2) individuals were diagnosed with schizophrenia. 8.9(we will round to 9) people were discharged with psychosis. Furthermore, 2.7(we will round to 3) were diagnosed with major depressive disorder. By these findings, for every 100,000 persons in our country, 20 of them suffer from schizophrenia, 30 of them suffer from major depressive disorder, and 90 suffer from psychosis.(CDC) Although this describes the outstanding numbers of mental illness cases, it also shows how these illnesses have caused crime.
Mental illness causes crime as 1.2 million of our nation’s inmates suffer from a serious mental illness, inmates often attributing their choices to such illnesses. At Chicago’s cook county jail, alone, there are 12,000 inmates with a serious mental illness. According to Cook Country Sherriff Tom Dart, “One of those inmates was a “chronic self-mutilator” who has been arrested more than 100 times, ringing up more than $1 million in repeated arrest- and detention-related costs.” (USA Today, 2014) If we had a broader acknowledgment of issues like these, inmates like these could be sent to mental health facilities on their first attempt, leaving the funds that would have been spent to be used in more useful ways such as finding and getting rid of our nation’s illegal weapons. It could even be used to fund a better mental health system, and we could strengthen our chances of catching a homicidal person before they have a chance to commit the crime.
Again, any crime involving a gun is a disgrace to our nation, and it would be fair to say that both sides of the argument want the same outcome, which it not to lose another member of our society to these heinous crimes. Instead of dividing amongst what we believe the issues are, we must follow the facts. There is a common saying that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people,” and we must acknowledge that it is not the tools fault, it is the tool’s handler who is at fault. Even in this, we cannot fully blame a person if they are under influence of adverse thinking, but we can blame those who are responsible for not noticing, and not providing the care that is desperately needed. Crime will live forever, as it always has, but we can begin to educate our civilization on noticing the signs and providing better and more easily obtained mental health care. One thing is for certain, we must discontinue the tradition of banding together in the wake of a tragedy and get back to the tradition of banding together to prevent tragedy.
When President Obama was elected, many were hopeful that this country would finally see an end to the economic turmoil resulting from the War on Terror. The American people were promised a change they could believe in, and although there have been strides within this presidency, we still have yet to see any action on major issues that plague this country. Although President Obama managed to pull us through The Great Recession of 2008, the long term effects have been anything but positive. While the top 10% has seen an increase in salary, the bottom 20% have continued to tighten the purse strings year after year as salaries and take home pay have dwindled. As once promised, a secure border was in our future. We have seen the opposite in the recent months as tens of thousands of illegal immigrants have poured over our border causing even more financial burden on an already suffering economy. Many would like to think that our economy is getting better under President Obama, but that is not the case, there was one truth about the change we were promised: the change has occurred, it was not a positive one, but negative.
While 2016 draws closer to us, many believe our economy is much better off, while the majority have been handed the bill. The Great Recession was a troubling time for many Americans as the housing market crashed and companies began to shut their doors. President Obama did set in place policies that did help us through it, but in turn caused Americans to lose money year after year. While incomes of the top 10% have increased by 0.7%, the lower 20% saw a decrease of 3.5%, young families saw a decline of 6.1%, and seniors saw a decline of 8.1%. (Irwin, 2014) During the recession, we Americans also lost faith in the stock market and we have seen stock ownership decline. This is largely in part to the loss of income by many families in our country. As if the decrease in income growth wasn’t enough, many are seeing a decline in their actual share of their hard earned money. Once again we see the top 3% has enjoyed an increase of their share of income at 30.5% from 27.7%. (Leubsdorf, 2014) The bottom 90% have experienced the opposite however, and the gap between rich and poor has continually widened.
While a land of opportunity and sanctuary from ill situations of other countries, many feel that it is the time to build our walls and become financially capable to do so again. As the gap between rich and poor has widened, the poor or even “barely comfortable” families have felt that some decisions, such as increased taxes and Obamacare, have been a figurative slap in the face. Just this year, while many struggle to put food on their tables, they have been asked to pay for upwards of 60,000 illegal immigrants who have flooded our border. Instead of handling this issue, President Obama has felt the need to delay action until after the November elections. At this time, the President seeks Executive Action to grant amnesty to any and all illegal immigrants who seek refuge within our borders. (Nakamura, Keefe, 2014) Many see this as a major issue in many instances, but the effect it will have on our school district seems to be the heaviest handed. While our national debt clock ticks steadily towards 18 trillion dollars, this amnesty could cost our schools $761 million dollars to provide education for these children. At the top of the list of states with the largest costs, New York could see an additional $147.7 million dollars after forcibly shutting down schools due to limited funding. This would include free lunches and an estimated $35,520 per pupil with limited language capabilities. (Ferrichio, 2014) While we have been given the image that this situation is being handled, Governors and mayors across the country continue to struggle to keep up with the influx. This often seems an injustice to the American children who are already experiencing the consequences of limited learning capabilities due to a lack in funding. Along with the increasing debt this influx of illegal immigrants would cost, it has raised numerous concerns about our nation’s health. According to the CDC, a new virus that mimics Polio is being brought over the border by these children. As a result, nine cases of this illness have been reported between August 9, 2014 and September 17, 2014 and affected children ages 1-18. (CDC, 2014) Aside from the growing Ebola virus which is also making its way across our border, this unidentified virus is a new worry for parents of young children who may be exposed to the virus in their classrooms.
Even in the wake of the immigration fiasco, and a declining economy, many still argue that we, indeed, are better off under President Obama rather than President Bush. By recent reports from the Obama Administration, this is also untrue. Since 2009, we have only seen an inflation-adjusted rise in economy growth by 1.6%. This falls short of President Bush’s growth rate of 1.7%, at the end of his term, during War on Terror in Iraq and Afghanistan. While President Bush did start his presidency with a seemingly strong economy, events such as 9/11 caused major disruption in our spending habits. As journalist Brian Domitrovic states in a recent article for Forbes Magazine: “Bush started from a high base and came in low. Obama started from a low base and came in worse.” (Domitrovic, 2014) Also contrary to common acknowledgment, we have seen an increase of government spending by 50%. We have seen a 15% increase in Obamacare funding, gas costs 80% more, local and state pay allowance has decreased by 3.2% while government payroll has increased by 3%. Our countries student loan debt now sits at an astounding 1 trillion dollars, while the government still owes the public sector $12.3 trillion dollars. With these numbers, you would think that a budget would be at the top of the list, yet we have not seen one since August 9, 2009. (Lancaster, 2014)
This may all come as a shock, as it does for many American’s who dive deeper into the finer details of the presidency, as our media has seemingly done a fine job of shining the President’s image up. Although the overall approval rating of our President sits comfortably at 43%, individual marks aren’t so glamorous. An astonishing 63% disagree with his decision to grant amnesty, while 25% approve of his handling of the minors and others who have crossed our border. On top of this, 56% blame his policies for the increasing number of illegal immigrants. As far as our economy, 52% believe we are still in a recession, stating that the economy is no better than what it was. As if these numbers are not disappointing enough, 29% approve his handling of the federal budget. (IBD) It certainly seems as though the American public has caught on to what has been happening to cause misfortune in our individual lives. As many hold on to hope that things will turn around, many Americans, and it seems even the President, has given up on this term as well as hopes of recovery.
So what about you? Do you feel as if you are better off under President Obama?
Liberty Is A Lifestyle 