How Good Do We Have it?

Orma Men on Village Patrol

         Currently in Kenya, upcoming elections have stirred incredible violence between neighboring clans. The Orma and Pokomo ethnic groups are resorting to physical violence in support of their political leaders. As this New York Times article states, "ethnically based militias are mobilized, and neighbors start killing neighbors." Neighbors are killing each other. Under no circumstances could I ever visualize my neighbors killing each other. Regardless of ethnicity or political preferences, such actions shouldn't ever occur.

         Once seeing these atrocities in Kenya, it really opened my eyes to how wonderful elections are in the United States. Never would I think that widespread death would ever occur as a result of an American election. Sure, with opinion clashes comes disagreement and insults, but not to the magnitude like what's transpiring in Kenya currently.

Voters Voting

         I know that my neighbors have different political affiliation than my family, but something that petty I feel would never spark violence between us. For that reason, I feel truly proud to live in this current peaceful Democracy. Even if one's preferred candidate doesn't win the election within the United States, violence is really never an option, which is beautiful in comparison to Kenya. 

As seen in the picture at left, these Americans are most likely voting for different candidates, but violence isn't in the cards like it will be for Kenyans. It's a beautiful thing. 

Celebrate the Election

The Election is this Tuesday, and all I've been hearing and seeing on Radio and TV commercials are campaign ads. Bashing other candidates, promoting themselves or telling the public who the right selection is has been constant. Even the public in support of a certain candidate can get nasty with each other.

Although obviously a winner must be chosen to lead the United States of America, the presidential election should be a time for celebration of the democratic format instead of a nation-splitting decision. Taken for granted at times is how lucky Americans truly are to be able to express their desires for their leader. As shown by the included map below, many countries around the world do not have the same political rights and civil liberties that we take for granted at times. 

Red=Not-Free,Yellow=Partly-Free, Green=Free

I really think it is common for us Americans to look past the fact that the Presidential election is a celebration of free expression and voice due to the prospects of winning. In my opinion, most Americans forget how important and unique their right to vote is while enveloped in the prospects of their ideal candidate winning. This trait of Americans I have actually seen relatively often. Whenever winning something or being the best at something comes into play, it seems as though everything else in one's life takes a backseat role. In sports, a workplace or even in school, Americans are so focused on winning and being the best that basic rights others may not have, like voting, are taken for granted. 

Transparent President Wanted

Today, Donald Trump made an extremely interesting announcement. "From the Desk of Donald Trump" he stated that he would donate $5 million dollars to the charity of President Obama's choice in return for a release of his college and passport records.

If you care to watch the 2:44 second video clip, it has been placed below.

I cannot help but think of this video as a campaign plug for Mitt Romney. Donald Trump is an extremely affluent individual (Real-Estate Billionaire and Reality TV Personality) and for him to come out with a video as such, it puts President Obama in a very difficult situation; a situation in which I believe Donald Trump strategically put him in.

During the video, Trump states that if Obama were to release his college and passport records, "[Obama's selected charities] would be very, very happy". This puts President Obama in a tough situation. If he were to decline to release his records:

A) It would appear as though he may be hiding something from the American people, and

B) It would seem as though he disregarded the $5 donation offer to charity.

Either way, if President Obama declines to release his records, Donald Trump and the American people, in my opinion, can and will spin the denial into what I mentioned previously. On the flip side, if Obama actually were to release his records, I believe that criticism of such records are guaranteed to occur.

It is my personal belief that Donald Trump may have (no pun intended) trumped Obama merely weeks before this crucial election. What are your thoughts? What do you think Obama's decision will be? What will be the consequences for such actions? Please let me know with your comments!

DNC Concern?

        Now that these past two weeks of National Conventions have come to a close, analysis, accusations and projections will surface before the November elections begin. I happened to watch President Obama's speech on the last day of the Democratic National Convention, but the view count as a whole decreased from the view count of 2008. A 2.7 million view decrease in fact.

       There are many possibilities as to why the view count decreased on the final day of the convention. Some of my ideas as to why the viewers tuned out are on opposite ends of the spectrum: Assurance of presidential re-election or a sign of hopelessness. 

       Both ideas have rationale. On the side of hopelessness, President Obama failed to come through on some campaign promises, like closing Guantanamo Bay, creating a foreclosure prevention fund for homeowners and repeal the Bush tax cuts for incomes > $250,000. In regards to potential confidence, President Obama succeeded in providing more opportunities to small businesses, began pulling brigades out of Iraq and ended the use of torture. For more promises which were followed through on and broken, visit this page at PolitiFact.com

       It will be truly interesting to see what the decrease in views of the President's speech pans out to mean come election time. Do you have an opinion on what the decrease of views may be because of? Let me know in the comment section below!