Interview

I chose to interview my manager at work. His leadership skills with his work ethic and employees helped to make him an interesting candidate for my interview. I know that he has very strong opinions on things and I was interested to hear his thoughts on a political level. The key experiences that helped to shape his political identity started with the fact that he came from a divorced family. He said this shaped his view to understand hard work and never giving up. It helped in teaching him the value of giving back to the community and helping others in need. He promotes this in his work ethic as well and helps to set an example for the rest of us.

My manager considers himself to be conservative fiscally/economically but very liberal when it comes to decisions of personal choice. He said anything to do with the economy he has a conservative view and most issues pertaining to personal beliefs and lifestyles he would more than likely have a liberal leaning view. Since we work for a bank he is very opinionated in his views of how we can become a better bank and what has changed that hurts us. He always is positive and upbeat when it comes to keeping customers happy while having a healthy banking environment. Some of the key issues that he values are repealing the health care bill, getting Americans back to work in full time jobs that can actually pay, legal immigration, energy production reforms, removing our military strategically from around the world as needed and corporate tax loopholes to name a few.

Some of the experiences that have caused me to be who I am are similar to my managers. I was raised by my mom along with my brother and sister. We learned at an early age to not take things for granted. We participated in our community by helping with a food pantry and even carrying food to people’s homes. In the winter if my mom saw a child outside without a hat or mittens she would knit some and me and my sister would deliver them to the family. My mom also stop for the neighborhood crime watch and wrote articles for the newspaper pertaining to the safety of the children along with the community we live in. all of this has helped in shaping me in being a strong independent woman that will always help someone in need. My mom is a very strong person and continues to help us in being better every day. While I have learned a lot from my past, my political identity has not been announced. While I may be very opinionated and always looking to do the right thing, I have yet to formally put my thoughts into actions and pick a person to lead our country with the same thoughts as my own. I think that each candidate show a mix of things that I agree with and therefore would be able to side with just one.

I learned that people tend to vote based on how they observe things. The way you are raised definitely plays a huge key in all of this. Everything is based on opinions of others and we have the right to choose and agree with whomever we can relate the most too. People vote for liberals and conservatives based on personal experiences. Voters are going to vote for things that they can see actively being changed. We want to see a difference in a lot of things for example health care and more people finding jobs. If we can actively see a significant change on these items, we are more likely to vote for the person that made this happen. Each city has its own mayor that makes the rules. When we see how this person can change its community then we feel secure and will support him with any other upcoming agenda topics. We then may use this one person as an example of what we trust and apply it outside the box when it comes to voting in the presidential elections. We are going to vote based on some sort of similarity.

Questions asked:

1. How did you vote in the last election? Why?

2. Why do you consider yourself a liberal, conservative, or independent?

3. What life experiences have shaped your political values and identity?

4. Who will you likely vote for in November?

5. What are your key issues that pertain to you, that influence your voting?

6. When you choose a candidate to vote for, do you believe in everything that they support or do you have some margin for disagreement?

7. Do you feel that having a democratic president makes a difference over a republican one?

8. Do you feel that President Obama accomplished a lot in his term and do you think that he should be re-elected?

9. What do you feel is one of the biggest issues that we face today? Have we fixed this or ignored it.

10. What do you hope to see change during the next presidential elections?

"Self Defense....."

The article we have this week is in regards to Trayvon Martin, or I should say his murder case.  This story claims that the man held responsible for Trayvon’s death, George Zimmerman, acted out in self defense.  This topic is very controversial because we have to examine the aspect of self defense as well as the fact that race is a possible issue.  A young man lost his life in an accusation that he was “up to no good.”  We also have at hand here the Florida law of “stand your ground” and the fact that the police, according to the parents, who were doing a poor job and had to entail a federal investigation.  So the unanswered questions are who is guilty and how should they be punished. While Trayvon can’t say his side of the story, maybe the evidence can and George Zimmerman can be convicted of a crime, or for a “right” gone “wrong.”



Self defense indicates that one protects oneself or property from the harm of others.  George Zimmerman claimed self defense, but he followed the victim.  We have records of the 911 call that he made and the dispatcher clearly telling him to not follow the kid.  He enacted anyway.  This should clearly put him as the suspect in a murder case.  He wasn’t defending anything he was interrogating an innocent kid and looking for trouble.  The “stand your ground law” indicates that a person may use force in self defense when there is reasonable belief of a threat, without an obligation to retreat first.  The 2011 Florida Statutes CHAPTER 776 JUSTIFIABLE USE OF FORCE indicates:

776.012 Use of force in defense of person.—A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:

(1) He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony

More than 919,000 concealed weapons permits have been issued to Florida residents as of March 31, according to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which is charged with licensing weapons in the state.  In Zimmerman's case, he was licensed to carry a concealed weapon despite a prior arrest for assault on a law enforcement officer and domestic battery complaints by a former girlfriend.  They only thing that they will do now is take away his permit to hold a concealed weapon, he is allowed to keep any other guns he may own.  This isn’t justice, just a simple slap on the wrist saying you can’t hide your gun.      

We have an innocent boy, with no criminal record, and a man who has been arrested before for assaulting an officer, and we allowed him (on the night of the murder) to walk away without being charged.  The question we were asked was whether anyone was guilty and I would have to say that the guilty person is Mr. Zimmerman.  He assumed that the kid was up to no good and followed him, despite being told not to, and then he kills him with a gun.  He is 100% guilty of his actions and should be charged and not even be allowed to claim self defense.  Florida really needs to fix the laws they have at hand because it makes it possible for many people to walk away after committing murder.  I guess it’s easy to say “I didn’t do it” when you have weak laws that protect you from your actions. 

self defense-stand your ground

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law

2011 Florida Statutes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stand-your-ground_law

919,000 concealed weapons; Zimmerman’s case

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/13/us-florida-guns-idUSBRE83C1IV20120413

Afghanistan



 

Can the US win the war in Afghanistan?

The war in Afghanistan has been going on for over a decade.  We invaded the Middle East shortly after the 9/11 attacks, and from this war we have only been able to spend millions of dollars and watch thousands of innocent people die.  Throughout the years Americans have slowly lost their faith that this war will end.  The only notable thing that has been obtained was the death of Osama bin Laden.  We have had examples of prior wars, such as the Soviet-Afghan wars, and we have learned nothing from this.   The geography of the country plays a big part on their success by being a trap in wars along with the Afghan guerilla forces.  Nowadays the Taliban plays a sick game of hide and seek with the US by hiding in the mountains while luring the US troops into other territories.  They are able to remain hidden while the US troops remain trapped on their bases due to the fact that they don’t know where to start.  Another thing that is hurting the US in trying to win the war is the fact that we have countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia that are supposed to be our allies but are secretly helping the enemies.  The strong religious background enables this to happen.  We ended up searching for Osama bin Laden for ten years in the wrong country because of this.  This has also made it impossible to distinguish between the civilians and the guerrillas. 

What would victory look like?

I think that if the US was actually able to end the war in Afghanistan that democracy would be spread.  People in Afghanistan would stop being afraid of things and there would be a lot of changes.  Women would be allowed to get an education, children would stop being trained to become killers, buildings could be built and societies would be able to prosper.   A country would be able to rebuild themselves with our help and would become better because of it.  Innocent lives would not be lost and our troops would be able to return home to their own families.  We would also save a lot of money and could go back to helping our own country.

What will it take to win?

I think that in order for us to win we need to have the cooperation of our allies to capture those people who insist on the continued fighting.  There is no need for people to have to die every day.  The article that was posted about Sgt. Bales was a tragedy.  19 innocent people were killed and this man is to blame.  He has become mentally unstable.  We need for our troops to be of sound mind and keep the focus on ending the war, but unfortunately the longer they are there, the more unhealthy they become.  We need negotiations, diplomacy, and acquiring more allies would help to solve this problem.