el Presidente

            Today we watched one of the Republic Primary Debates in English class, and I realized how little I actually know about each of the candidates and their policies. That bothers me, as this is the first presidential election that I will be able to vote in, so I want to make an informed decision instead of picking one based on a fact or two or not vote at all. With that in mind, I decided to look at both parties and see which candidate (at the moment) sticks out to me as the best choice for me.

            To figure out which candidate fits me the best, I first had to figure out what it means to fit me. I want a candidate who will make a legitimate effort to balance the budget. This obviously requires an increase in revenue and/or a decrease in spending. The candidates that want to reduce wasteful spending (I’m looking at you, world’s biggest military) and increase taxes on the rich (without taxing them into oblivion; I think 90% is a little too high- sorry Bernie). I think the American Political System as a whole needs to be readjusted. Taking big businesses and their money out of it appears one way, while introducing term limits for congress seems to be another. For foreign policy, I think the US should stay firm with what it says, but really shouldn’t be getting involved with other countries unless it is absolutely necessary (this is the point that most of the republican candidates really lost me at). Obviously there are other issues, but these are the ones that came to mind as I am writing this.

Looking at all of this, it would appear as if I’m caught between liberal and conservative, which I’m okay with. Bernie looks to be a good choice as long as his ideas hold up in an economic light ($15 minimum wage sounds good but could be tricky to implement). I also think socializing many facets of our life could be a double edged sword; one on hand I think at a minimum everyone must have access to a happy and productive way of life, but on the other I do not think someone who puts in minimal effort their entire life should receive as much as someone who works hard (obviously imbalances in effort like these happen in our current system, in some socialized systems life welfare (some who receive it need it and some do not) and some capitalistic ones like wall street- as I said before, the key is a balance between the two).

Rand Paul seems to fit most of my opinions, but I’m not confident he will raise taxes enough on the rich to make things fair and profitable for the country. Other than that, Rand seems to me like a great candidate, and it shocks me that a boob like Trump is so far ahead of him.

            Which candidate do you like the best and why? 

Why Do We Do the Things We Do?

            For the month of December, I have been and will continue to sell Christmas Trees at a nearby farm stand. Each day this week I go to school, get home for a few minutes, go to work, get home, eat dinner, shower, do my homework, and go to sleep. It struck me that this is most likely what my life will be once I join the work force, maybe with a little more free time but essentially the same (especially because the fields I want to go into have high workloads the first few years). This has got me thinking, why do we work so long and hard? In the end, a vast majority of us will be but a memory in a few peoples’ minds, if we’re lucky perhaps our name will be embedded in a Wikipedia article or two for eternity. Even the greatest of us will likely be forgotten in a few millennia; a mere wink in the life of the universe.

            While this all sounds quite ominous, I assure you things are not as bleak as they appear. For every part of our life, we work hard to improve the next stage. Sometimes this next stage is next month with some spending money in my pocket, sometimes it is five years down the road when I get that promotion I always dreamed of. First we work to do well in high school and get into a good college, then to do well in college and get a good job, then to do well at that job and (maybe) get another job, and upwards and onwards, either improving at one job or leapfrogging from job to job until we find one we love. This is one of the handful of key reasons why we work all of our lives. Without anything to do, life gets boring in a hurry. It only takes a week or two of summer vacation with nothing to do to realize that. With a job you enjoy, you are given something to do all the time that is both productive for society (probably) and keeps you busy. That is, in my opinion, why we work so hard in life.

Reader, why do you think we work all our lives (save after retirement)? 

Apps and Friends

            This week at school, the app “Trivia Crack” has become quite popular after over a year of little to no use. Within a few days, dozens of my friends had returned to the app and were playing it constantly all week. This got me thinking about apps, and how quickly they come and go. It feels like each month there’s a new app that everyone is playing, and most of the time that is the reality. It starts with one or two kids finding a fun new game, and it spreads like wildfire throughout the rest of the school. Within a week everyone is playing the game, and within a few more everyone has stopped because they have grown bored of it.

            There really isn’t any other aspect of our daily lives that comes in and goes out as quickly as apps. I think if we acted with other things like we act with apps, then they would enter and leave our lives just as quickly. For instance, friends would work in much the same way if we treated them like apps. That means we would suddenly hang out with them all the time because our friends were. After hanging out with this new friend non-stop for a few weeks, we would stop hanging out with them after all of our friends have grown bored with them. Thankfully, this is usually not how friendships work, but it definitely does happen. These types of friendships are most common when a group of guys become friends with a group of girls because one of the guys is dating one of the girls (or sometimes more than a few). Very frequently they hang out all the time while the relationships are working, but post break-up the groups very often part ways and don’t look back. Thankfully, most friends are around for much longer and are more dependable, so they aren’t really like apps.