Question 1
As president Barrack Obama’s second term of office comes to an end, several observations can be made about some of the positive and the negative effects he has had on the welfare of the American citizens as well as the country in general. Some of the achievements that Obama was able to realize include the fact that he influenced the congress to come up with better regulation on pertinent issues such as the rights of the gay people and immigrants. The topic of gun control is another contentious issue that president Obama also managed to address during his second term in office. All the above achievements represent some of the promises president Obama made to the American people as he took his oath of office on the 21st of January 2013.
However, Obama has not managed to stabilize the performance of the American economy during his second term of office. Despite his promise to the American people that he would strive to stabilize the American economy and ensure its growth, he has face stiff opposition from the republicans in his attempts to make crucial economic policies. This opposition has often led to stalemates during the formulation of crucial economic policies. Obama’s inability to revive the American economy will perhaps act as dent in his presidential legacy.
Looking forward to the future of American politics, there are a number of strong personalities that emerge as likely potential leaders from both the democrats and republicans. For example, some of the potential leaders that are likely to contest for the presidency on a democratic ticket during the 2016 presidential race include the current Secretary of state Mrs. Hillary Clinton of good health, the current governor of New York Mr. Andrew Cuomo and the current mayor of Newark in New Jersey Mr. Cory Booker. Mr. Rahm Emmanuel who is the current mayor of New York, as well as the current American Vice President Mr. Joe Biden, are also strong presidential contenders for the American presidency on the democratic presidential ticket.
An analysis of some of the likely 2016 presidential contenders from the Republican Party shows that there are about five personalities that are likely to lead the republicans to the presidential race. Some of these leaders include Congressman Paul Ryan who was Mitt Romney’s running mate during the 2012 presidential race as well as Chris Christie who is the current governor of New Jersey. Other likely potential candidates include the current senator of Florida Marco Rubio, Mr. Jeff Bush who was the governor of Florida and Mrs. Condoleezza Rice.
However, in my opinion, I strongly speculate that the strongest presidential contenders in 2016’s presidential race will be the current Vice President Mr. Joe Biden who shall represent the democrats and Mr. Jeff Bush who shall represent the republicans. Both individuals have a lot of leadership experience and support from important quarters of power that places them a good position to emerge strong presidential contenders. Since Mr. Obama took office for his second presidential term, I have come to learn that the most important factor that will help America to move forward is that the Democrats and Republicans need to carry out constructive negotiations and discussions on matters that affect important policies. I have realized that the biggest challenge of American leadership is the occurrence stalemates that often lead to delays or a lack of consensus during the formulation of important policies.
Question 2
In the recently concluded presidential campaigns that took place last year, both Mitt Romney and Barrack Obama addressed a number of Issues in their political campaigns as they sought to convince the American Citizens to elect them as the president of the United States of America. Some of the pertinent issues they promised to address include the improvement of the economy, the issue of climate change, the rights of gay people, gun control, immigration laws, poverty and job creation. However, in my view, I have realized that there is one important political issue that both presidential candidates and the media forgot to address during the campaigns. In my opinion, most American leaders have failed to recognize the importance coming up with policies and measures that will strengthen the right of liberty of thought and discussion.
I do believe that it is important to uphold people’s right to liberty of thought and discussion. There are a number of factors that I can use to illustrate my argument for better laws and policies that support people’s right to enjoy liberty of thought and discussion. For example, due to the existence of weak laws that advocate for people’s liberty of thought and discussion, there has been a rampant infringement of people’s right to enjoy due process in campus and the right to enjoy religious liberty in the workplace. There has also been a decreased level of goodwill from the people towards the defense the principles behind the First Amendment of the American constitution.
In my opinion, American leaders should start recognizing the importance of the liberty of thought and discussion. The recognition of this right will have several positive effects on the welfare of American citizens and their leaders. For example, it is through the establishment of proper channels of facilitating the communication of people’s thoughts and opinion that American leaders will be able to recognize some of the complaints or issues that the American citizens would like their leaders to address. Secondly, through the recognition of people’s concerns, American leaders will be able to take appropriate action that will help prevent the occurrence of mass action and protests by distraught American citizens.
However, the current groups of American leaders have chosen to concentrate on the most popular issues in the country such as issues dealing with the creation of the budget and coming with gun control and immigration laws. Most American leaders tend to focus their efforts on addressing issues that are likely to increase their political mileage hence causing them to neglect some other important issues that affect the public. American leaders and the media need to recognize the importance of upholding the people’s liberty of thought and discussion in order to create channels that will enable the minority citizens in America to freely express their concerns regarding the challenges they face as a result of the current laws, policies and administration in America.
Question 3
After facing defeat in the just concluded 2012 American Elections, the republicans need to go back to the drawing board in order to come up with a strong strategy that will ensure that they win the upcoming 2016 elections. The formulation of a winning campaign strategy is a difficult task and one that has to be formulated at an early stage.
If I was appointed as a campaign advisor and strategist for the republican team, there are a number of issues I would have raised on how to improve the campaign strategy of the republicans during the next presidential elections. To begin with, I would have advised the republicans to conduct a thorough review of the last campaign with the aim of identifying some of the factors that may have caused a setback to their political campaign. It is important to conduct such a review because it would be foolish to formulate a campaign strategy before learning from mistakes made in the past.
The second thing that I would advise republicans is on the importance of using their campaign funds wisely. The campaign team needs to ensure that they spend their most of their funds on strategies that are likely to have a positive effect of attracting the votes American people and reducing expenditure on issues that will have a small effect in attracting American votes. However, in my opinion, the most important strategy that the republicans need to come up with is on how to attract the support of influential and popular people such as television personalities, musicians, religious leaders etc. Any republican candidate who manages to obtain the endorsement or support from a number of influential people, he/she will stand a better chance of winning the next American presidential election.
Question 4
In the book titled ‘American Government’ by James Q. Wilson, a question is raised on why the American government and the economy in general has constantly operated under a situation of public debt. An analysis on the expenditure incurred by the American government reveals that it has always spent more money than what is collected from the American citizens in the form of taxes.
Wilson attempts to explain that this characteristic of the American government caused by the fact that Americans elect leaders who promise to invest in developments that cost it more than what is collected from citizens in the form of taxes. Wilson’s explanation of the current existence of public debt in America is correct to some extent. This is because some of the elected leaders in America usually end up overspending on various projects that exists under their various offices in order to please the people they rule thus ensuring that they maintain their popularity.
However, Wilson’s explanation may not be entirely true. This is because the lack of sufficient resources to support the various expenses incurred in carrying out various projects by different government departments can be explained by a number of internal factors. For example, there have been situations where tax collecting authorities collect taxes that are lower than what was expected during various planning processes. The failure to attain various tax levels is usually attributed to the use of inefficient methods when collecting taxes by these authorities, therefore, forcing the affected government branches or departments to take loans that will facilitate the completion of various projects.
Secondly, there have been occurrences of abuse of office resources and corruption by various elected officials in different government departments. The action of these corrupt individuals has resulted in the misappropriation of funds that are meant for various projects. This shortage of funds has eventually resulted subsequent leaders in such organizations to take loans for the completion of such project. The rapid increase of the population in America could also be used to explain why there has been a need for the government to take loans. This is because the government is experiencing a rapid increase in its expenses as a result of a growth rate in of the population that exceeds the government’s collection of taxes to support the needs of the existing population thus forcing it to obtain funds through credit.
Works Cited
Allen, David. "2016 Presidential Candidates: 5 Possible Democratic Presidential Candidates ." 2012. Policymic.com. 21 January 2013
Berkowitz , Peter . "Real Clear Politics." 21 November 2012. The Imperiled Freedom the Candidates Ignored. 21 January 2013
Hawkins, Dustin . "Eight Possible Conservative Presidential Candidates for 2016." 2012. About.com. 21 January 2013
Wilson, James Q. American Government. Boston: Cengage Learning, 2012.
