Boston Strong

As long as I remember marathon Monday has been a cheerful beautiful day in my life. Those memories of sitting on my fathers shoulders so I could see the runners, all the way to the age of 18 when I ran in the Boston Marathon a few months before leaving to boot camp. This historical event has given me some of my most cherished memories. After finishing my four years of service, I was beyond ecstatic to once again continue the tradition of attending this celebratory day.

The day began, as it always had, with breakfast with friends. Then, like most young adults in Boston, it was followed by good drinks with my close friends and a great environment overall. Having been gone for the previous four years, I was determined to be at the finish line to cheer on the finishers crossing the famous line downtown. That day we eventually made our way to my friend’s parent’s house which happened to be a relatively close to the finish line.

We went up to the roof deck and continued to celebrate the day. It was at this moment when my heart stopped to the sound of a all too familiar noise. Having been around the military, I have heard my fair share of explosions. It is most definitely a noise that is hard to forget. Instant panic of family and friends who currently were at the finish line took over me. I immediately ran to the street and rapidly began making my way through the fleeing crowd towards the finish line. I eventually was stopped by police and the National Guard. They all refused to let me continue there, regardless of my pleas. After finally complying I began to call all who I knew were there, just to be disheartened by being unavailable to make a call due to the large amounts of people attempting to do the same.

Thankfully on this day, all close to me were unwounded by the two bombs set off on this tragic day, but the overwhelming helpless feeling I felt is something I will never be able to forget. It is hard to take much of a learning experience of this day. However, something that can absolutely be taken from this, are the actions taken by the country, and more specially the beautiful city of Boston.

From the heroic acts of those in the blast area, to the marathoners whom continue to run to nearby hospitals in order to donate blood. It fills me with hope and pride to be an American. Furthermore, the city of Boston’s efforts through organizations such as The One Fund is a remarkable example of what this city can accomplish in order to overcome a tragedy, and begin putting it back together. From this tragic day we were shown, once again, how strong we Americans are. It shows we can be knocked down, but we will again stand.

As Boston did, we together became strong through the support of each other. We volunteered, donated, and inspired each other to be better and stronger as individuals. The only mistake we could possibly make is to allow what happened in this day to fill us with fear and not partake in this upcoming marathon Monday. If we do this, the terrorist will have won. From this experience, I learned how vulnerable we truly are. I also learned we had become very complacent since 9/11, but most of all I have learned how beautiful and amazing the city of Boston is, and inspired by this city I will be standing on April 21, 2014once again at the finish line, until the last runner crosses that blue and yellow line.

The American World After 9/11

On the Morning of September 11^th, an al Qaeda group hijacked four commercial airplanes and carried out the deadliest terrorist attack in history on American soil. On this tragic day two airplanes were flown into the world trade center buildings, another into the pentagon with the third failing its attack on Washington and crashed in an open field in Pennsylvania. This day has will forever be a dark day in American history; furthermore these events launched us into the longest war in US history, as well as changing all aspects of American life. From a complete invasion of our privacy with the passing of the patriot act, to a constant fear of future unexpected terrorist attacks the government has the American people in anxiety and dependent on the government, which is right where they want them.

Since the attacks of 9/11 the government has significantly escaladed its level of security, some argue that such actions were an overreaction, but it absolutely was a necessity. From the forming of the Transportation Security Administration better known as the TSA, to the expansion of the National Security Agency (NSA) the government is now able to monitor at a larger scale, and has a better ability to prevent future terrorist attacks, as well as monitor possible terrorist and their connections. Additionally to advancements in such security measures, America has made tremendous strides on the war on terrorism, besides the claimed victory in Iraq, the US has killed Osama bin Laden and has been victorious in fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.

It would be foolish to argue that we are not in some aspects safer than we were pre 9/11, but how much safer are we really and at what cost are we achieving this level of security? It has been estimated that annually the NSA has a budget of 10 billion dollars, which comes directly from taxpayers. This of course is an approximation, due to the fact that the NSA falls under a protected category of “black” programs and its actual spending and budged is top secret. Along with this ridiculous spending, Americans have lost almost all of their privacy, thanks to this patriot act which was passed on by the government as absolutely paramount to our security, the NSA now has the ability to tap every USA citizen as they wish, with out really getting a consent from the American people.

Since the war on terrorism commenced in 2001, the US has spent a total of 1.492 trillion dollars, not only has it had little success with its mission, it has drastically been a factor to our developing debt. In addition to this financial problem, the war has had a greater cost that is unacceptable, with the death toll of 4,800 killed and 31,965 wounded in Iraq, with an additionally 2,229 killed with 18,675 wounded in Afghanistan, American families continue to struggle with struggles of war, while the government appears to have moved on to spying on its own citizens. Having sacrificed so much we should expect remarkable victories on the “war on terror” but as we have recently seen, much has been paid in vain. Having ended all military operations in Iraq and empowering its military and police to take control of the city, al-Qaeda forces have reclaimed the city of Fallujah, and have been carrying extremely violent attacks in Baghdad, which gives little credibility to the US in its actions in Iraq, and gives little hope for its future in Afghanistan.

The United States government might claim victory over the war on terrorism, but when taking into account the drastic cost it has had on the US economy and the sacrifice made by its people, there doesn’t seem much to celebrate over. Furthermore the American people has unwillingly lost its privacy, and have found themselves living under a microscope while paying for a war that not many support and all hope it soon comes to an end.

References  

Amadeo, K. 2014. What Are the Facts About the War on Terror Costs. [online] Available at: http://useconomy.about.com/od/usfederalbudget/f/War_on_Terror_Facts.htm [Accessed: 3 Mar 2014].

Sahadi, J. 2014. What the NSA costs taxpayers. [online] Available at: http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/07/news/economy/nsa-surveillance-cost/ [Accessed: 3 Mar 2014].

Statisticbrain.com. 2014. U.S. War Death Statistics | Statistic Brain. [online] Available at: http://www.statisticbrain.com/u-s-war-death-statistics/ [Accessed: 3 Mar 2014].

Washington Post. 2014. Al-Qaeda force captures Fallujah, site of bloodiest battle of Iraq war. [online] Available at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/al-qaeda-force-captures-fallujah-amid-rise-in-violence-in-iraq/2014/01/03/8abaeb2a-74aa-11e3-8def-a33011492df2_story.html [Accessed: 3 Mar 2014].

America, Sold to the Highest Bidder

We all like to believe our government is absolutely amongst the more successful in the world, this in theory also states we believe it is as free of corruption as possible. Sadly this is absolutely false, and thanks to wealth thirsty corporations and individuals, they have managed to make this corruption absolutely legal, thanks to Super PACs supported by the great Citizen’s United. Some credit is due to these group, they brilliantly convinced the Supreme Court into voting that Corporations are in fact people, therefor should have all equal rights such as freedom of speech. This allowed corporations to support whichever political candidate they choose, with no cap to their spending.

This in fact was a great win for corporate America; they could now with out having to disclose it, invest tremendous amounts of money into their candidates, therefor eventually having manipulating power over them once they had won their elections. The people who support corporate free speech, insist that this Super PACs are good for democracy, they argue candidates whom wouldn’t stand a chance against better supported candidates, would now have an equal chance of running against them. These supporters also see this as an opportunity, to further spread information to voters, both about their candidates as well as the wrong doings of others. In general these supporters believe that these corporations as being legal pronounced as people, should have the capability to support whichever political party or person as they please.

On the opposing side we have a more liberal view, this people believe that we have lost all control of the government with the approval of these Super PACs. The argument being supported that by allowing corporations to spend as much money as they wish; the common persons voice is crumpled by the voice of the corporations. Furthermore they argue, that because the motives of corporations are influenced by the desire of extreme profit, their values drastically are unlike those of the citizens.

In my personal view, I believe these Super PACs have opened the doors for what I label as legal corruption. It's to no surprise these corporations are spending ridiculous amounts of money in bashful advertising, so that they can get candidates elected who will approve and help their private agendas run undisrupted. They manipulate the media whom they most likely also run, into making us believe their candidates are what we need, and those who wouldn’t support them, are as bad as the devil. Then, the majority of America beliefs what they see and give away their votes to these candidates. Finally these candidates are victorious, sit behind a desk and write up legislations that in some cases, tremendously help the corporations, and in result hurt the citizens. I don’t know about you, but in my eyes this scam has corruption written all over it.

Political Identity Interview

I decided to interview my aunt Nancy, I decided to interview Nancy because although we have very opposite political views, she has always been very passionate and opinionated in her views, and I believe this is something many lack in our society. Nancy was strongly influenced by her family, but was mostly influenced by her strong religious beliefs as a Christian. She has very conservative views because of this, and strongly stands behind them. Although I don’t agree with a lot of her views I admire to be as passionate and involved in my own political identity.

Nancy considers her self to be very conservative, she strongly stands against abortion, which is a major reason as to why she votes republican. Nancy strongly believes the democratic platform is at fault for the lack of jobs and rise on welfare with their socialist views. Being a republican she favors a smaller more transparent government, she questions the Obama administration for having promised less secrecy, yet under his advice such agencies as the NSA continue to undermine and violate the constitution. Although very supportive of the Republican Party, she sees a lot of problems with their internal lack of communication, resulting in a lack of accomplishments. Furthermore she hopes for more cooperation with in the Republican Party, as well as with the Democratic in efforts to better America.

Growing up I was strongly persuaded by my environment to be very Republican, and during the early stages of my adulthood I very much was. A lot of my views, beliefs and ideology were not only challenged by reformed during my time in the military. These experiences have left me to find my self being a lot more liberal than I thought, I strongly believe our government has become extremely powerful to the point we the people have grown to fear it. The media, and majority of society to give in, while we continue to be violated by our government, manipulate us and the majority lacks the courage to demand change. I am looking for some drastic change in our government. I believe our leadership needs to take a step back, and strongly reflect on the path our society is going in. Furthermore they need to realize that if something isn’t done soon chaos is unavoidable.

What I have learned from this experience is a strong realization, which many different factors are taking into consideration when developing a political identity.  People take all these factors, and then search for the same qualities and values when voting for their leaders. This interview quickly turned into a debate between my aunt and I, and although I was strongly challenged by her, my views were strongly confirmed. Furthermore I realized I needed to become more knowledgeable, not only in my own political views, but those of others.

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

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

3.  What life experiences have shaped your political values?

4.  What key issues are most important to you, when it comes to US policy?

5.  Who will you likely vote for in the future?  Are you happy with your party? 

6. What do you think is the biggest current problems with our administration?

7. Who do you think is at fault for the lack of efficiency in the government?

8. What do you think about This past State of the Union?

9. What is your view on the government approach to Gun control?

10. What is your stand on legalizing marijuana?

About Me

Hello my name is Andres, I was born in Barcelona Spain and at the age of five began my crazy little story. My father’s company began to grow and it drove us to relocating in Medellin Colombia, the next few years were spent traveling back to Spain for boarding school and summers in the very different Colombia with my parents. This continued up to the age of ten when a little more traveling came into play, our family would be once more relocated to here in Massachusetts. 

This was a very drastic language and cultural change, people acted different, things looked different and of course people spoke in an unfamiliar language. I had taken English classes attending boarding school, but saying I was fluent would have been a complete stretch. After some short time I became to fall in love with this place, everything from the diversity to the geographical aspects fascinated me, and soon enough it absolutely felt like home. 

The big change in my life happened on September 11, 2001, when terrorists attacked the US. Although I was very young, the incidents that occurred that day strongly touched me and installed a sense of duty and responsibility in my heart. Some years later on the summer of 2008 I enlisted in the United States Marines and began my four years of duty, in those four years my traveling continued, I spent most of my time in South East Asia fighting the war on terrorism and supporting aid to the natives who suffer because of the war.

Those four years challenged me, it helped me see the world and life from a different perspective, but the greatest thing it did its it helped me see life from other people’s eyes, furthermore helping me appreciate my own life, and drive me to help those in need. I currently am studying political science in the pursuit of a career in foreign relations with the department of defense, and not only continue fighting the war on terrorism, but as well as give aid to those in need.