For those of you who are
unaware, the United States of America is composed of not two, but four legislative houses: the Blue Party
of the Senate, the Red Party of the Senate, the Blue Party of Congress, and the
Red Party of Congress. It’s funny really, that every year, the President is
extended an invitation to speak at the State of the Union, and every year, we
hear this word “bipartisanship” spoken with such conviction, such patriotism,
and such hope and yet nothing changes and we are all left
wondering if politicians really know what the word means.
Cue Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride:
With the threats of
government shutdowns and countering presidential vetoes, even a nation that
finds great entertainment with political rhetoric and disagreement is
frustrated as proven with the transfer of power to the GOP in the 2014 Midterm
Elections. According to Gallup article, nearly four out of five Americans see political gridlock as a major
problem as they witness all talk and no action. Deliberation is justified but argument
and disagreement for the sake of argument and disagreement is well, simply put,
unjustified.
But keep in mind that politics
are tough. They encompass deep history, sensitivity in moral stances, debate
(more or less), irrelevant rhetoric (more or less), economics, time, and timing. With the upcoming 2016 Presidential Election,
candidates are scrambling to design the perfect platform to capture American
votes. For many of us, 2016 will be the first major election we will
participate in so with this blog, I hope to give some insight into what is to
come so we can determine for ourselves, how divided, or united, our government
really is.
And of course, who is
deserving of our vote.
With each post, I will
provide insight into any current events, its corresponding political discourse
(because of course, there will always be some)
and a look into important political figures and potential 2016 candidate (starting next post).
So prepare yourself as an
industrial engineer reaches into the realms party politics.
BLIZZARD 2015
As all of you know (and
have experienced), there has been a little bit of snow fall recently on the
eastern coast.
Weather, as we also all
know, can sometimes be so unpredictable, so naturally, the weatherman will
occasionally get it all wrong, thus making that particular occupation, one of
great public distrust. Yet, as unpredictable weather may be at times, it is a
fairly technical problem. Call it a “Type 1” problem, if you will. One with
high levels of agreement. Yet, with the ongoing discourse in New York City, it
appears that this Type 1 issue, may have to be upgraded to a Type 3.
According to The Atlantic, there is political
discourse even amongst the topic of weather. With weather channels promising “a
blizzard of historic and catastrophic proportions” early this week, the people of
New York City were expecting at least thirty
inches of snow, therefore, understandably, Governor Andrew Cuomo issued a
city wide shut down at 11 p.m. Tuesday night and “made the unprecedented decision” to shut down the NYC subway
system.
Unfortunately, what was
done in the name of public safety turned into one of great public frustration
as the people of New York woke up the next morning with only six inches of
snow. In a clip from MSNBC’s All In WithChris Hayes, it is revealed that Mayor de Blasio received only a fifteen
minute notice to the very first closure of nation’s largest subway system. “Are you freaking kidding me?”, say
Hayes, maybe there is some lack of simple communication even in our state and
local government? No deliberation? A complete “power” move?
According to a Time report, the recent snowstorm shutdown cost was likely over $500 million. Was the shutdown a bad
call? Maybe a misleading hype made by the media? (Media presentation may be a
whole other controversy on its own)
All in all, $500 million
is a huge loss, but hey, in my opinion, better safe than sorry.
