Guns: Glorious or Gruesome?

            Humans.  We can be educated, we can be peaceful, we can be violent.  Unfortunately, lack of education in the United States can lead to the latter adjective; in which improper use of weaponry causes destruction within the masses.  Yes, other articles have specifically talked about gun culture in our country; yet, the majority of these articles have not defined what gun culture actually is, and how present it is in America.

            Before we go into any further detail about guns, we have to define what gun culture is.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word culture as “a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in a place or organization.”  This means that a society, such as ours, has a specific way of thinking and behaving of what actions we should perform.  Now when the word “gun” goes in front of culture, then we have to examine how our American people think and behave with guns. 

            Gun culture is defined, so let’s go into how commonplace gun culture is in our society.  Without a universal background check system, it’s impossible to determine the exact amount of guns that are owned in the United States.  However, an April 2014 report published by the Pew Research Center tells us that 37% of adults own a gun in their household.  Seeing that the U.S. Census reports that 76.5% of our population is over 18 and we have 316 million people in total, this would mean that about 89.4 million adults currently own a gun as of now.  Since we are defining gun culture, we have to examine why people possess a gun, this would be the “thinking” factor in gun culture.  This is so by looking at the same article published by the Pew Research Center, except this time presenting the statistic that only 48% of gun owners own a gun for protection.  This should be devastating to us because 52% of gun owners possess a gun for any other reason than for protection.  As we examine the poll even further, we find that 32% own a gun for hunting, 7% own a gun for sport shooting, 2% own a gun for their constitutional right, 2% own a gun as a hobby, but 7% own a gun for the category of “other.”  This means that 6.3 million American adults own a gun for none of the reasons provided in the poll.  6.3 million Americans don’t use their guns for hunting.  6.3 million Americans don’t use their guns for sport.  6.3 million Americans don’t use their guns for their Second Amendment rights.  6.3 million Americans use their guns for an unclassified reason, and in our prosperous country, that is not okay. 

            Seeing how we have just examined the way people think in our gun culture, now let’s make our way to how people act in our gun culture.  CNN reports that there have been 74 shootings in just the past 18 months in our country.  Even though James Alan Fox of Northwestern University argues that there is no upward trend for the amount of incidents occurring, there is still a trend of firearms taking commonplace in crimes.  The National Institute of Justice reports that 467,321 people were victims of gun violence in just the year of 2011 alone.  Not only is this statistic presented, but the data continues showing that 68% of all murders were committed by a person with a firearm in that same year.  Seeing that the majority of murders happen with the pull of a trigger, parting ways from guns would be favorable for our country.

            When we go back to my introduction, I talk about how education can literally stop the improper use of guns once and for all.  Unlike gun control, we can focus on how to gradually shift our gun culture.  In our elementary schools nationwide, we have local police officers speak about drug abuse with the D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program; this program teaches students on how to not start using drugs, instead of teaching students on how to protect themselves from dealing with active drug users.  Unfortunately, there is no national program that educates the future of America, our children, on the dangers and hazards of using guns.  If we want to effectively change America’s gun culture, we have to educate the youth of America on why guns are both unsafe and harmful.  Like the D.A.R.E. program, we can teach our students on how and why we should not use guns, instead of teaching them how to protect themselves from the dangers of guns.  Basically, let’s not buy guns rather than running away from them. 

            Seeing that gun control is a sensitive topic in our country, I have a few suggestions and steps that we can take to have our next generation not experience the harms that guns have so very brought to us.

1.      Allocate public and private funds toward creating gun education programs:  Understanding that there are only so many of us who are legislators, we have to first have local businesses sponsor and support gun education programs, so that we can teach our students the dangers of guns.  Then your local congressman or congresswoman will see that it’s in their constituency’s best interest in allocating federal funds toward gun education programs.  The federal government will finally take notice, and we can have our young Americans know how dangerous guns really are.

2.      Let the program continuously be effective: Not only will the program be expanded on a national level, but we can also take measure, by reporting studies for example, on how effective the program is.  This is the only way to keep education on guns effective to the country’s student body.

These steps might finally lead us to a solution that can save the lives of many.  Not only are these steps possibly going to be effective, but they stand by the Constitution; in which gun control is not taken place, which would defy the second amendment.  Also, these steps take place as actors of the first amendment, exercising the right of speech.

      So when the title of this article asks whether or not guns are glorious or gruesome, think about the last innocent civilian who was shot by an armed man for no apparent reason.  That most certainly does not sound glorious, and it sounds nothing but gruesome. 

Foreign Failure: Why Foreign Aid is Hurting and Not Helping.

           We all know about it, we all do it.  The American people help the government make revenue through taxation.  We give the government tax money, knowing and trusting that our government will use our money for the right cause; but there’s a problem.  We are using our tax-payer’s dollars for funding corruption.  Giving foreign aid has been a problem for over sixty years, yet foreign aid is not getting the national recognition it needs in order for this blatant cause to end. 

            Before we analyze how foreign aid is bad for the contemporary American society, we have to examine the actual intended cause of what foreign aid through the USAID department is supposed to accomplish.  The USAID department reports that its main mission is to end worldwide poverty.  This is what the USAID department has been created for, despite critics denouncing the government for creating USAID for ulterior motives.

            Yes, we know that worldwide poverty has been one of the world’s unresolved issues, but we have to understand that the USAID department is not doing its job with diminishing poverty.  A study by the CATO Institute reported that between the years of 1989 and 2001, people living in the world on one dollar a day has decreased by 390 million people.  However, the study continues with the fact that people living near two dollars a day became a lot worse off than they ever have been before, with these people making less money every year in the 12 year period.  As citizens of the free world, we have to realize that what we are doing is not working, and we need to balance our budget better.  We also have to look to the chilling fact that a study by Academia reports that from 1950-2001, countries that receive high amounts of foreign aid had the same exact growth rate as countries that receive low amounts of foreign aid.  Usually, we’re supposed to see progress with the tax money that we give to our federal government for living in the United States; but seeing that our U.S. Congress is using our tax payer’s money incorrectly, then you have to question where the money is really going.

Not only are we not helping third world countries economically prosper, but we are also sending our money to corruption.  As skeptical as it may seem, there have been numerous reports of USAID money being used in an incorrect manner.  A report published in April of 2013 by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction stated that $88 million was allocated to DABS-Kabul, Afghanistan’s power utility, but the money had no use due to poor management efforts.  Another $88 million of our tax payer’s money has gone to waste, but even more money has gone to waste than just the $88 million.  This next statistic is even more chilling than the previous one, with the U.S. Government Accountability Office reporting that half of all of the $1.14 billion given to Haiti for earthquake relief has been wasted, due to a failed investment in ports and power plants.  As Americans, we should be outraged to hear the fact that there are even more examples of USAID failing, and some of these failures have not even been reported by the Special Inspector General yet.

            Tax Day is coming up in almost a year.  We owe the United States our income taxes by April 15^th, 2015.  Remember, our money that we are sending to the IRS this holiday is partially going to this failed investment that we call “foreign aid.”  President Barack Obama and the United States Congress are planning to spend a grand total of $46 billion in foreign assistance in Fiscal Year 2015, and they cannot achieve that amount without our dollar bills.  Seeing that our United States has not only failed at diminishing poverty, but has also funded projects for the wrong reason, we have to tell Uncle Sam that we do not want our income taxes to go to such a failed cause.

Transitioning Food Culture in America

            In the United States, we have our very own food culture.  We may not have the healthiest food culture, but we still have healthy options to change that food culture into something that others would admire.  When we hear the words “McDonald’s” and “Burger King,” we not only associate them with the American food culture, but we also associate those corporations with the words “unhealthy” and “obesity.”  As Americans, we have to provide a clear definition of what food culture really is, and see how we can make that definition of American food culture from having a negative connotation to a positive one. 

            First off, we have to examine the definition of food culture.  John Ikerd, of the University of Missouri, wrote a scholarly article examining what food culture actually is.  In the article, Ikerd briefly examines food culture, with the statement “what we choose to eat is a reflection of our basic values and beliefs.”  You can’t forget to remember a similar quote that we’ve always learned in elementary school, “you are what you eat.”  In another article, PBS talks about the meaning of food as what we consume and how we acquire it.  Seeing that multiple sources come together to create a proper definition of food culture, we see that the American food culture is what we consume most, and how we consume so much of a conceptual food.  Now that we know what food culture is, let’s examine what the American food culture is.

Dr. Cheryl Fryar and Dr. R. Bethene Ervin of the Center for Disease Control report that there’s a correlation between the amount fast food calorie in-take to the amount of overweight people.  From 2007-2010, adults of 20 and over who are overweight have consumed 11.2% of all their calories throughout the three-year period from fast food restaurants.  The CDC’s study continues with adults of 20 and over, who are obese have consumed 13.1% of their calories from fast food restaurants throughout this short period.  Yes, we see an obvious correlation between fast food consumption and obesity; however, we can change this culture.

            Our Americans don’t realize that the term “fast food” does not mean “unhealthy.”  There are many options available at fast food establishments that provide the average American healthy options.  The study presented by the CDC is flawed for the notion that it simply hinders what we have at fast food restaurants.  Sure, a Big Mac with fries is unhealthy, but the average American is not forced to buy the greasy meal.  On the McDonald’s website, you can see that McDonald’s has a selection of seven salads; whereas, the burger selection consists of a hamburger, cheeseburger, McDouble, Quarter Pounder, Big Mac, and Angus beef.  That’s six options.  It may be difficult to endure the fact that Mickey D’s has a larger selection of salads than the general burger choices, but it is what it is.  The food culture in America consists of choosing what is enlarged on the menu in a presented manner, rather than everything on the menu itself.  And seeing that the majority of Americans choose the burger over the healthy salad, we have to transition the food culture of our United States to a healthier state of mind.  We also have to read everything that’s on the menu, so we can become more aware of our health and well-being.  Being aware is what’s going to transition our American food culture from an unhealthy one, to a healthy food culture.

            Critics of the fast food industry claim that Americans have limited options with choosing food.  Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stonyfield Farms, stated the following: “The average consumer does not feel very powerful.”  He stated this on the documentary Food Inc. that came out in 2010.  The average consumer should question Hirshberg and the producers Food Inc. because we see that from knowing that a fast food corporation, like McDonald’s, has seven selections of salad, than one must negate Hirshberg’s quote and realize that there are plentiful of options. 

McDonald's side salad is at a minimal 20 calories.

            As the consumer, you have to compare what’s on the menu in order to make a health-conscious decision.  Price should be a concern, as well.  Not only does Food Inc. attack the amount of options corporations give to consumers, but Food Inc. also attacks the food industry by claiming that unhealthy food is now cheaper.  This notion is completely false, as we see on the McDonald’s menu once again that a side salad is not only on the Dollar Menu, but it’s only 20 calories, compared to the hamburger that’s 250 calories.  Yes, Food Inc. is correct about the fact that there are more cheap unhealthy foods than healthy foods; however, Food Inc. is hindering the fact that there are still healthy options that are cheap for as little as a dollar.  The consumer is also not keeping track of how much beef he or she is eating.  USDA reports with the latest statistic in 2012 that Americans in total have consumed 25.8 billion pounds of beef.  Seeing how colossal this number is, we have to lower that number in order to transition our American food culture into a healthier one.  Critics may question whether or not the agriculture industry will be ruined if we lower our consumption of beef; however, this is also completely false because the agriculture industry still revolves around crops.  Thus, we’ll see a win-win situation, for both the consumer and the farmer.

            When you watch Food Inc., you have to be open-minded; moreover, you cannot always blame the corporations for why your healthy options are so limited.  Instead of blaming the fast food industry for why the Journal of American Medicine reports that 34.9% of Americans over the age of 20 are obese, you have to blame yourself for not making the health-conscious choices that your colleagues have always advocated for.  Seeing that there’s a gargantuan amount of unhealthy food consumed in fast food restaurants like McDonald’s when there are still healthy options on the menu, the reader has to take responsibility.  Consider the statistics and facts presented in this article, and become one of the many, like me, that want to change what the world views as American food culture today. 

Affordable Appreciation

           As an American, I live in a free country; and when it comes to price, I live in an affordable country.  Unfortunately, acquiring healthcare has been a struggle for much of the American people for the past 234 years.  But then legislation was passed on the eventful day of March 23^rd, 2010, and that piece of legislation promised over seven million Americans that healthcare will not only be available from the federal government, but it will also be extremely affordable.  You’re probably thinking to yourself that this is just another blog post, written by another Democrat that simply endorses President Obama’s signature; however, I am a Republican.  That’s right, I should be on the opposition, yet I choose to stay open-minded unlike many of my colleagues.  I choose to stay open-minded so that I can appreciate what the Affordable Care Act has actually done, rather than what’s written in the piece of legislation itself.

            Many citizens of the United States have failed to recognize what exactly happened on that day of March 23^rd, 2010.  Yes, the Affordable Care Act was signed into law by President Obama; but something else has happened.  The healthcare revolution has emerged within our domesticity. 

            First off, we have to understand the definition of what the healthcare revolution actually is.  Physicians for a National Health Program reports that universal healthcare has been talked about in Congress and Progressive reformers since the last decade of the 19^th century.  Healthcare debate has been happening, yet the actual debate that happened over 100 years ago is nothing compared to today’s debate.  Even though healthcare has been talked about on a federal level for this long, we see that the healthcare revolution has not started yet.  The healthcare revolution did not even start when Senator Max Baucus decided to write the piece of legislation that we call the Affordable Care Act.  The healthcare revolution emerged on that day of March 23^rd, 2010, when President Obama decided to sign his name and pass legislation.  Seeing that the National Institutes of Health reports that there has never been any bill that has passed universal healthcare until the Affordable Care Act, we define the healthcare revolution as universal healthcare taking action into legislation, as opposed to simply making efforts for healthcare reform within the United States. 

The Affordable Care Act started the Healthcare Revolution.

            Now that we know what the healthcare revolution is, we have to now think about the Affordable Care Act in general.  Yes, there are many cons to it, one of which is fining any citizen who is not covered by any sort of healthcare by 1% of his or her annual household income.  The Wall Street Journal reports that another con of the Affordable Care Act is that it hurts small business; it fines a small business with over 50 full-time employees that doesn’t give healthcare to its workers.  The fine is $2,000 per employee, at a maximum of 30 employees paid off for this fine. 

Understanding that the small business world is being drastically hurt by this piece of legislation passed in 2010, we have to learn the fact that the healthcare revolution is not over.  The healthcare revolution will never end until the majority of Americans are content with legislation that will not negatively impact their microeconomic lives.  As I have stated before, I’m not on the complete opposition of the Affordable Care Act; however, I believe that as Americans we need to start making efforts to reform our current healthcare system.  We need to stay open-minded, and see what we can do to improve our healthcare system rather than ridicule it and encourage the repeal of it.  Seeing that the Affordable Care Act has started the healthcare revolution, think to yourself about what you can do as a citizen, appreciate the Affordable Care Act, and help me encourage Congress as a fellow constituent to end the healthcare revolution with new legislation once and for all.