Well I'm going to do the sensible thing and follow the "Essentials for CWI" numbers. That so happens to kick off with the main political and economical systems of the world.Starting things off, we'll talk about direct democracy, which doesn't exist. Direct democracy is where the people would have complete control over the gov't. When I first thought about it, it sounded pretty darn swell to me. The problems with it is that it could eventually get out of control, and turn into anarchy, which i shall touch on in a little bit. A different form of democracy is called representative democracy. A lot of countries around the world have this, including the United States. Representative democracy is where the people of the nation elect people to make make laws, and govern the people and all that. This is actually a very effective way to run a country based on what the people want.Now to talk about communism. Communism is more of a theory than actually practiced, because it is very difficult to achieve. The theory is that everything will go to the gov't and be distributed by the gov't evenly, making everybody equal and happy and all that. What is bad about it is that everyone would get the same amount of money, and they wouldn't have to work hard to earn it. Then someone could assume leadership and bring gov't back into place and it's no longer communism. The practice is pretty different from the theory, as communist countries have gov'ts that basically control the people, run the businesses, supress peoples' rights, and all that. Only a handful of countries have communism, the most popular probably being China.Something very close to communism is dictatorship. A dictatorship is where one person has complete control over the gov't, and basically the entire country. This is usually bad. A very famous dictator would be Hitler, who had control over Germany during WWI.A constitutional monarchy is a form of gov't that has a king or queen that rules with only the power that is given to them through a constitution. Most of the time, that constitution limits their power a lot, and they end up being mostly a figurehead for the country. Some European countries still have it. Another form of monarchy is absolute monarchy. This is probably one of the oldest forms of gov't, where countries had kings or queens who had all the power and control. This isn't really around anymore.One of the economic systems of the world is socialism, which Team Frostbite did a powerpoint over. Socialism is like a step down from communism, where the gov't would control some businesses, but not all of them. It wouldn't be as extreme as communism. The United States is a tad bit socialist, as some businesses are gov't-controlled.The opposite of socialism is capitalism. Capitalism is where people own and run businesses. Unlike socialism and communism, people who own their own businesses work harder for more pay and things like that. The United States is mostly capitalist.A very large percentage of countries world-wide have mixed economies. Like the United States for instance. The US is a mix of capitalism and socialism. There are going to be very few if any countries that are completely communist, socialist, or capitalist.Major Political Parties in the United StatesThe two major political parties in the US are Democrats and Republicans. Our current president, Obama, is a democrat. Our previous president, Bush, was a republican. Those are just the major political parties though. The US has a ton more, even though 99% of the time our president is from one of the two major parties.Democrats and republicans have very big differences. They have different views on a lot of issues. That is what I shall talk about.One of the first things that I'm going to report on is media coverage. (Pun!) Some news channels are more bias towards one party or another, like CNN to democrats, or Fox News to republicans. Where you are located is also a factor on what party you're going to relate to more. There are more republicans than democrats in the midwest and south mainly, and more democrats than republicans in the west and northeast mainly.Republicans are the conservative group. They believe in laissez-faire, which is basically let the people do what they choose. Republicans think a limited role of gov't would be better, as people shouldn't rely mainly on gov't. The trickle-down theory is what they believe will help the economy. That is when the gov't gives tax cuts to the rich and the business owners, and then they spend and spend, and it eventually makes it all the way through the ranks.Democrats are the liberal group. They are more willing to increase taxes to pay for public utilities, and like the idea of regulations for economic and business activity.AbortionRepublicans are the more religious group, and believe that abortion should be illegal, as a fetus is a human being. Democrats think that it should be legal because it's the woman's choice.Flag BurningRepublicans believe that burning the flag should be illegal, because it's destroying a national symbol. Democrats think it's just fine because it's a freedom of speech.GUNS!Republicans want guns to be legal. They allow people to protect themselves and satisfy their right to bear arms. Democrats think guns are bad and should be illegal because they're so dangerous.The EnvironmentRepublicans think that strong environmental laws hurt the economy, because a lot of what we do comes from the environment. Democrats think that we need to protect the environment all we can.People's RaceRepublicans don't really care for affirmative-action laws, and that businesses can be trusted to not discriminate against people. Democrats disagree, and think we need those laws because businesses will be mean and discriminate against people.Minimum WageRepublicans believe that minimum wage hurts businesses and they should be able to set their own minimum wage. Democrats think that minimum wage is good because it helps workers and we should raise it.HealthcareRepublicans think healthcare should stay private, because then people can choose what they want. Democrats think healthcare should be gov't-funded and given to everyone.TaxesRepublicans believe that taxes should be cut to help the economy as well as the people. Democrats are more in favor of raising taxes because it helps pay for public utilities.MilitaryRepublicans are in favor of increasing military spending and not getting too involved with NATO and the UN. Democrats think we should cut military spending and get more involved with NATO and the UN.Death PenaltyTo republicans, the death penalty is an effective deterrent and should be allowed. To democrats, the death penalty is inhumane and should be illegal.Gay RightsWith republicans being the more bible-based party, marriage should be between a man and a woman like God intended, while the democrats think it is acceptable because everyone should have equal rights.Prayer in SchoolThe republican party thinks that prayer in school is a religious right. Democrats think it violates the separation of church and state.War in IraqPresident Bush stated that we're not going to leave Iraq until the job is done. Republicans believe that the gov't and people will soon be stable enough to withdraw troops. The democrats liked the war until Bush messed it up. They want more support, and Obama wants to focus on Afghanistan.Global WarmingGlobal warming has become a very big deal over the last year or two. Scientists are split on whether or not this is a big deal that we need to worry about, or if it's natural. It's true that the temperature has risen, and that the ice caps are melting, but some people think that it's happened before. There was a Medieval Warm Period a long time ago, and then in the early 1900's, predictions of an ice age were popping up. Our CO2 emissions are supposed to be linked to the rising temperatures, but why did the temperature spike before we were even kicking out CO2? And when we started pumping that stuff into our environment, the temperature declined. Yes, global warming may be natural, but we still need to combat it so it doesn't get worse.OverpopulationThis is really starting to become a big issue. Overpopulation is described as too many organisms in a habitat, which is what's happening all over Earth. Humans have come up with many ways to delay death, while people pump out child after child because they don't know of contraceptives, or their religion requires they have as many children as possible, or they just never learned any different. We humans are slowly destroying our planet by getting rid of habitats and exterminating animal species. Food is also becoming more and more scarce in countries with lots and lots of people; especially those in poverty. Overpopulation isn't just the amount of people, but the impact each person has. A small, upper-middle class family uses way more energy than a large, poverty-stricken family.GlobalizationThis is simply the world becoming more connected. For instance, several years ago, I wouldn't have had the opportunity to communicate with someone halfway around the world. With huge advancements in technology, I can now chat with someone from China through the internet if I wanted to. Globalization is pretty awesome and all, but it does have its drawbacks. Over in India, they have more honors students than America has students. With businesses able to offshore their businesses, they can operate cheaper and US citizens don't have as much opportunity for work.IraqIn 2003, we invaded Iraq to look for weapons of mass destruction. Sadly, there weren't any. But we did free the Iraqi people and take down Saddam Hussein and his support for terrorism. The war between the ethnic groups was getting out of control, so we stepped in to help take care of the situation. We have helped stabilize the people and make the gov't more in control, and now Obama wants to move our troops all to Afghanistan to stop war over there.Afghanistanon 9/11, terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers, and it was accepted that Bin Laden was behind the attack, and that the Taliban was hiding him in Afghanistan. The Taliban is the form of gov't over there, and we don't like it. The Taliban is a large harborer of Al-Qaeda, a worldwide terrorist group. So we are trying to take out the Taliban/Al-Qaeda now. Obama even sent more troops over not too long ago.IranNot too long ago, Iran decided to take nuclear matters into their own hands by secretly hiding a nuclear facility and enriching uranium, which they're not supposed to be doing. Iran said that it was only for nuclear energy, but they were enriching weapons-grade uranium. After quickly accepting the IAEA to take a look around the facility after continually denying it, officials got suspicious. Iran was even test firing missiles.DarfurDarfur is basically all of western Sudan, which is the largest country in Africa. Starting in February of 2003, the first genocide of the 21st century started. So far, 400,000 people have been killed, with 2.5 million displaced. The Janjaweed, a.k.a. devils on horseback, are nomadic Arabs that are killing and displacing the Non-Baggara people, who are farmers. The gov't denies supporting the Janjaweed, but they have directly financed them. This is said to be the first genocide due to climate change, as the Sahara desert is growing larger and the Janjaweed are taking the black Africans' farming land.RwandaThe Rwandan genocide lasted for 100 days, starting in April of 1994. The genocide was between the Hutu ethnic group killing the Tutsi ethnic group. The Tutsi were favored by the Belgians when they were there, and left them in power when they left. They enslaved the Hutu, and that came back to haunt them when the Hutu came to power and started to kill the Tutsi "cockroaches". After receiving no help from the UN or US, the Rwandan Liberation Front, made up of Tutsis, ended the slaughter 100 days after it began, sending many Hutu into the Congo.SomaliaSomalia is an excellent example of an anarchist country. Groups of pirates and other militias kill people all day, and fight for what resources they can get. Cities have gone to ruin because of the bombs and fighting, and yet people still live in their homes. Many people believe that someone will intervene and establish a working gov't and everything will return back to normal.That is just about all of semester one of Current World Issues!!
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