Semester Test Blog

[3Alan]

Gay Marriage: first became a real issue in 1970 in Minnesota, first legalized in Hawaii in 1993; first fully legalized in Massachusetts in 2004; officially supported by Obama in 2012; mains views are Christian morals vs freedom of speech, religion, etc.; gaining popularity

Marijuana: first became a big issue in 1970; California first to legalize in 1996; fully legal in Washington and Colorado; main views are gateway drugs vs tax profit/medicinal use; gaining popularity

Abortion: initially a problem in the 60s; first reforming state was New York; made difficult to legalize by the Supreme Court; Roe v. Wade; fairly even; taking a life vs the person’s body

Gun Control: 2^nd amendment; Gun Act of 1968; Brady Bill; NRA; handguns are #1 killer; 2^nd amendment vs weapon abuse

Immigration: citizenship test; Dreamers; streamlining deportation; deport them vs let them prove themselves

• Democracy
  • Direct:
    • Everyone participates
    • Majority rules
  • Representative:
    • Everyone votes for people to make laws for the country
    • Majority rules
• Monarchy
  • Absolute
    • The king/queen has total power
    • Like a dictatorship
  • Constitutional
    • King/queen doesn't have full power
    • More of a symbol of spirit
• Dictatorship
  • Absolute power for one person or a small group of people
• Anarchy
  • Lack of government
  • The people do what they want
• Communism
  • Government has complete control
  • All money is evenly distributed

Democrats vs Republicans:

• Helping hand vs rugged individualism
• Big government vs Laissez faire
• Help the poor directly vs trickle-down theory

Income Inequality

• How unequally wealth is spread across a population
• In America, the top % has 40% of the income
• Bottom 80% has 7
• Bottom 50% has .5% of stocks
• Top % has 50%
• Can be improved by:
  • Breaking social barriers
  • Uniting schools/scholarship programs
  • Giving money to the poor at random
  • Raising minimum wage

9/11

• Killed 3,000 people
• United the country
• Brought to war with Afghanistan
• Still in the war

Iraq War

• Iraq claimed that they had nuclear weapons to scare off Iran
• Brought confusion to the Americans
• People didn’t like it
• Obama brought all troops back

Iran situation

• United States started their program in 1957
• Iran signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
• Now believed to be making weapons
• Must dilute/get rid of uranium enriched over 5%
• Could have made sure that they don’t transport it anywhere

Millennium Goals

• Eradicate Poverty/Hunger
  • Halving the proportion of people with an income of <$1.25 per day by 2015
  • Achieving full productive work for all, women and young people included
  • Halving the proportion of people living in hunger by 2015
• Universal Primary Education
  • All children go to elementary school before 2015
  • 90% of children attend
  • Up from 82% in the 90s
  • Education helps stop poverty
  • 61% of those not going to school are women
• Gender Equality
  • Provide equal opportunities/empower women
  • Middle East, SE Asia, Southern Africa have the biggest problems
  • Brazil has an online program for women going through domestic abuse
  • Ruwanda farmers are getting more yields
  • Uruguay role in politics
  • Yemen women are getting education
• Child Mortality
  • Death of children before age 1
  • Children born into poor families are 5x more likely
  • Highest rate in Sub-Saharan: 1 in 10
  • Children of mothers with education are more likely to survive
• Improving Maternal Health
  • Health while pregnant/soon after birth
  • Reduce mortality by 3/4
• Combat HIV/AIDS and Other Diseases
  • Reversed by 2015
  • On the decline
  • No cure as of right now
  • Find a treatment by 2010
  • Still none found in 2011
  • More people being treated
• Ensure Environmental Sustainability
  • Reverse loss of environmental resources
    • Forests are poor peoples' fallback
    • Basically stop deforestation
    • Africa/South America
  • Sanitation
    • Halved proportion of people without clean water 5 years ahead of schedule
    • Proportion of people using clean water went up 80% since the 90s
    • 40% of the people without clean water are in Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Keeping people from slums
    • Dropped 6% in 12 years
    • UN hopes to accomplish by 2020
    • 200 million of these people gained access to improved water sources, sanitation facilities or durable/less crowded housing
• Global Partnerships
  • Protect the trade
    • Get countries what they need but still make money on what they export
  • Address the needs of developing countries
    • Seems pretty straight forward
  • Landlocked countries
    • Difficult to export goods
  • Debt of developing countries
  • Provide drugs and medicine
  • Access to benefits of technology
    • Internet access
      • Business opportunities
      • Education
    • Cellular reception