Political Cartoon

Hye Min Shin
November 15, 2014
Ch.8

Political Cartoon

In the recent election, Democrat candidates distanced themselves from President Obama. Since  approval rate of President Obama's policies has plummeted significantly, Democrat candidates may have wanted to separate themselves from President Obama.
However, if Democrats don't even trust their leader and do not show confidence in their party, who would want to vote for Democrats? Frankly, this just shows division and dysfunction within the party. In my opinion, instead of distancing themselves from the president, they should have attempted to improve their image by working together.

Recent mid-term election was very unfortunate. The voter turnout appeared very low; majority of Republican candidates won their place in Congress. With them, hopes for environmental and immigration reforms are very low.

If President Obama plans to win his third election, he should attempt to improve his ratings. (and to win my vote, he should work very hard towards either the environmental or immigration reform. )

Citation

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/cartoons/2014/03/14/editorial-cartoons-on-2014-congressional-elections

Hye Min Shin

CH.4 and 7 or Ch.8

November 9, 2014

A Strategy for Rich Countries: Absorb More Immigrants

         Until now, people failed to acknowledge immigration as an important economic issue. However, a new research  claims that absorbing immigrants into rich countries will help boost their economy. Right now, numerous wealthy countries experience a constant decline in their birth rate. This means that fewer, younger generation would need to provide more for larger, older population, which would eventually create a deficit and would prevent economic welfare ( this phenomenon is happening in Japan, where younger generation are expected to pay more to take care of growing older generation).United Nation researcher, Patrick Gerland, advises that in order to prevent this phenomenon, rich countries should either attempt to raise the birth rate or attract immigrants into their countries. He believes that the latter would really help balance World's generally growing population and aid in solving other problems such as environmental issues. 

          This is new idea that I haven't been exposed to. For now I am one of those people who are little skeptical of this research but I can understand why a decline in birth rate may result in economic problems. This relates to Ch.4 and Ch.7 since immigration is one of the issues that Republicans and Democrats are divided on. If people begin to see validity of this research, I believe that polling may change to favor Democrats who will more willing to encourage immigration than Republicans. It appears that Republicans (with their opposition to immigration and environmental reforms) are short-sighted and fail to focus on long-term benefits. 

           This relates to Ch. 8 since with so many immigrants, the election turnout may decrease even more. It has been said that minorities such as Hispanics and African Americans tend to vote less than European Americans do. Thus, more immigrants may lead to lesser people voting. Truly, this immigration issue may be related to recent national turnout of 36%. It appears that there is a negative correlation between # of immigrants and # of people voting. As population of immigrants constantly increase (Hispanics: the fastest growing population of America), the voting turnout is gradually decreasing.
         

Citation

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/09/upshot/a-strategy-for-rich-countries-absorb-more-immigrants.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=second-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1&abt=0002&abg=1

Invest now or face 'irreversible' effects of climate change, U.N. panel warns

Hye Min Shin
November 02, 2014
Ch. 4 & Ch.7

        Though many people like John Coleman (a weatherman) disagrees, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and people like Danny Kenny, a CEO of weather channel, claims that global warming exists. IPCC reports earth is gradually warming up and will be up to 4.8 degrees Celsius (8.6 Fahrenheit) warmer in 2100 if gas emission level stays the same. After multiple research and ample data, IPCC blames human as a cause of global Warming. It strongly recommends all nations to enforce environmental policies that could limit the global warming. Right now, our goal lies on maintaining the global warming under 2 degrees Celsius increase. IPCC believes the goal could be achieve by using renewable energy and focusing on increased efficiency. 

      
       I do believe global warming is a grave issue that needs people's support all around the world. Yet, people fail to take this seriously, especially large companies and Republicans. It appears that their profit concerns them more than the global conflict. This relates to Ch.4 and Ch.7 since public is significantly divided on the environmental issues. Democrats [liberals] tend to push for harsher environmental policies unlike Republicans [conservatives] who tend to oppose Democrats on this issue. However once polls demonstrate more support for environmental policies, Republicans may change their position. 

Citation

http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/02/world/ipcc-climate-change-report/index.html?hpt=hp_t2