Our Governmental System

Today in class Andy asked what do you think of our governmental system?  This is a big question most people in the class are in political science and they study exactly that, our government.  Yet there was a silence for a while, no one really had an immediate response ready.  Now it’s 10:40 and I have food in me and my brain can finally process such big questions like what do I think of our political system?

Well I have never lived or even visited another country, to experience another governmental system, so granted I am going to be a little biased.  I think that our system is the best governing system in the world today, but there is always room for improvement.  I know I am lucky to live here with the freedoms that each United States citizen is entitled to, but still I find our whole government system incredibly frustrating.

On paper (the constitution basically), our governmental system looks great, we have separation of powers, checks and balances, a bill of rights, and the power to amend it is we absolutely need to.  However, when this government system is implemented it comes along with all these petty politics that drive me crazy.  A few classes ago Iris mentioned something about the “average Joe American” and his lack of knowledge when it comes to politics.  Lately I have been kind of thinking about this and you know that is not such a bad thing.

During my year and a half as a political science major, I have learned that our system is stable and change is hard to come by.  Politicians run on promises of change on cleaning up our political system, but in reality change is a very, very slow progression.  Our political system is built on a set of procedures, not hope.  While politics maybe a necessity, all the petty jabs that conservatives spit at democrats really do not mean much in the end.  It seems like all the petty politics only serve to get in the way of our system.

I know this is kind of a weird post, and might not really make sense, but basically what I am trying to say is that I have faith in our constitution and the system it creates. On the other hand I do not have faith in a lot of the people who are involved in politics.  I have faith that our system is strong enough to endure the petty politics, because the politicians will always be held accountable to the citizens and the citizens will not let them go to far.  The “average Joe” American may not care or know that much about politics, but it does not really matter because as soon as politics start affecting Joe in a bad way he will start to care.

Turkey’s Take on Iran

President Obama has finally decided what to do concerning Afghanistan, and 30,000 troops are now going to be deployed.  However the Iran nuclear situation is still at a standstill.  Lately, the Iran issue has been pushed to the back-burner, because of the health care plan, the Asian tour, Afghanistan and now the Copenhagen talks.  However the prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has brought up the nuclear problem once again when he visited with President Obama at the White House.

Mr. Erdogan claimed that the only way to solve the Iranian nuclear issue is through diplomacy.  He does not believe that economic sanctions, or force are the right way to approach Iran.  However, it seems that most of the international community does not see it the same way as Prime Minister Erdogan does.  The lack of results that diplomacy has shown has only served to make the international community favor more economic sanctions.  Obama claimed “he cannot wait forever for Iran to come to the negotiating table”(LaFranchi 2009).  It looks like there may be some confrontation in the UN Security council that Turkey is part of, but not as a permanent member.

The Christian Science Monitor columnist, Howard LaFranchi, pointed out that Turkey may be showing an inclination to turn from the West and start siding with the East.  However Prime Minister Erdogan claims that Turkey is only trying to find a balance between its eastern neighbors, and Western allies.

Turkey is one of the few Muslim nations that is allies with the United States so it is important that President Obama, at least gives some thought to what Turkey has to say.  On the other hand the negotiations with Iran have been idle for quite a while now and it is true that the international community is pushing for something more to be done.  Yet, are economic sanctions the right way to address Iran?  If not what else can be done?