The First Amendment of the US Constitution states “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” Even though only US citizens are guaranteed the protections enshrined in the Constitution, separation-of-church-and-state in practice prevents the US government from discriminating against a religion in all of its laws, including its immigration laws.
Because US culture and history is defined by the formation of our democracy, the principles outlined within the US Constitution should be fully intergraded into the instincts of all Americans, yet Presidential Candidate Donald Trump has demonstrated this to be far from the case.
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Iraqi threats over the deployment of additional Turkish forces in Northern Iraq not only add another layer of complexity to the war against the Islamic State, they are reminiscent of the struggles the US faced in its efforts to provide for Iraqi security and work with Iraq’s highly dysfunctional leadership. With this and contradictory accusations over airstrikes against the forces of the Assad regime threatening to broaden the conflict, it is difficult to pivot away from the Syrian Civil War. The decisive victory of Venezuela’s Democratic Unity coalition, however, represents an opportunity for constructive engagement in South America that cannot be ignored.
The Obama Administration has been willing to ignore long-standing grievances against the governments of Myanmar, Cuba, and Iran to mend fences and try to jumpstart progress in these nations. Where a lack of “regime change” has sparked backlash in President Obama’s previous efforts, the shift away from the so-called Chavismo movement and its socialist policies create a clear-cut opportunity for the US to explore renewed relations with the South American oil producer. More importantly, the potential opening of the Venezuelan economy makes it far more attractive for the United States to pivot back to its own hemisphere and reengage a continent full of neglected issues. That said, change will take time in Venezuela. Venezuela’s new political leaders and their foreign suitors must, therefore, tread softly as they seek a capitalist revival in this long-time socialist country where capitalism has been used to justify great wrongs by the wealthy. The murder of three and wounding of nine others at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic was likely motivated by religious and political beliefs, thus making the incident an act of terrorism. The murder of 14 and wounding of 21 in San Bernardino may well also turn out to be an act of terrorism, if the motivation for the massacre can be determined. The murder of nine and wounding of seven others on the Umpqua Community College campus was not an act of terrorism, yet the human and community impact of this shooting was no different than the ones in Colorado Springs and San Bernardino.
Although politicians and pundits squabble over whether these mass murders are terrorist attacks, the simple truth is that the motivation only matters when trying to prevent the next act of violence. Just as blaming mental health and guns will not eliminate violent crime, calling attention to the religious beliefs, moral objections, and political stances of a murderer cannot eradicate acts of violence. Even if someone is classified as a terrorist, the reality is that a terrorist cause can be nothing more than an avenue for a recruit to express his, or her, violent feelings and/or tenancies. After all, the perpetrators of terrorism and other violent crimes are motivated by many factors. Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen has finally indicated that after seven years of holding its benchmark interest rate at near-zero, it may soon raise that rate to 0.25% or 0.5%. At the same time, rates strategists at Citi predict next year China will drop its interest rate to zero in response to its economic collapse while the US economy will fall back into recession. Such predictions will, of course, stoke fears that a rate hike in the US could halt job creation, accelerate income inequality, and help worsen a global recession on the horizon.
Where Republicans tend to be the ones calling foul on the Fed and trying to exert their political will onto the powerful and independent body over concerns of inflation, Democrats are the ones protesting a rate hike, because they fear the policy shift will slow economic growth and exasperate growing income inequality. What will be most interesting is if a small increase in the interest rate actually helps the US economy and eases poverty. The 2015 UN Climate Conference in Paris has been billed as an opportunity for US President Barack Obama to cement his environmental legacy and lead the world in an effort to avert a climate change disaster. Although it would appear the politically savvy President Obama has “booby-trapped” the counterproductive Transpacific Partnership (TPP) agreement to force free-trade loving Republicans to accept environmental measures to reduce green house gases, the political leaders in the US Congress are far more likely to reject both TPP and a climate change pact than they are to accept both due to anti-Obama sentiments. Where Chinese leadership is willing to address the causes of climate change in hopes of diverting the long-term consequences of climate change to China, India, Russia, and Brazil are not likely to solve climate change, especially if doing so hurts their economies.
The costs of climate change and the costs of stopping climate change will be the burden of all Peoples, yet world leaders have excluded their Peoples from the solution-making process. As only one government of the world’s top five polluters is willing and able to aggressive reduce emissions, China is motivated by the civil unrest and instability it will face when climate change undermines its ability to provide for its People’s most basic needs. Should climate change agreements cost Chinese workers their jobs, thus inviting civil unrest and instability, the Chinese leadership will quickly reverse its commitment. There are a lot of people who want to protect the environment and eliminate pollution, but derailing the economies of the world to do that makes them unwilling to accept current options. The atmosphere of the 2015 Paris Climate Conference may be more optimistic compared to the 2009 Copenhagen Summit, but it still lacks the proper economic framework needed to address pollution. |
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April 2020
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