With the inaguration of the 44th president of the United States, change is immenent. President Elect Barack Obama has put forth plans to deal with many of today's national problems. Obama recognizes many of the modern day issues that we discussed in class on Friday. After Friday's discussion I felt compelled to not only better understand, but to inform about what our next president plans to do about these issues. Some of the major issues we came up with in class were education, health care and the environment. I found all of his plans on the official Obama website. His plans go as such:
Education:
He wants to heavily reform No Child Left Behind. Also, Obama plans to invest in childhood education, adequately fund all schools and get high-quality teachers at those schools. If done like promised, this could be major progress in the department of education. Hopefully, Obama's goals are not too idealistic, because education is important.
Health Care:
Obama is a big fan of universal health care. This means he wants equal and affordable health care for all. Hopefully we can call this progress. Although our nation preaches equality for all, universal health care is a big question mark. It does not seem to work in Canada, because there is a big need for doctors. This causes a lack of quality doctors, which makes their doctors "worse." Is Obama's plan progress? In my opinion: yes and no. According to Emerson, "society never advances. It recedes as fast on one side as it gains on the other," (Emerson 36). I feel this is very true with Obama's health care plan. It is progress to give everyone health care, but we regress when we add less capable doctors. Again, hopefully we are making "progress" or that our progress is more positive than negative.
Environment:
Personally, I feel that the issue of global warming is our most important issue and needs a lot more focus than it is being given. Obama wants to invest in alternate fuel sources and create 5 million more "green" jobs, but I don't think this is enough. If our environment goes, we all go.
Overall, I do think that progress is being made because these issues are being addressed. Previously, the issue of global warming has not received enough attention. I am optimistic that our changes for the future will help solve these problems.
1 comment:
The part of Obama's plan on health care interests me. What I think would happen if universal health care was implemented, is that doctors would not make as much money, and because of this, less people would want to become doctors. What may seem like a good idea, giving everyone affordable health care, could backfire terribly.
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