Inauguration day

Today was a very historical moment as not only is it Martin Luther King Day but also Inauguration day where the 44th president of the United States was officially/finalized the president for the next 4 years. Barrak Obama not only being the 44th president of the United States but what is known to be the first African American president of United States. I was able to watch Obama's speech as it was made official he was the president. I was packed in a classroom with many other student and teachers, everyone was a lot more inattentive then they usually are in a regular teaching class. By judging from the atmosphere and mood of the room, half the people were bored out of their minds as the others seemed enthusiastic, cheerful, they cheered and clapped to Obama's words. As well as being able to watch his speech I was also able to watch a part of the parade on CNN news and a news reporter showing us a satellite birds eye view image of the vents taking place. Firstly, it amazed me how advance our technology was, being able to see such a clear image of the millions of people gathering, they appeared to look like swarms of ants on the image. Secondly, I was surprised how much people were curious and into this year's election and Inauguration then any other. They didn't have the same enthusiasm for George's Bush's election and Inauguration day as they did for Obama ("I wonder why..."). I heard from a friend that this year was in the Guinness worlds records of how many people were actually watching Obama. This big event brought up many discussions and questions in history class today. The first of which I remember was brought up by a fellow student (I think, if i remember correctly was Yazmin Pina), she asked how come there was around 180 million dollars spent on Inauguration day even when the US is already in such a economical crisis. This made me wonder as well of why can't Inauguration just be a simple rally listening to the president taken oath and his speech? Is it because America doesn't think? Personally, while relating it to the American way of life, Americans are known for there waste in money (personal opinion), families and people tend to spend money on luxury and leisure before solving any crisis's'. Looking at the Inauguration, it is a enjoyable show everyone can see. It is a way for every person in America to feel a part of History and have that feeling of "togetherness". This being up another topic in class of "National Unity". In many of the speeches heard today brought up, many of the words such as "we", "we the people", "freedom", etc. These words give the citizens of the United States a sense of dignity and equality, as if they took part of this great history, as if they had a sense of power. Although this is the good side, there was mention of the evil side of National Unity. One example is the military force, before Obama people avoided drafts, no one wanted to fight for George Bus which everyone saw as "stupid". Now that we have what most people see as a "cool" president since he is black and "hip" and be able to relate to citizens, now people are more willing to risk there lives and join the military. They would more likely want to fight for the "cool president". To wrap it up, this blinds people from seeing social classes. This can be bad because many people will sink deeper into their class, making the poor people poorer and rich people even richer, creating no balance in social class and a expansion of military force.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a philosopher and mainly researched on capitalism and didn't necessarily approve or disprove with the ideas of capitalism but more likely tells the future of where society is heading. A few things that caught my attention during history class was primitive accumulation of capital, alienation of labor, empiricism, and the crashing of capitalism. First off was the primitive accumulation of capital. None of the capital we have now in our modern society would have become if it wasn't for the accumulation of capital through stealing, enslavement, genocide. An example of how these things was the primitive accumulation of capital, by stealing another person's labor or enslaving people to work for you helps build the capital which in result causes industrialization. As workers are exploited for there labor this causes the theory by Karl Marx of vampire. "Capital is dead labor which, vampire- like lives by sucking living labor, and lives the more the more labor it sucks"(-Karl Marx). This quote basically means that in order for capital to survive it sucks labor from workers such like a vampire sucks blood from a person to survive. This was the ideas that caught my attention the most as it compares captial to a vampire, this giving me the idea that if there was no labor there would be no capital, so why is it that workers work for such a little amount then what they should be getting? According to Marx he stated that "Capital is going to grow and suck until everyone becomes a proletarian." A Proletarian is someone who sells there labor in order to survive, they have nothing else to sell to survive but there own labor. This giving the idea in class that since capital needs labor it produces proletarians, as proletarians grow it eventually will cause everyone to become proletarian. I think this will one day be true as the more people find work and sell there labor it gives capital more of a oppourtunity to get more labor. This will eventually cause all of society to be selling there labor and just the very few that are capital. Marx also gives an idea of alienation or alienation of labor, this is when someone does not work for themselves or because they want to but because they work in order to survive thus making a person and there work alien to each other. Marx did not see this theory as a good thing. I think this is a very big idea about society because most people today don't really end up working to be something they want to be but working in order to earn a living. This is a big part of the American way of life, these makes me think back to the interviews we did with random people on the street, when asked what they think the American way of life is most of which answered back "work work work!" instead of personal values, dreams, and goals and none of which mentioned enjoy there job but describing it as "tiring". This shows how people will get any work they can no matter at what wage which causes the idea of alienation and capital taking over. This makes me wonder what if one day people start to realize that they are being paid at a low wage just for capital to earn the rest of the higher pay that the workers make for them, what will happen? Would we ever have a crashing capitalism where there is exploitation of works. This usually goes towards the direction of socialism. Would this ever happen to America?

Christmas Break

Christmas break is probably the best holiday for students mainly because of the long amount of time we are able to spent sleeping in and wasting time. Christmas this year was no different then any other this year. Now that I think about it I realize that it wasn't as different to Thanksgiving Holiday either. This Christmas/ New Years I spent it with my boyfriend and his family. This supports my idea that no matter what culture Asian, Hispanic, or Caucasian, Christmas is primarily celebrated the same way. Christmas in the american way of life mainly includes family, gifts, and parties. Typically in the American way of life, people dominantly spent new years including things like gatherings of some sort, thoughtlessness, family, and alcohol. From what I personal know Christmas was celebrated by many Christians for it was the day for the birth of Jesus Christ(I'm not saying this is a fact, this is what i personal heard). Although I don't exactly think this is the case now in the American way of life as much as it was in the past. Now in modern day I think people mainly celebrate Christmas as a time to get together with family and just like Thanksgiving an excuse to SHOP.I didn't get any new outfits this Christmas although i managed to cough up some dough to get new shoes. This shows me that in the typical American way of life people tend to spent more of their time on personal items and necessities rather then survival. During Christmas, Chanukah or whatever it is people tend to look forward to gifts rather then quality time. Now the American way of life is a lot revolved around buying, as things are on sale people bombarded the stores for things that they see as on sale. Just like Thanksgiving Christmas is a wonderful excuse to have get-together and shop for things that are able to have an excuse to be on sale. As new years is a excuse to have big parties and get drunk and celebrate what I think is just "time". In conclusion Christmas Break is definitely a big part of the American way of life for every year it is the same, it is as well the same for every family or person as well.

Ebay

Ive always heard a lot about eBay but never really took the time to really look at the website. I always thought it sold items that weren't really of any important. When i got the assignment to take a look at eBay and try to do an auction for an item i was interested in. I happen to find a lot of items that was either surprisingly expensive or surprisingly cheap. Many of the items I saw was from common stores such as American Apparel. Most clothing from that store is ridiculously expensive, for example a colored hoodie would cost around 40 to 60 dollars, on eBay I saw a lot of the same exact items selling at a ridiculously cheaper amount around 20 dollars. When i found a sweater that I was interested in (no a item that was taken from American Apparel) I attempted to bid for it, as there was zero bids placed on it I bid it in the very beginning. I wasn't really anxious or anything because I thought I wouldn't have won the bid as no one seemed interested in biding on it as well. The next day as I check back I had surprisingly lost the bid. This taught me that no matter what it is crucial to bid at the very beginning which is a strategy i learned in class. This made me think that the other person who had won the bid most likely had used that strategy.

This very much relates to the idea of capitalism. The first thing that came on my mind was supply, demand, scarcity, and oppourtunity cost. On eBay, as many people bid on the same item this is the idea that there is a limited amount of supply as demand is more because there are more people who want the item. Scarcity is when you get what you get when you buy something. As i search through eBay there was a certain amount of money that I was willing to spent which also meant I only had a certain limited amount as well, this meaning i also only had a limited amount of items i could get with my certain amount of money. As lastly relating it to opportunity cost, when I didn't get the item that I wanted I went on the the second best thing that I had my eye on.

Part C

Amendments 12, 13, 14, & 15 are often referred to as a major turning point in US government policy. Why?


In the amendments 12,13, 14, 15th it introduced ideas such as the electoral college and abolishment of slavery. These few amendments are often known to be what caused major turning points for America. It was most important probably because it made certain changes in how the government was runs. Firstly it was a major turning point because in the 14th amendment it made it so the government cannot rob people of their freedoms, slavery is basically robbing people of their freedoms. Letting the African Americans have their freedom and abolishing slavery sets a huge turning point for the US. As the 15th amendment allows all citizens to be able to vote even the African Americans. Although at that time women were at that time not able to vote. This, in personal opinion, contradicts the 14th amendment at that time. Of course it has changed and women are allowed the same freedom and rights. As people know, "freedom" and "equality" is how America is viewed, it is what America is meant to go by. If it wasn't for these amendments it wouldn't have made such a big turning point for American towards it's goal is a country with freedom and equality.

Does the 14th combine with the earlier "no religious test" clause to guarantee a vision of a diverse and equitable society with no government discrimination?

The 14th amendment states that laws made against liberty, freedom, and citizens property are not allowed. As the "no religious test" clause states that a person in office cannot discriminate against the religion of others in the office. Although i do not think they combine together to guarantee a vision of diverse and equitable society but I do think that it in some ways it supports the idea of a diverse and equal society. As the 14th amendment supports diversity and freedom by abolishing slavery, this guarantees a vision of a equal society. Having the "no religious test" clause keeps diversity of culture and religious beliefs, not making anything mainly based of raise OR religion.