Writer Introduction

I guess I'll start off with a hello to all the inquiring political minds who find themselves reading this. My name is Chelsea and I'm a senior in high school. Before I go about explaining my political views I'd like to give a thank you to Marco, Josh and Chris. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to work with other young individuals who have a strong interest in politics. Being a little late on this writer introduction (which I do apologize for) has allowed me to witness just how quickly this site has had an impact on our school. I have great faith that this site will go far and I promise to do my best to uphold my part in promoting politics to all those who are interested.

In my opinion today's political parties are, to most people, nothing more then a game. I myself am proud to say that I am Republican; however, my political party is based off of my feelings with the majority of governmental issues. The way I see it, (and I may be wrong) people of today base their political party off of one of two issues, abortion or the War in Iraq. And although both of those issues are important, I hope, with this website, to help educate others on the "forgotten issues." Now back to this whole game thing. James Madison was one of the first Founding Fathers to speak out about his fear of factions (political parties) and unfortunately… I believe that in today's society Madison's fears have become a reality. We have literally turned our Nations democracy into the biggest rivalry game of all time. No self-respecting Republican would ever vote for the overly controlling Hilary Clinton, and no Democrat in his right mind would ever vote for the my three wives and I are all practicing Christians Rudy Giuliani. And even though it may be true that Hilary has a rather short leash on Bill, and Rudy may not have a "leash" what so ever… is that really who these people are? And really, is that what they stand for? I think it's time we take a step back from the competition of who's better at "dissing" who, and focus on who these people truly are and what political stand points they have. Like I said earlier I am, with no doubt a Republican, but I truly feel that you can't understand politics unless you not only understand your own views, but understand the views of your opponent.

So there are at least some of my political basics. I figure I'll keep my first post at least relatively short. Trust me you will eventually hear the rest. I guess I'll leave with this; I really hope that you get a lot out of this website. I know that each of the writers is truly dedicated to making this a success and I hope that you really will enjoy reading these blogs as much as each of us enjoys writing them.

Hello

Good evening America, and concerned youth around the globe, my name is Chris, and let me start by saying this is kind of a dream, or maybe more of a passing, "crazy" idea, of mine but MUCH better. A blog where I can inform others and/or comment on the political activities surrounding us every day. What makes this better is the fact that I'll be working with the fine individuals already introduced to you earlier--a potent combination if I do say so myself.

Basically, as Josh and Marco said, this blog is here to give today's young people somewhere to go to get a clear, concise, unbiased source of national and political news written by people like them. This is especially true with the Iowa Caucus less than four weeks away, and the 2008 Elections, perhaps one of the most critical elections in US history, down the road. So naturally, we will do our best to make sure we stay true to our mission.

Basically, I got here through my AP European History and AP Government classes, which, although they were classes, sometimes served as a forum for discussion where I and others were able to express our beliefs and hone our viewpoints. I get my news from the Sunday Free Press(*), 760 AM radio (Mitch Albom and Sean Hannity), Yahoo and other online links, CNN and Fox News, and occasionally World News Tonight on ABC.

I am a conservative on many issues, but I like to hear as many takes on an issue as I can before I pass judgment--as you can see by my listening to both Hannity and Albom. I'm a Catholic but believe that far-right religious evangelicals hold too strong a hold on the Republican Party as George Soros and far-left liberal sites like moveon.org have a hold on the Democrats. I believe the predominant neoconservative movement in the GOP has gone astray and needs to be thrown out or at the very least rethought. I believe that while we should not have gone into Iraq with Osama bin Laden not yet secured, to leave soon would be foolish. I believe in a policy of swift and precise interventionism a la Reagan (Grenada, Libya), Bush (Gulf War), and Clinton (Kosovo). On moral issues, I believe it is for each state's citizens to decide, not the courts'. And as far as my religious beliefs go, they don't influence my politics. Most of all, I believe the most important issue facing us is the rising debt/deficit, a good chunk of it held by foreign countries.

So, I hope you're able to get as much out of this blog as we're willing to put into it and are able to cast your vote in November (and January-March) with confidence.

God Bless!

(*) Note from the editor: the Detroit Free Press.

Welcome

Hello young people of this great nation, my name is Marco. I was adamantly against blogs recently, but have to come realize that I need a semi-relevant arena to not only spout my views, but to interact with other politically minded people, young and old. Over the course of my high school career, especially recent months, I have come to develop strong political views. My hopes for this blog include not only putting my ideas into articulated writing, but to educate myself also. At first glance, our name as “Truth for Youth” may sound pretentious, but our goal is to educate to the best of our ability (my political views notwithstanding) with proper research for a “fair and balanced” take on all issues.

As for my personal views, I am liberal on most contemporary political issues, but I try vigorously to stay centered. On issues of health care, economics, and domestic security especially, I am without a doubt liberal. I am a strict believer in our first amendment law that states, “ Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” I believe this sets a mandate for a strict separation of church and state, and having done much research on the issue, am positive this is best principle for our country regarding the issue. I believe there is no validity in the statement “Our nation should be Christian because our Founding Fathers were Christian.”-for reasons to be examined later.

On the war in Iraq, I never believed our invasion was justified. Despite our title as the “Greatest Nation on Earth,” I believe the support of the international community should be taken into very strong consideration. I personally think our mission has not been accomplished and that we are not headed in the right direction.

These issues and more will be further addressed with the support of intense research and as I stated previously, I hope to educate myself as well as others.

My political views will with no doubt change, if not I would consider myself ignorant, not “flip flopping.” However, without further adieu I would like to welcome all of you to what we hope to be a great success here at The Truth for Youth

Mission Statement

Welcome to the new blog The Truth for Youth. In this blog I will attempt to give my views on politics, politicians, and news stories from the US and around the globe. About me, I am a high school senior with a wide variety of political views. For example, while I have an extremely conservative standpoint on the issues of abortion and capital punishment, I have extremely liberal views on homosexuality and immigrant rights. I suppose this makes me a centrist, so I try to be unbiased towards candidates in regards to their political party. George Washington himself said "They [political parties] serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community;..." Basically, he was opposed to political parties and while I am not quite so adamantly against the two-party system I can understand how Washington's words are still very true today when speaking about the public sector.

In terms of qualifications of informing people, I really do not have many. I am in Advanced Placement English, which (hopefully) translates to me having above average writing skills. I am in Advanced Placement US Government, which hopefully translates to an increasingly strong understanding of our governmental system, although I will be the first to admit the phase "you learn something new every day" is most poignant for me in my AP Government class. Finally, I am in Advanced Placement United States History, which gives me a strong understanding of precedents set by history and an improved perception regarding the phrase "history repeats itself." All of these "qualifications" serve me in writing this blog and by extension will hopefully help you to better understand the upcoming 2008 elections.

In terms of party identification, I will never speak in favor of either the Democratic or Republican party. While I certainly have liberal leanings (thanks to my wonderful youthful idealism and vitality) I believe the Democratic party often becomes as much as a servant to special interests as the Republican party does.

In terms of media influence, (something very important in determining one's left versus right stance) I watch CNN most often and will most likely refer to their website (http://www.cnn.com/) the most when referring to polls, news stories, and the like. I also listen to the NBC Nightly News broadcast quite frequently. As a result, Tom Brokaw and Anderson Cooper are the two journalists I idealize most. I enjoy the tongue-in-cheek comedy news broadcasts The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. I am very, very, very opposed to Fox News in all of its incarnations. The Fox News channel is by far the worst of all news stations in terms of having an "agenda" and pushing it through their interviews and non-contextual usage of sound bites. As a piece of advice from a modest blog writer, never go to the Fox News Network for any piece of news, unless you are looking for something or someone to satirize. For newspaper information, I get the Detroit Free Press delivered to my home and I also like to read USA Today as much as possible. My chief source on the internet is Wikipedia, although if that particular source is used, the identification and verification of sources will be used thoroughly.

In terms of personal life, I am a Catholic, I enjoy college football, and I love a good match of tennis. That's about all the additional information you would ever need to know.

Alright, well, now that my "credentials" have been laid bare, I present to you the Truth for Youth Political Blog Mission Statement:

By posting in this blog, I (and any co-authors) will attempt to succinctly and honestly portray the political atmosphere of the United States, along with provide easy-to-understand commentary on candidates and news events around the world. In doing so, the authors understand that truth in the political world is almost certainly subjective, so the writers will attempt to make both sides of any given story their due credit and honesty. This blog is intended for not only youth but any (fellow) novices in the political arena hoping to better understand the political climate we live in today. The writers of this blog will take full responsibility for any misinformation or unintended political bias and will work to the fullest extent of their ability to preserve the truthfulness of their arguments and essays. We would finally like to thank you, the reader, for directing your attention to this blog and giving us the light of day. We have these great ideas and opinions, but none of this would be possible without eyes to read it and a mind to understand it.


In closing for this post, I would like to recommend that the reader utilize http://www.m-w.com/ because the diction can get pretty out of hand, as you might have already had trouble understanding some of the jargon used in this post. If you have any questions, you can reach the team at thetruthforyouth@gmail.com. Thank you for reading.