Can You Say..."Angry Americans"

On Tuesday, October 23, 2013, The Huffington Post, published an article titled "Post-Shutdown Polls Find Americans Angry, GOP Majority Potentially Vulnerable” written by Ariel Edwards-Levy. Edwards-Levy is an associated polling editor at Huffington Post.  Edward-Levy gave her opinion about aftermath of the government shutdown and how angry Americans are.  There were two polls released on Tuesday that confirmed, Americans lay much of the blame on the GOP.  The wide majority believe the shutdown damaged the United States economy by 24 billion dollars.

Edwards-Levy uses information from the Washington/ABC polls to support the disapproval statistics of the American people.  The polls show that a low percentage of Americans think we are back on track since the shutdown is over.  With only 23 percent of Americans comfortable with how the political system is working, there is a lack of confidence in Washington.  The Congressional approval was also noted at a whopping 12 percent.  What really hit hard was the fact that 47 percent of American believe that if Congress voted out ever member it would improve. With the 2014 elections approaching and the finger pointing at the Republicans, the polls show that more Americans blame the GOP over President Obama for the shutdown.   Other polls show that Americans feel it is bad for the Republicans to be in charge of the house.  

Edwards-Levy intended audience would be anyone who cares about politics.  The Republicans would not like the low poll ratings that were mentioned in the blog.  At the same time the Democrats rating were also low, just not as low as the Republicans. I believe blogs of this nature could have an impact on the 2014 election if new polls do not improvements for the GOP ratings.  If America experiences another shut down in January 2014, next year’s presidential election will consist of finger pointing and name calling, but Americans will have the final say when we choose a Republican or Democrat to run the Oval Office.   

Campaign Donations Limits

On Monday, October 8, 2013,USA Today  published an article titled " Uphold Direct Campaign Donation Limits: Our View". There was no author mention for this article published under the opinion section. And was selected by The Editorial Board, USA Today


The article points out our First Amendment right to give money to elect politicians, or a political system free from the corruption money can buy.  This is a well debated topic for many Americans.  In order to help eliminate corruption, the need to place limits on contributions is recommended.  


Contributions are required to comply with base limits.  The limits for the 2013-2014 election cycle state  anyone can give a total of up to $123,200, with no more than $48,600 given to candidate committees and no more than $74,600 given to PACs and parties. Chief Justice John Roberts stated that limit "seems to me very direct restriction"  on free speech rights.  While Justice Antonin Scalia believes a donations should $3.5 million which is “not a heck of a lot of money”


The attended audience for this articles the people who do not have $3.5 million sitting in reserve.   These are the people who may be working pay check to pay check.  I feel more for moral people who believe in doing the right thing and play fair in politics.  Having money and being involved in politics is an ace in the hole for some.  The article can leave one guessing about all the bribes and favors created in our government that are not shared to the public.  The creditability of the author for this article is backed by facts with the laws governing contributions.  Placing a large donation to a campaign not only gets you recognized but can add you to the little book of favors for future use.  I feel it is what you know, who you know, and having the money to get you where you want to go is the name of the game.