- The hippy movement of the 1960s first became popular in San Francisco, CA and Greenwich Village in New York City, but soon spread throughout the country. Hippies believed in liberalismliberalism were a powerful voice in the civil rights movement and may have had influence on the time in which these laws were changed. The liberalists of the 1960s used drugs more than any other American culture before it. They believed that LSD and marijuana would open people’s minds and make the world a more peaceful place.

- In today’s society, the word hippy is rarely used. Instead people with similar beliefs are known as liberalists. These are people who are against the war in Iraq and believe we have no business being there, much like our situation in Vietnam 50 years ago. While liberalists in the 1960s pushed for civil rights for African-Americans, the majority of today’s youth believe that gays and lesbians should have a right to get married and have the same rights as anybody else. The government is in the process of appealing the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in the military and some would suggest that is due to the strong protest for the appeal nation wide. Liberalism today is the same as it ever was. In some cases, this includes drug use as well. The difference is today, the drug laws are much more harsh than they were during the 1960s, creating a much more dangerous environment.

In comparison, there is not much difference between today’s youth and that of the 1960s. Both generations believed in liberalism and felt that peace and tranquility were the best ways to achieving a prosperous nation. Many of the freedoms we enjoy today are due in part to the strong voice of the hippy generation. Today’s youth, while similar to the hippies, seems to have a more unified voice. It is not just the youth pushing for change, but rather people of all ages, race and gender. Only future generations will be able to tell which generation had a bigger impact on our world.

- From 1994 to 2006, the republican party held the majority of both houses of congress. This contributed to more deregulation of our financial system, more and larger tax cuts and and the blockage of many liberal policies. For the first six years of George W. Bush’s presidency, he vetoed many attempts to regulate the markets, create government programs and proposed changes to our foreign policy. The democratic parties of the past have generally always been for larger government, civil rights and financial regulation. The lack of these things might have contributed to our current problems. In 2006, that all started to change. The democratic party took the majority of the House of Representatives and the Senate. This was a huge success for the party, but there was still a republican president to veto a lot of their proposed legislation. In 2009, Barack Obama was inaugurated and democratic party controlled the white house once again.

- When the democratic party won the white house, many republicans began asking themselves what was wrong with their party. While some believed it was due to the country becoming more liberal, many thought that the republican party was not conservative enough. These people formed what is now know as the Tea Party. Members of the tea party are extremely conservative and are against almost all of Barack Obama’s policies. Some members have been pictured with signs claiming “Obama is a socialist” and have signs with pictures of Obama with a Hitler-style mustache. They generally believe that Barack Obama is trying to ruin our country. The tea party’s hatred for the president is fueled by republican party talking points and theories developed by Fox News and other conservative forms of media. While members of the party might think they are doing the country a service, they are starting to divide the republican party which might split the republican vote and make it easier for the democratic parties of the future to achieve a majority of the vote.

- Democratic parties of the past were much weaker versions of the current democratic party. After the 2008 elections, the democrats held the largest majority in our nation’s history and even after the election of Republican Senator Scott Brown, they now hold the second biggest majority. The party is more united than ever with about 90% of democrats supporting universal health care, about 80% supporting same-sex marriage, over 80% opposing restricting abortion rights and about 60% opposed to the Patriot Act. These examples show how strong their voice has become and proves that their views are generally agreed upon.

The current party is the strongest of all the democratic parties and only time will tell what that means. The democrats have faced some tough criticism recently because their majority has not helped them pass some major legislation such as health care and economic reform. The 2010 midterm elections will be a big test to this powerful party. A majority doesn’t mean much if they can’t get things done. The world is watching this majority with a close eye and it is up to the politicians themselves to make use of their power.

- The democratic party needs to realize that it is the majority. Bi-partisanship is very important, but if the republican party is going to refute every policy that the President proposes, the democratic party should use it’s majority to implement the President’s agenda.

- Our democracy didn’t work so well during the Bush administration. President Bush vetoed many of the democratic proposals during his 8 years in office and we now see where that got us. President Bush exercised his power in deregulating the markets, giving tax cuts to already wealthy corporations who shipped jobs overseas and growing the federal government in very dangerous ways. He also practiced globalization in Iraq and Afghanistan. Regardless of whether you think we should have invaded these countries or not, the way in which we went about these invasions is looked at by many experts as morally unjustified. All of these actions were not due to democracy or proper use of our democratic system. Instead they were implemented by an administration that acted as a dictatorship. The Bush administration went against the laws of the United Nation in order to invade Iraq. They also appointed officials to change the definition of the word “torture” in order to make their torture policies legal. President Bush also put into law the biggest invasion of American’s privacy with The Patriot Act.

- President Obama’s critics claim he is a socialist. However they did not object to the Bush administration expanding government more than any other administration in our nation’s history. Critics of the current administration claim they are spending too much, but they were rather silent after President Bush spent the same amount as all of the preceding presidents combined by the end of his first term. These statistics are relevant because for 8 years, our democracy failed. It was not about what was right or wrong. Instead republicans saw all of their views as right and were against anything and everything democratic.

It is now time for government to start working in the interest of it’s people. The 2008 presidential election saw the biggest voter turnouts in our nation’s history. This has to mean something. Maybe it means that the American people want our democracy to work again. Maybe it means that the American people are tired of politics as usual. Whatever it means, this is an important time in our country and the world is watching to see what we do with this opportunity.

The president did not miss a beat during almost 90 minutes of republicans questioning his policies. He was confronted with a plethora of conservative talking points dealing with health care, economic reform, government transparency and bi-partisanship. This was liberal politics at it’s best; the president stood there and let the republicans make their sound bites and whenever they decided to finish their “question”, he met them with actual facts and rational thought. He explained the reasons for his proposed policies and claimed that if anyone had a better idea to accomplish the same goal, he was more than willing to listen. The problem that most of the representatives ran into were that their claims did not hold any water. One republican claimed that he proposed a health care plan that would cover twice as many American’s then the President’s plan and it would no cost the government a penny. President Obama confidently responded to the representative by asking if there was a way to cover millions of Americans with health insurance that didn’t cost anything, don’t you think he would do that? He explained to the audience that claiming you have such a plan might win you an election, but it’s not true. He also asked the representative to show him his math.

The liberal politics of this administration is a breath of fresh air. If you oppose the President’s policies that’s fine, but back up your opposition witch facts and reasoning. Our country has been deprived of good liberal politics for the last decade and it is great to have this transparency back. There is still more to be done, but many believe that President Obama has made great progress in bringing liberal politics back and dismissing conservative politics as usual. Right now the republican party has a major problem. There is a very popular democratic president in office and they are the minority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Their conservative politics are not doing them any good and they need a new game plan immediately. Saying no to every policy President Obama has put forward has not helped them much in the poll numbers and the 2010 midterm elections are quickly approaching. Maybe they should try working with the democrats on some good legislation, so they can say they accomplished one positive thing in the last 20 years.

- President Bush did not have any liberal beliefs when it came to our economy and many believe that if he did, we would not be in our current situation. President Bush practiced basic conservative economics. This meant several massive tax cuts and deregulation of the markets. This is what President Reagan did in the 1980s and Bush continued this for the 8 years he was in office. Conservatives preach tax cuts as a way to fix the economy due to the belief that if Americans keep more of their money they will spend it. However, this usually does not work during times of economic hardship because there is no consumer confidence and people will save there money and not spend it. Many Americans would argue that deregulation of the markets is the main reason we are in this mess. Since there were little to no laws regulating what bankers and traders do, they were able to take incredible risks without worrying about the consequences. Wall street ended up playing a game with derivatives by taking bets on their bets. Bankers were giving mortgages to people they knew could not afford them which created the housing bubble. These are the dangers of deregulating the markets. The liberal belief of regulating markets could have saved us from this mess.

- As soon as President Obama took office, he turned his liberal beliefs into policy by passing the infamous stimulus package. This was done because of the simple liberal belief that by definition, spending money is the only way to stimulate the economy. He is also in the process of passing serious economic reform. If we do not change the rules of our markets, the banks will take the same risks and we will find ourselves in the same situation. It was liberal beliefs that helped us balance our budget while President Clinton was in office.

It is a liberal belief that businesses can enjoy prosperity while being regulated. It is also a liberal belief that growing government in a responsible way will stimulate the economy. Only time will tell if President Obama’s policies and liberal beliefs will fix our economy. Either way, Americans have reason to trust this democratic president because the last time we had a surplus was the last time a democrat held the presidency.

- At first health care reform seemed sensible and obvious and to many democrats it still is, but the debate has proven how corrupt many politicians really are. Forget all the talking points on both sides for a moment and try to think of one good reason why all Americans should not have good quality and affordable health insurance. If you are drawing a blank, it’s OK. So are many American citizens and politicians. The problem is that many politicians are in office due in large part because of the health insurance industry. Insurance companies donate ridiculous amounts of money to many campaigns in exchange for favors. These favors can include legislation that deregulates the industry more than it already is or promises to not promote any legislation at all, no one knows these details but it is obvious that insurance companies are not donating millions of dollars for nothing.

- After the 2008 election, the democrats had won a super majority in the senate, meaning they had 60 seats which would prevent a republican filibuster. This was the largest majority in our nation’s history. After Senator Ted Kennedy passed away, republican Scott Brown won a special election that was held and ruined the democrat’s super majority but they still have the second largest majority in history. So many Americans are suggesting that due to this situation, the republican opposition shouldn’t matter. However, it does matter because there is corruption in the democratic party as well. There are also democrats facing re-election in 2010 and if health care reform doesn’t turn out well, that would reflect poorly on them.

It seemed inevitable that after a year of false information being fed to the public, the topic of health care reform was going to become less popular. Starting in December of 2009, democrats started holding back on their message of urgency in regard to health care. President Obama recently stated that he would rather take time in order to get good health care reform legislation. The democrat’s new top priority is creating and saving jobs. Democrat supporters have grown frustrated with the inability to get reform passed. Whether you are a democrat or republican, it only seems right that we cover our citizens with good quality health care at an affordable price. Our current system will also add lots of money to our deficit and it is not making us healthier. It is in our best interest to get this done. Democrats should not be the only ones held responsible for fixing our problems.

- Many libertarians chart their history back to the signing of the Constitution. Although Thomas Jefferson never actually identified himself as a libertarian, many of his ideals came to make-up the beginning of a libertarian-based social theory. The Jeffersonian democracy put-forth several libertarian ideals. Among them included an extreme decentralization of the federal government. Also, Jefferson believed in an overall limited role of the federal government in everyday life, very much to the contrary of the modern political system.

- Modern libertarians often criticize both main political parties. The argument against democrats remains more on the surface as their focus on state-organized welfare and social systems runs contrary to libertarian belief. Republicans, on the other hand, state many libertarian values in their platform but in common practice fail to deviate from the status quo of huge national debts and bloated bureaucracies.

- The recent advent of libertarian-based politics stemmed predominately from Rep. Ron Paul. Paul, former representative of the libertarian party, took national spotlight in the several Republican political debates. His arguments illustrated the modern libertarian belief-set and sent a seismic charge through the modern political system. His debates centered around a clear removal of hundreds of past American focuses.

- Among other considerations, Ron Paul advocated for the end of several failed social programs. First, he claims the War on Drugs policy that began in the 1980s illustrates failed policy that is perpetuated by politics more than good policy. In addition, Paul places doubt on the current FBI/CIA system and cites the incessant waste of money as the prime motivator for initiating wide-spread reforms.

- Libertarians also criticize the supposed free-market system America currently employs. For the most part, libertarians fights for the absolute freedom of the private industry and claim that this is the most effective way to regulate the failed American system. The future of these politics remains unclear, as the main stream media often resulted in poking fun at the insurgent libertarians.

The grass-root support received by Ron Paul indicates a growing trend for a third political party. Libertarians and there new ideas attract many disaffected Americans. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents display an inkling of this libertarian ideal and will most likely incorporate many of these ideas rather than risking lose to them in the future.

- President Barack Obama’s political stance is not subjected to just democratic views and ideas. He has included many Republican ideas in his proposed health care reform bill as well as his economic reform legislation. Many Americans would argue that his foreign policies are very conservative. The president’s opponent from the 2008 election, Senator John McCain co-sponsored a defense contracting reform bill that Obama signed into law. He encouraged both parties to come together to pass a credit card bill of rights and was successful in doing so. He also got Republican support in order to extend compensation to the unemployed. This is what our country needs right now. Many politicians talk about being bi-partisan, but very few actually follow through with it.

- Many would argue that the difference between President Barack Obama and President George W. Bush is like night and day. President Bush’s political stance was extremely conservative. His political views reflected only those of his own party especially when it came to the economy. He relied on tax cuts as one of his main ways of fixing economic problems. Some Americans were not supportive of his tax cuts to large businesses who were not only making record profits but shipping jobs overseas as well. It was during George W. Bush’s presidency that many American’s changed their political views. President Bush took office with a record surplus and left office with a record deficit and also started two wars. This caused many Americans to look at their own political stance and ask some important questions.

- President Obama has not been promoting the democratic party the way other democratic presidents did. He encourages bi-partisanship almost every time he speaks. He is able to be passionate about his policies and political views without putting down the other party. Many American’s have hope that he can lead this country into a new era of politics. Only time will tell whether his words and actions translate to progress but most can agree that this is a huge change of pace from politics as usual with presidents especially within the last 30 years.

President Obama’s political stance might not be due to his personal beliefs but rather a demand of bi-partisanship by the American people. With the worst economic downfall since the great depression and our country involved with two wars, we cannot afford for the president’s personal political views to be affected by petty politics and opposition party bickering. We need a leader who can rise above politics as usual and do what’s right for the citizens of this great country. Many hope that years from now, there will be a time known as pre-Obama politics and post-Obama politics and that the ladder will be a much more positive political environment.

- The Democratic party was formed in 1792 by Thomas Jefferson as a way to promote the Bill of Rights and oppose the Federalist party. Six years later the “party of the common man” was changed to the Democratic-Republican party. The Republican party started in 1854 and stemmed from the debate on whether or not to expand slavery into the new Western territories.

- During the creation of our country and for many years, political party loyalty was a lot more important than it is today. This might be due to politicians being less independent in ideas and policy than they are today. Generally speaking in the past, conservatives running for office would strictly suggest only conservative views and liberals would use only liberal ideas. However, today politicians are given credit and gain more support if they are mavericks and promote whatever policies they believe will accomplish the goal, whether it is a conservative or liberal means of doing so. President Barack Obama has been promoting mostly liberal policies. However, he has issued tax cuts to a majority of Americans and has issued a spending freeze starting in 2011. Tax cuts and spending freezes are both conservative ways to help fix economic problems. Most modern politicians balance liberalism and conservatism in order to fix our nations problems.

- Independent voters are a major concern for both political parties. If a politician running for office is promoting policies that are critical to their party, then chances are they have the support of the majority of their party. Having the support from your base is usually not enough to win an election. This is why office seekers must adhere to independent voters. These are people who do not identify with either major party and will support either liberal and conservative policies depending on the issue. Over 19 million independents voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

Many Americans see the two party system as a healthy way to run the country. In order to fix current domestic and national problems, our government will need to take a liberal or conservative approach depending upon the issue. The system that runs our government today is similar to how it was in the beginning in terms of principles and values of the political parties, but we have come a long way from the the system that used to be occupied by many parties. Bi-partisanship is an issue that has gotten more popular with American citizens as time goes on. Complete party loyalty is not respected today as much as it used to be and an independent approach is now the goal of many politicians.

- The 2008 presidential election was the epitome of the political game. While our country was involved with two wars, facing the greatest economic downfall since the great depression and unemployment numbers rising on a monthly basis, the Republican candidate John McCain found it necessary to talk about democratic nominee Barack Obama’s personal associations and lie about his policies. McCain ran ads suggesting that Obama surrounded himself with terrorists and racists. This is politics as usual; distract the public from legitimate concerns by terrifying them that the other candidate is a threat to national security and do so by lying.

- American citizens who get their news from television are subjected to the worst part of politics. The conservative news channel Fox News has been caught twisting the truth and blatantly lying several times. It is generally known by the public that they are a conservative news channel but instead of being open about it, they choose to use the slogan “Fair and balanced”. The Democratic party has TV stations, newspapers and magazines that promote a liberal agenda as well. The politic game is made easier on the politicians when any of their supporters do not fact check what they see on TV or read in the newspaper by researching any of the given topics.

- Talking points are the most helpful tool in the politic tool box. These are brief messages used repeatedly by a political campaign and/or political party that are simple, easy to understand and promote an idea or policy. The negative side to using talking points is that they do not always include facts or use rational ideas to support the overall message. In January of 2010, President Barack Obama spoke at the House Republican Retreat in Baltimore, MD and took questions from several Republican representatives. Many of the questions would include manipulating and suggestive talking points in order to make the president look weak and unintelligent on national policy. For example one representitive claimed that he had a health care plan that would cover twice as many citizens as Obama’s proposed plan and would not cost the government a dime. That message sounds great and when Americans hear that they cannot help but support the representative and his plan. However, it simply is not true or possible. President Obama politely explained to the audience that this type of talk might help you win elections but it has no factual baring at all. He asked the representative how it would be possible to cover millions of Americans with health insurance for free and said that he would like to see his math. This is how the game of politics is played; Say whatever will help you win elections and/or accomplish your goals by telling the public what they want to hear, whether it is true or not. A politic chess game is difficult to win if you are on the other side because sometimes the truth is not interesting enough to be explained on TV or in the newspapers.