Gun violence is a very big issue in the United States these days. It seems as if every single day there is a new report of a shooting that occurred, resulting in injuries and deaths. As of February 15th, 2018, there have been seventeen school shootings. That is 17 shootings in 45 days. No matter what side of politics you are on, there has to be some acknowledgement of the problem that we Americans are facing today. This doesn’t mean doing away with guns altogether or destroying the Second Amendment, but there is an issue in our country with gun violence. After every single shooting there has been, many people call for action, but nothing has been done to stop the violence. That is one of the biggest issues we have today.

February 14th, 2018 – Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School (Parkland, FL)

A gunman opened fire inside the Florida high school, killing and injuring students and adults. This shooting marked the seventeenth shooting of 2018, causing people nationwide to go public with their disgust over the lack of gun safety laws and gun control, arguing that no matter how many shootings there are, there won’t be anything done to change things for the better.

One of the most shocking things for me to hear was that the Columbine shooting is now no longer one of the 10 worst mass shootings in the United States. I was not alive when the Columbine shooting occurred and I never really knew much about it, other than the fact that it was a very large and horrible school shooting that was relatively unheard of at the time. During the many school shootings that have occurred in my lifetime, I have heard many people compare them to Columbine. It seemed as if it was the first occurrence and it was horrible, so every shooting following should be compared to it, because it was the first that was known. Whenever it was brought up, I also got the sense that it was so horrible, that there was a fear associated with it. After doing some basic research into what happened at the shooting, I understand the kind of fear that is associated with shootings based off of Columbine. The thought and planning that it took to execute such a terrible act is horrifying. Learning what exactly happened in the Columbine shooting also made me understand why other shootings are compared to it, because it was the first of its kind and was so horrible that the fear that goes along with shootings is brought on because of it. It is now hard to imagine that it is no longer one of the ten worst mass shootings in the United States.

In my lifetime, the first large mass shooting that I can remember is Sandy Hook. Even though I was alive for more, I was old enough to watch the news with my parents and begin to understand what happened. I may have been alive for other shootings, like the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, I was very young and wasn’t able to comprehend what was going on. The Sandy Hook shooting was the first time I was seeing the horror of gun violence that resulted in a mass shooting. Ever since then, I have seen even more shootings, but one thing is always the same: nothing has been done to improve safety and stop the gun violence.

After nearly every shooting, politicians call for change. Many push for legislation to be passed that would help to stop gun violence and to control the use of guns in America. Other politicians call for safety, but do not make the push for gun control as other politicians do. It does not matter what political party you belong to; it is the matter of public safety and the fact that gun violence has not been stopped and until we can find a way to stop it, we need more control with guns.

I am no politician and I certainly have no place in making legislature at the moment, but I agree with the many politicians when they say that something needs to change about the way things work against gun violence. Politicians on both sides of the aisle must come together and work toward a solution so that these horrible mass shootings do not continue happening. It is exhausting having to hear about how change must happen after every mass shooting, then see nothing happen, only to hear about yet another mass shooting happening just weeks later. No matter what political affiliation, everyone has to agree that there is a problem with gun violence in the United States and politicians need to start working together on a solution, or else there won’t ever be a break from the constant cycle of shootings, calls for change, and inaction.

This week’s political civic issue will be a little bit different than those done previously. Instead of focusing on our country’s politics and government, this week I will mostly be addressing the politics of two important countries, both of which who have been at war with one another for over sixty years: North Korea and South Korea.

The Korean War started when the communist-backed North Korea invaded South Korea, who was immediately backed and supported by the United States, who favored a democratic nation over communist. Both sides fought back and forth, giving way to a bloody massacre, which resulted in the Korean Peninsula being divided at the 38th Parallel, almost the exact same spot as it had been divided before the war. While the cease-fire had been made, there were no peace treaties signed, meaning that even though there is no active conflict between the two countries, North and South Korea are still technically at war. Tensions between the two countries have always been high, but recently there have been talks of potential peace, especially in regards to the upcoming Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea. 

On Friday, February 9th, the Opening Ceremonies of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics will commence, which will officially open the Olympic Games and welcome the participating countries to South Korea. Marching among the participating nations will be a delegation from both North and South Korea, displaying “the Unification Flag—a Twitter-blue silhouette of the peninsula against a white field” (The New Yorker). The two united countries will forgo the use of either country’s national anthem and instead enter with the song “Arirang”, a folk march that will symbolize the unity of both countries and potential for peace. The two countries will also form a combined team with players from both nations that will compete in women’s ice hockey this year. All of these symbolic events and actions made by both countries come at a time where both nations are slowly but surely working towards peace between the two.

As the Winter Olympics approached, North and South Korea slowly began to discuss potential pushes for peace. In order to discuss possible participation in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, the two countries restored their communication line between the two capitals, Pyongyang for North Korea and Seoul for South Korea. The line for communication had been out of use for nearly two years, so restoring the communications had been a huge step in the right direction in regards to talks about peace. After negotiations had been made about the participants and athletes in the Winter Olympics, the two countries continued their peace talks and lightly began to discuss possible family reunions after over 60 years because of the Korean War. Many families were separated because of the 38th Parallel and have yet to even imagine being reunited until now. The two nations also began to discuss a possible increase in tourism from South Korea to the North.

Ever since the Korean War, relations between North and South Korea have been very strained. The upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics were a much needed reprieve from the tense relationship the two countries shared and gave them the opportunity to put the past behind them and begin working toward a peaceful and prosperous future as two nations with excellent diplomatic relations. Before the peace talks and light discussion over the Olympics, politics between the two countries were plagued with negativity, threats, and violence. Now, because of the Olympics, relations between the countries may end up being positively and friendly somewhere in the near future. Even though the politics between the two countries doesn’t directly involve the United States, it is still incredibly important to know about and try to understand. The United States has previously backed South Korea and still continues to support them to this day. Tensions between the United States and North Korea have spiked, especially in regards to nuclear weapons. Recent missile tests conducted by North Korea have incited fear and worry among many countries, especially now that it has been shown that North Korean missiles are capable of reaching the mainland of the United States. Having potential peace between North and South Korea would not only be a step in the right direction in regards to positive relations between those two countries, but also a positive step in relations with the entire world, including the United States. Should peace talks and positive communication continue with North Korea, it may be more believable that North Korea will agree to cooperate with other countries.

I remember first hearing about what a dangerous and mysterious country North Korea is when I was in middle school. In my 8th grade Civics class, we watched Inside North Korea, a documentary that followed an eye surgeon on his quest to repair and restore eyesight in many North Korean citizens with cataracts. He brought a film team with him to not only document the medical journey, but also obtain inside footage from North Korea. It was an incredible documentary that opened my eyes to a country that I soon realized was extremely isolated and very different than most other countries in the world. I knew that relations between the two countries were extremely poor, as shown in the documentary, but hearing some of the first things about potential peace was very enlightening and hopeful for friendly relations between the nations in the future.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlJUGZPanB8

 

On Tuesday, January 30th, President Donald Trump gave his first State of the Union Address to Congress under the watchful eye of the nation. The speech lasted an hour and twenty minutes, making it the third longest State of the Union Address in history. Over 45 million people tuned in to watch the address and many took to social media to comment on the remarks made by the president. The address quickly became President Trump’s most tweeted about speech, which easily passed by his previous speech to Congress back in 2017. The number of tweets regarding one of Trump’s speeches went from three million Twitter users to over four million.

The idea of the State of the Union Address came about because of the Constitution, which states that the President must inform Congress about the current nature of the United States. Only two presidents have not given a speech, President William Henry Harrison and President James A. Garfield. Over time, the State of the Union Address has been given many names, one including the “Annual Message“, before it became officially known as the State of the Union Address. Many former presidents wrote the speech that was given to Congress, but did not speak it. Former President Jimmy Carter’s 33,667 word address in 1981 holds the record for being the longest State of the Union Address, though he did not speak it in front of Congress. Former President Bill Clinton holds the current record for longest spoken address, which was 9,190 words long. In the past, presidents started to address the United States on the condition of the economy and budget, but Congress agreed that both pieces of information should be separate from the general state of the union. In recent years, the State of the Union Address has become a way for presidents to voice their opinions, boast about their accomplishments in the past year, and announce upcoming plans and attempt to gather support for policies that will soon be enacted.

President Donald Trump did many of the same things in his 2018 State of the Union Address. He first addressed all that the nation had been through in the past year, including the Las Vegas shooting, wildfires, and the multiple hurricanes that have affected many states. He recognized several special guests that had been invited to experience the State of the Union Address and acknowledged their accomplishments. While discussing the bravery of Congressman Steve Scalise, the representative injured during an unexpected shooting at a DC baseball practice, President Trump called for the people to unite, just as they had done to show their support for the congressman, in order to make the United States strong.

President Trump then went on to discuss more of his accomplishments from the past year, including the many tax cuts that had been put in place, as well as employment accomplishments. His remarks on unemployment marked this past year as a major turning point in unemployment rates, which seemingly dropped in multiple categories.

He did not shy away from controversial topics, including the debate over standing or kneeling for the national anthem and the DREAMers. While praising a young boy for his initiative to put flags on veterans’ graves for Veteran’s Day, President Trump stated that the kind of patriotism veterans and people like the young boy is the reason that “we proudly stand for the national anthem”. The current debate over professional football players deciding to kneel for the national anthem was not directly mentioned, but the president certainly implied that everyone should stand for the national anthem. When talking about immigration, President Trump also brought up the extremely controversial topic (which was discussed in the previous post) of DREAMers. Like the national anthem protests, he did not directly discuss it, but suggested the topic be related when he addressed Congress and asked them “to protect our citizens of every background, color, religion, and creed”. He then went on to state that “[his] duty, and the sacred duty of every elected official in this chamber, is to defend Americans — to protect their safety, their families, their communities, and their right to the American Dream. Because Americans are dreamers too”. Many people were extremely upset by this statement, for they felt that the president was disregarding DREAMers and those affected by his decision to terminate the DACA immigration policy.

Personally, I have never really been interested in the State of the Union Address. As bad as that may sound, I always regarded the speech as just another homework assignment that middle school and high school teachers would give out because it was a current event. While watching it and evaluating the statements was a good exercise at the time, I was never extremely interested. Even now, while going back through and evaluating statements made during the 2018 address, much of it is highlighting the main talking points from throughout the year, many of which made headlines for days. I personally would rather stay up-to-date on large-scale events as they occur instead of trying to absorb them all in the span of a little over an hour. That being said, the State of the Union Address has been a vital part of the United States government for centuries and is still an important part to this day.