Blog Stage VII: Original Editorial or Commentary #2

Austin has easily become one of the fastest growing cities in the country.  Austin locals and surrounding rural areas get to experience the repercussions of this fact every day--with heavily congested roads at almost all hours and stagnant traffic on highways.  In most cities across the country, commuters would have the option to ditch their car for a reliable form of public transportation.  Unfortunately, Austin is a city of incompetent public transportation planning.  It is evident that there needs to be a more efficient way to get around the city of Austin.  To alleviate the ridiculous amount of road congestion there needs to be an extensive expansion of the Metro Rail system.  It seems almost obvious that the MetroRail should be a main-focus for city planners--when looking at any city with a dense population such as Austin, there is a highly utilized and efficient public transportation to accompany it.  MetroRail was first proposed in the 90's and officially launched in 2010, but has since seemed to have lost it's momentum and has stagnated as a small "commuter" line.  Originally, MetroRail had plans to convert to a light rail transit system, a form of transportation used by all major Western and Southwestern cities and many cities with similar size and demographics to Austin.  Imagine, a light rail system in the Guadalupe-Lamar corridor--to be on that route at 5 PM on a Tuesday and not be stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic.  There was planning of a light rail system on Guadalupe-Lamar, but has since remained quiet with no signs of actual pursuit. Action needs to be taken to make these plans reality.  Not only for the citizens of Austin that don't dare go to the grocery store or to the bank nearing rush-hour, but also for citizens that don't want to be reliant on a motor vehicle.  No Austin citizen should have such limited opportunities because they don't have a motor vehicle and their city's public transportation is unreliable.  There needs to be a strong demand for the installation of an urban light rail system, for the sanity of the citizens and to make our lives a lot easier in our highly populated conditions.

Blog Stage VI: Critique

In the blog post "Keep Texas Red", the author argues that Texas should remain a Republican state and be ruled under conservative policies.  The author does this by making comparisons to California, stating that overall California's government is "overall more corrupt and inefficient" than Texas and that "by nearly every measure Texas is better".  Although I think everyone is entitled to their own political ideology and opinion I disagree with these claims because they are factually unsupported. To say that California's government is more corrupt and inefficient because it is ruled by many Democratic policies is a subjective statement with no basis.
It is true that the cost of living in Texas is overall cheaper.  It is also true that Texas is business friendly and it doesn't have a state income tax.  The examples given as to why Texas is "better" is only in the economic sense.  There is no discussion of the overall well-being of citizens-- only that the public shouldn't rely on social services from the government because it would be considered a waste.  Furthermore, even though Texas doesn't have an income tax it still compensates for this by having a higher sales tax and property tax.
I don't think that a State should be considered "better" because it doesn't want to use citizens money to fund services to help their fellow citizens.  The author argues that people should "take personal responsibility" if they think the government doesn't do enough to help the poor rather than "forcefully take from others to support your projects and causes".  This argument implies that people in poverty and unideal circumstances choose to be in that position, which is far from true and why the government is utilized to help.  Using words like "forcefully take" also implies that the money used to fund public services is a negative thing--as if a service that helps aid the public for the greater good is a burden and something to resent rather than appreciate.
As a minority in America, I can recognize that life and opportunities aren't as easy to come by.  It is easy to say that opportunities are equal and everyone is able to earn what they get as long as they try.  In present day America it is sad but true that this isn't the reality.  It is easy to say that people need to just "volunteer" their time and "help raise funds privately" as a solution for the poor but this is not the case.  That is the attitude of keeping the rich people rich and poor people poor, an attitude of people that know privilege and can't empathize with those who don't.  It is with the help of the government that creates real solutions for people that can't help themselves.
Another thing to point out is that the government in Texas is extremely misrepresented.  Mainly comprising of middle-aged white males, and with the growing population of Texas the legislator is becoming less and less representative of the citizens that make up Texas.  If the legislator was made up of minorities and people that actually matched the citizens it represented, it is very likely that politicians would stand on the side that looked out for the well-being of the less privileged--aka the "liberal" point of view.

Blog Stage V: Original Editorial or Commentary #1

Planned Parenthood is a non-profit government organization that seeks to provides a number of affordable medical services such as preventative contraception, health screenings and treatments, sexual education and last but not least, abortions.  It is an organization that seeks to improve the well-being and quality of life for the men, women, and youth of our country.  It is a sad but evident truth that for years many Republican politicians in the Texas government have been pushing to reduce or cut funding for Planned Parenthood clinics.  Because Planned Parenthood is a government organization it relies heavily on funding from public health programs.  The cutting of funding for Planned Parenthood would result in many low-income citizens who already struggle financially from receiving the health care they can afford and more importantly, the care they deserve.  The Texas Government is heavily represented by conservative Republicans, most of which are opposed to government funded health care, and are widely known to be anti-abortion.  The majority of conservative politicians that want to cut funding are largely influenced by the fact that Planned Parenthood provides abortions, which actually only accounts for three percent of its services--abortion being a service that isn’t even federally funded.  With this in mind it doesn’t make sense to cut funds for an organization that has only benefitted the health of our society, especially since no government funds go to the service provided that anti-abortion Republicans are so against.  Furthermore, many of the government officials in favor of cutting funds for Planned Parenthood aren’t the ones who would suffer from the consequences of these actions.  Due to the misrepresentation of minorities in the Texas government, millions of citizens that do not have a voice in our government would suffer tremendously.  Without providers such as Planned Parenthood, low-income citizens would have no place to turn.  As an American it is our fundamental right to have access to affordable health care, a fundamental right for women to have a choice, and a fundamental right to have a government that will support programs that benefit our society for the greater good.