Monroe Doctrine & Connections to Today

In the 1800's the US had a foreign policy, that I like better than the one right now, that is extremely different from our policies present day. Since the second world war we have gotten ourselves into every conflict there has been. In an article by the US News, they talk about the US's intervention in the war against ISIS. It says that the fighting is raging on and ISIS influence is spreading. People are saying the reason we are unable to push them back is because we are lacking a good strategy. Another key reason that it explains is the fact that Obama's administration takes too long to come up with military decisions. If the US was following the Monroe Doctrine, it would need to do these three things. First, the US should start to focus on the US instead of worrying about what ISIS is up to. Second, the US should not have intervened in any of the wars over the past 200 years. The only exception I would make to that would be the second world war. We would be speaking German had we not intervened. But, ISIS would not be a problem to us if we didn't start bombing them. ISIS does not affect us directly so we should stay out of their business. Lastly, some people consider us an empire because we own land that isn't in the union like Puerto Rico or the Midway islands. That topic is very controversial but the US, above all, should not rule over any other countries including ISIS. If I had the chance I would have a sit down, if I could go back in time, and talk with every president there has ever been and advise them to stick to the Monroe doctrine. A lot of the violence and aggression we see against the US is because we have intervened in so many other countries' businesses. The reason for 9/11 is because of the Iraq war and we pissed of a bunch of crazy terrorists. I would rather the US be like Canada, no one wants to nuke them!

http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/12/05/war-against-isis-in-syria-iraq-and-now-libya-appears-rudderless

Race & Identity in Latin American Revolutions and Today

Out of all the revolutions in Latin America, besides Haiti, Mexico was the first to declare independence and fight for their freedom. The Mexican revolution, although the declared independence in 1810, didn't end until 1821, 11 years later. What is very ironic about this whole revolution was the that they declared racial equality, yet, certain groups of people followed certain leaders. They all wanted the same thing but they were all separated by race. It all started in 1810 when a man named Miguel Hidalgo, a catholic priest, issued the "Cry of Dolores." It called for equality, but, what was funny was that only native Americans and mestizos followed him. No one else would follow him. Eventually, he was captured and executed after his troops were defeated when trying to take Mexico city. In the end, royalists were the ones who brought independence. They promised Mexican revolutionary reforms and they only did it because they wanted to keep their high status in Mexican society. It's very ironic how they claimed they wanted freedom and equality, yet, they were only doing it because they wanted to still be above everyone else. As you can see race and identity played a huge roll because in the beginning mexico was not united because of race and in the end they only united because they were lied to be Mexican conservatives who wanted to keep their status.

 "78% Say Politicians Play 'Race Card' Just to Get Reelected - Rasmussen Reports™." 78% Say Politicians Play 'Race Card' Just to Get Reelected - Rasmussen Reports™. Web. 2 Dec. 2014.

A summary of the article is that it talks about how politicians play the "Race card" so that they can get more votes and be reelected. It says that 78% of Americans believe that politicians use the "race card" to get reelected, and these are not just a single group of people, blacks and minorities also agree. Out of all Americans, only 9% think that politician use the "race card" to talk about real issues and 13% don't know. Race plays a huge roll in politics. For example, a kid robbed a store and got shot in Ferguson and 3 white house officials attend his funeral. Yet, veterans and other good people die everyday and they get no recognition. I would totally agree that the cop who shot the kid should go to jail but what makes me side with the cop is the fact that this kid robbed a store and for all the cop knows this guy could try to attack him. A lot of the time Americans are worried and outraged so much about race that they overlook the facts and make up things that never happened.