"I'm pretty sure those people are Americans."

Last week, I traveled to New Hampshire with the Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC) to birddog the Republican candidates of the 2012 presidential election before the Republican debate at Dartmouth. We kept asking the same question (Will you commit to putting 6 million people on AIDS life saving medication by 2013?) We wanted to get AIDS in their head and the fact that there is life saving medication out there to help people with the disease and it is obainable. Believe me, I know the economy in America is struggling and that in order to help other countries we must first focusing on transforming ours. Although, foreign aid only makes up .5 of 1% of the government budget, why cut it? It is such a little amount that truely affects those that we give it to or at least we hope that is helping those in need but with so many corrupt polititians out there it is hard to really know where the money is going. The Republicans love to hate on foreign aid when it is actually a TINY portion of the budget and because these polititians come across this way, most Americans jump on the bandwagon. Most people would rather pay more taxes under Herman Cains 9-9-9 plan? I read that the same plan is used in SimCity 4, just saying... read about it.
According to CNN, less than 1% of government spending goes to foreign aid (like I mentioned before), according to the U.S. Agency for International Development. That's chump change compared to other sections of the bloated federal budget -- like spending on entitlement programs or the military.

Jon Stewart hit the nail on the head on his last episode of the Daily Show. He said, "It must be tough for Republicans to love America so much, but hate three-quarters of the people living in it." How can one be the President of the United States when they are so consumed in corporate greed and bashing Occupy Wall St. protesters but want "people to come out to the streets and fight for their country" or people to come to Washington D.C. "by the car load". Ok, Michelle Bachman. The candidates stress that the U.S. need to come together at a time when our country is divided yet they continue to bash people of their own country fighting for their rights. Rep. Steve King said the enemies are liberals and progressives because those are the people we are up against? Who's we? As Jon Stewart said, "I'm pretty sure those people are Americans." It's insane. These Republican candidates are hypocrites so consumed in gun rights and large corporations. Don't get me wrong, I believe that the Republicans do have solid points on how to improve this country but if they can't learn to understand the views of others then how are we supposed to continue on the road to improving this country and coming together as a nation?

I have enjoyed school funded trips with SGAC and the Dear Hillary Campaign because I always learn something and the people involved are great. Always a good time for sure. On the trip last week, we got to birddog Huntsman and Romney at each of their events. I learned a lot about politics while on this trip. My friends on the trip who study political science were always there to fill me in. We went with Professor David Mindich's Media and Politics classes. There were about 60 students (freshmen-seniors) from three different classes so I met a lot of new people. We were able to protest at Dartmouth before we attended the watch party in their gym. Huntsman, Bachman, and Gingrich stopped by the gym after the debate. We had birddogged Huntsman in Tilton, NH on the Monday before the debate and he told us he would look into AIDS funding and work on learning more about the issue. He even mentioned us in his short speech in the Dartmouth gym after the debate. It was a huge step for us as a campaign. Thank you Huntsman.

I'm late for class :-/