My Part In Defusing East-West Tensions

I sent the following e-mail to the Prosecutor's Office of the Crimean Republic:

Dear Prosecutor General Poklonskaya,

I would first of all like to apologize for my arrogant Anglocentrism by writing this letter in English. However I must confess I lack any knowledge of the Russian language and hope that you (or someone else at your end) will have a good grasp of the English language. 

I am a high school student in Orange County, California and like most other institutions of secondary education in the United States, my school will be holding the spring dance otherwise known as prom. I have been unable to find a date for this dance and thus been forced to ponder who to ask. Then it struck me that I should invite a woman I truly respect and admire. Therefore I must humbly ask the Prosecutor General of the Crimean Republic, Natalia Poklonskaya: will you go to Prom with me, your Excellency?

Undoubtedly, it is extremely presumptive of someone like me to ask a lady of such intelligence and beauty as you to Prom. Yet I sincerely believe that it is with you that both of us can have the best experience at Prom. I have a terrible time trying to understand girls my age and I hope that your wisdom and experience will allow me to gain some measure of enlightenment in this arcane subject more difficult then quantum physics. 

Additionally, I hope that my humble invitation may do some good in reducing tensions between the Western powers and Russia. I have recently read a science fiction novel by Norman Spinrad titled Russian Spring which was written right before the fall of the Soviet Union. In that novel, the Soviet Union never collapses but instead reforms and integrates with the European Union while the United States becomes increasingly isolationist and militaristic. Incredibly though, the book's climax involves the US backing a Ukrainian secessionist movement from the Soviet Union which causes an international crisis. Reading this book's wonderful resolution made me wonder if there could not be a way to defuse the current tensions-especially since the book involved a romance between an American space engineer and a Russian expatriate both working in Paris (incidentally I must say the Russian lady in the story, Sonya, was extremely reminiscent of you). Even if you reject my invitation, I hope you at least consider this a small offering of peace from the Western world-a flicker of a candle in the darkness. 

Sincerely Yours,

Casey Cho

The Secret Life of Mitty Romney

The former Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Willard Mitt Romney was eagerly watching the election results on FOX News in his hotel room while munching on a honey and peanut butter sandwich. The news had been good: he had won the three key states of Ohio, Virginia, and Florida. Now the returns from Colorado were starting to come in...

"FOX News projects that Mitt Romney will carry the state of Colorado and with that the election..."

Before Romney could even fully realize what had happened, cheers erupted throughout the room and he felt his wife, Ann kissing him on the cheek while several of his staff members slapped him on the back.

"Congratulations Mr. President!" they shouted.

Once the initial euphoria had died down, Romney began awaiting for the concession call from President Obama. Finally the phone rang and the Governor delightedly picked it up. He barely listened to the admittance of defeat by his former opponent as he laughed politely and thanked the incumbent.

Putting down the receiver, Romney smiled and took out the copy of his victory speech: "I always knew I'd win, so I only prepared this one,". Then he and his enterouge marched down the hotel corridor to the ballroom where Romney could here the sounds of cheerful music blasting. Finally he had done what his father had failed to do and what he himself failed to do four years ago...


"Mitt?"

The former Governor felt his wife tapping him on the back as he realized he had dozed in front of the television. On screen was 16 and Pregnant, a show Romney watched religiously ever since he'd discovered it while flipping through channels a few weeks after losing the election.

"Must you really watch that?" asked Ann.

Mitt rolled his eyes and said "Its a very touching show, you know. You should stop dragging me off to all these equestrian competitions and join me on our comfy leather Armani couch while sipping champagne and munching on Belgian chocolate. You know, like what a normal middle-class family does every weekend."

She shook her head and said, "Anyways, Mitt, we need to go shopping for a couple of things in the city."

Mr. and Mrs. Romney walked out of their house and onto the driveway where their chauffeur was waiting, holding open the door. Ann went in first, followed by Mitt.

Mrs. Romney asked the chauffeur: "Bill, can you turn to the Classical station?"

Mitt protested "But we listened to that last time, I suggest we instead listen to the Rage Against the Machine Paul gave us a while back."

As the car wound its way towards downtown, Mitt closed his eyes...


It was Inauguration Day and Mitt Romney was sitting watching the handsome  Paul Ryan take his oath of office (administered by Justine Scalia) as Vice President of the United States. Now it would be his turn. Romney arose and strode forward to face Chief Justice John Roberts to take the oath of office. He put his hand on the Bible (Mitt had considered using the Book of Mormon but political considerations regarding evangelicals and conservative Catholics convinced him otherwise) and began to repeat the words uttered by Chief Justice Roberts:

"I. Willard Mitt Romney, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God."

As soon as he'd finished, the band struck up "Hail to the Chief" while a twenty-one gun salute fired. The 45th President of the United States now strode forward to deliver his inaugural address. 

The speech was fairly long and clearly stated the new chief magistrate's vision for his nation. He uttered stirring words about the unity of the Republic and virtue of its citizenry. He stated his desire for strength in foreign policy, especially against rogue nations such as Iran. On the domestic side, Romney urged for the free market to be released to its full potential. He concluded:

"My fellow Americans, I believe we are already a great nation-indeed the last best hope in this world. We are a shining city upon a hill. Yet I believe, we can become greater. The light upon the hillside can shine ever more brightly and be an ever-clearer beacon for all the peoples of the world. Now then, let us work together, to fulfill this destiny!"


"Did you say Destiny sir?' asked the store worker in the Nordstrom. "Its a very good perfume, sir. It'd be a most excellent gift for your wife."

The former governor shook his head, wondering how he had ended up here and responded: "Oh, no thank you. I was just looking for a new suitcase."

"In that case, sir, let me show you over here..."


It had been about a year and a half since Romney had taken that oath of office on a crisp and clear January morning and how much the country had changed since then! The President was presiding over a regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet and evaluating the fruits of his administration so far. Of course, his accomplishments would not have been possible without coattails allowing the GOP to retake the Senate (who had of course immediately proceeded to abolish procedural filibuster) and increase its majority in the House. 

The bills that had sailed through Congress and onto the President's desk had been numerous. In the realm of taxation all the Bush tax cuts had been made permanent and this had been followed by the elimination of the estate and alternative minimum taxes. Of course, despite what certain pessimists had predicted, any gaps in the deficit caused by these tax cuts were made up for with vast amounts of cuts on discretionary spending. Spending on education, infrastructure, and scientific research (although obviously not the military since the nation needed to be secure) had all been greatly reduced. Despite this the deficit seemed to be increasing every year: no matter, more spending and tax cuts would come in next year's budget. Thanks to this the Dow was rising and corporate profits had seen unprecedented booms. Of course the employment numbers weren't so good but then rarely is everything perfect.

Now in the realm of healthcare President Romney had also passed great reforms. First of all, Obamacare had to be and was repealed (a bill which was not only different in degree but in kind from the bipartisan healthcare reform Romney had passed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts). There had been some inevitable grumbling when those with pre-existing conditions realized that once more they'd be denied health insurance, but the bill was a financially oppressive bill that would destroy the greatest healthcare system in the world. This reform had been followed by block-granting Medicaid to the states and voucherizing Medicare for those under 55. Now the final aspect of the great plan-Social Security reform was about to be passed through Congress. 

Yet despite these great triumphs in the domestic area, foreign policy was a bit of a problem...

Secretary of State John Bolton spoke up, "So what shall we do with Iran, Mr. President? We've issued yet more sanctions, but the Iranians remain as stubborn as ever. Netanyahu of Israel is seriously contemplating an airstrike within the next six months. I hope you will give our most faithful allies, tacit backing in this endeavour, Mr. President. You've already shown your great support for Israel by approving further settlement construction in East Jerusalem and the West Bank."

The handsome visage of Vice President Paul Ryan turned towards Bolton before facing the President: "Mr. President, while I am as much a friend of the state of Israel as anyone, we must consider that the CIA detects no sign of an active nuclear weapons program in Iran. In addition such an airstrike has the potential to destabilize the entire region, including the already tense situation in Iraq and get us involved in a war..."

Mitt Romney rose and looked around the room, staring hard into each member of the Cabinet, and boring the most into the cool, blue eyes of the Vice President: "You know I like you very much, Paul; and that I've always respected your opinion but John is absolutely right here. We cannot appease Iran at this critical hour, lest we see a new fascist regime attempt to destroy the Jewish people and take over the world. Tell the Prime Minister that the United States of America gives full support to her ally in this defensive assault and that she will always be behind her. The die is cast."


"Where do you want to eat, Mitt?" asked Ann.

Mitt wondered aloud, "Are we done shopping already?"

"Funny you should say that, considering you always complain how long I take to pick out my coats or shoes..."

They went to eat at a fine French restaurant called Le Mitterand for dinner. Ann ordered lamb with a curious sauce made of prunes while Mitt tried out some veal steak with mushrooms. The food was fantastic and Mitt decided to order some fine Bordeaux for Ann and himself. While this went against the precepts of his religion, he figured he'd just tithe a bit more next year for atonement.

As the former nominee for President downed a cup, then another, and another; he began to have a wondrous vision.


The Air Force One glided smoothly to a landing at the makeshift military airfield outside Tehran. It was the late spring of 2015, and American arms had triumphed in the war against Iran. After the airstrikes against Iranian facilities by Israel, the situation had escalated quickly. As it became clear that Israel would only have done it had the United States given tacit approval, there were clashes in the Persian Gulf. A US destroyer was attacked and a half-dozen seamen lost their lives. War then broke out.

After a swift series of punishing air and drone strikes that devestated the key nerve centres of the Iranian military, a land invasion had taken place via Turkey and Iraq (to which the US had "invited" itself back in after a Shia revolt). American tanks had smashed through any opposition and within a few months the Stars and Stripes were raised over Tehran.

Now was the moment of triumph. The liberator of seventy million human beings and the man who finally destroyed America's mortal enemy in the region was to give a speech in the former Iranian capital. Tens of thousands of troops had gathered to listen, all their eyes set upon their commander-in-chief.

"My fellow Americans and all who are listening around the world, I speak from a city where the bright sun of freedom shines once more after thirty-five years of darkness. Our brave men and women, marching in the spirit of their forefathers at Saratoga, Gettysburg, and Normandy have utterly destroyed a brutal tyranny that murdered its own citizens, planned to launch a treacherous nuclear attack against a fellow democracy, and establish a totalitarian theocracy over the entire region, if not the world..."

"It is over now. This abomination, this Frankenstein's creature is no more. It is blotted from history just like the Third Reich and the Soviet Union. Now with our freedom-loving allies such as Britain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia we shall bring a new dawn of hope and prosperity to the region of the Middle East. I tell you, never has the torch of liberty shined more brightly than at this hour. You soldiers have done your country proud."


Romney's mind was rather hazy, although he recognized that we sitting or rather slouching in the automobile. He seemed to be murmuring some things as Ann Romney looked at him concernedly.

He heard her say to Bill the Chauffeur, "Poor Mitt. He always goes on about what could have been if he had won the election in his sleep."

Bill nodded, "Indeed Mrs. Romney. Tho' I must wonder how Mr. Gore feels..."

Of Prometheus, Frankenstein, and Chris Christie

The full title of Mary Shelley's famous horror novel is Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. This is quite appropriate, considering that in Greek mythology Prometheus's hubris in daring to teaching the secret of fire to mankind angers the gods who subsequently punishes him by chaining him to a rock and having an eagle tear his liver out. Similarly, in Shelley's work, the monster which Frankenstein created with arrogant hopes that he'd be worshiped by it ends up being a bane to the scientist by murdering his loved ones. Yet this sort of hubris is not limited to literature but can be seen in the latest political news.

An example of hubris is the Dunning-Kruger effect makes us unable to realize what we don't know. This obviously leads to hubris in many cases as people have confidence when one isn't warranted. An obvious case of this occurred in the past week as the so-called "Bridgegate" scandal broke in the state of New Jersey. Despite various prior denials, definite evidence had emerged that high-level aides and appointees of Governor Chris Christie had been involved in intentionally shutting down the George Washington Bridge between Fort Lee, New Jersey and New York City because the mayor of the former had refused to endorse Christie in last year's gubernatorial election. As a result traffic jams occurred for several days while it was even alleged that an elderly woman had died due to the ambulance being delayed in reaching her.

While it is correct to give Governor Christie the benefit of the doubt as to whether he himself personally ordered the bridge shutdown, the news is nonetheless troubling. For the question arises, how could the good Governor have remained unaware for so long about an action that was done by his deputy chief of staff and press secretary with officials in the Port Authority personally appointed by him? In addition why would his political staff risk themselves by doing such a politically and professionally dangerous actions without Christie's command?

In addition, it is clear from previous statements by the Governor that he was under the spell of the Dunning-Kruger Effect considering he did not know that he did not know what his staff was planning. Yet this is but one example of the New Jerseyan's hubris. Another such example was clearly displayed last autumn when he scheduled a separate special election to fill a Senate seat vacanted by Frank Lautenberg's death. Because the popular Newark mayor Cory Booker had gained the Democratic nomination, the Governor feared his reelection campaign would be threatened and as a result held a separate election in October for the Senate seat which cost several million additional dollars. It should be noted this came from a governor who has slashed spending for education in the past. 

Thus has we have seen, hubris is not merely the province of fictional characters but of modern politicians. It is to be hoped that these examples will help all readers of the blog to be more critical in their thoughts and to consider not just what they don't know but what it is they might not know they don't know. 

The Downfall of a Politician

It appears that Kim Jong-Un of North Korea has decided to imitate Prince Hamlet of Denmark in removing his uncle, Jang Sung-taek. The significance of this event can hardly be exaggerated, for this is relevant not just to the internal politics of North Korea, but to the region and wider world. 

Jang had often served as the bridge between North Korea and its Chinese ally, often visiting the latter country which the current leader of North Korea has yet to do. This made him often advocate for the positions China wanted for North Korea such as reforming the highly centralized economy, much as the former country did in the last generation. Thus to a certain extent the blatant ouster of Jang, to the point that his arrest was carried in the middle of a meeting and photographed for all the world to see indicates Kim Jong-Un intends to continue his assertion of independence from China. This desire has already been displayed this year through the North's nuclear tests, which the Chinese opposed and which led them to respond by supporting UN Security Council sanctions. 

When Kim Jong-Un first came to power almost two years ago, there was some hope that he would be a reformist who would begin to open up the "hermit country" to the wider world. Yet this was not to be: North Korea instead has stepped up its bellicose rhetoric by constantly threatening to renew the war against the South which ceased some sixty years ago. The increasing fraying of relations with China threatens to further increase the isolation and block off what was hitherto a moderating influence.

Thus the arrest of Jang has served to but  add tension to the region of East Asia already fraught by territorial disputes between China and Japan over the Senkakus. The United States must navigate this new situation carefully, promoting what good it can by continuing efforts to denuclearize North Korea but also be prepared to meet any sudden action by the North with strength. We cannot but hope that the removal of Jang does not signify anything worse. 

A Further Explanation Part II-Reforming the Way We Vote

Last time on this blog I discussed why "something was rotten" in the current state of the Republic. One of the biggest problems noted there was the nature of how both the President and Congress was elected which often served to obscure the opinion of the citizenry then give voice to it. Thus, using examples from other countries, I will attempt to show how the way we elect our lawmakers should be changed. Now, a major criticism will be that this will be fundamental constitutional revision and go against the will of the Founding Fathers who were suspicious of a pure democracy. That is absolutely true, but the Founding Fathers were working in a context where the smaller states had to be appeased in order to sign on to the Constitution, so the nation would stay united which resulted in the Senate. Similarly, the Electoral College was based on the assumption that people's primary loyalty would be to their state and its Presidential candidates, leading to the election regularly being sent to the House of Representatives. However in reality this has occurred has only once. Finally the Founders' suspicions about democracy must be analyzed in the context of the times, considering most of them were wealthy merchants and landowners who feared a tyranny of the majority that would threaten their property. It is quite clear, with the expansion of suffrage (which many, if not most Founders favoured restricting to property owners) that such an ignorant mob has not arisen. In light of these changes, I would suggest the following changes to our way of elections.

First of all, the way we register voters and conduct elections should be changed to increase awareness and turnout, especially among demographics who have low turnout rates such as youths, minorities, and the poor. Many countries such as Germany and Israel, automatically register voters once they're eligible. Similarly, I believe all US citizens over the age of 18 and without a criminal record should be put on the voter rolls without having to sign up. This will not involve compulsory voting, however, as is the case in some countries such as Australia. I believe, in addition, that election laws should  so that the time when polling places are open, early voting opportunities, and voting by mail procedures are consistent nationally. Making Election Day a national holiday would also be a good idea by ensuing that many people who are pressed for time due to work and other commitments have the opportunity to vote. 

With regards to Presidential elections, the Electoral College needs to be abolished as soon as possible joining the powdered wig and the musket as an 18th Century invention. While the obvious replacement is to have the President be elected by the popular vote, a problem arises if we implement the system of making the candidate who receives the most votes the winner as that means a party that had split or had a significant third party leeching off ballots (as was the case with Ralph Nader in 2000) will often lose, even if among the top candidates that party is preferred. As a result, implementing a two-round election system (as France does in its presidential elections) would be a better idea. In such a system, if no candidate received 50% or higher of the vote, a run-off election would be scheduled some time later between the top two candidates to determine the final winner. Ideally this would encourage political diversity by allowing more candidates  With the President elected directly by the popular vote, candidates would have to visit and campaign in all corners of the country rather than just in a handful of swing states. While some may argue that this will lead to states that have few people being ignored due to candidates looking for the most amounts of voters, this is a nonissue as most small states are (with a few exceptions such as New Hampshire) already safely in the camp of one party such as Vermont which is overwhelmingly Democratic or Idaho which is strongly Republican. 

Avoiding the issue of reforming the distribution of powers in Congress for the moment, the structure of House of Representatives also demands change. As pointed out previously, the number of Representatives has not been increased for over a century (with a brief exception when Alaska and Hawaii were granted representatives), the number of people represented by a single Congressman has grown to an average of 710,767. To reform this system, the number of Congressional districts ought to be increased by a large amount-for example were it increased to 800, the number of people in an average district would go down to about 396,485, which still is far higher than most other countries. The 2012 elections for the US House showed another problem, as while Democratic candidates for the House received more votes, the Republicans still retained a safe majority. Part of this was caused by gerrymandering (which should be corrected by establishing a nonpartisan committee to redraw Congressional boundaries on a national level as is already the case in some states such as California) but it was also caused by the way Democratic and Republican voters are concentrated. To ameliorate this, a move towards a German system of a mixed-member proportional system which combines the current representatives elected in geographical districts along with representatives elected on a national level by party. The nationally-elected representatives should be distributed in a manner that will actually reflect the vote totals for Congressional candidates to correct for the geographically elected members. 

As stated previously, this series will continue with addressing other fundamental problems our country has along with proposing some solutions to them. 

A Further Explanation Part 1

Last's week post failed to elaborate fully on my belief that indeed "Something is rotten in the state of America". This post shall point out some of the worst faults of the American Republic to-day and perhaps what can be done to correct this.

As noted in the video below, the United States' income inequality is severe with the top one percent of Americans owning some forty percent of the wealth and roughly a quarter of its income. Yet this was not always the case in the United States-even in 1915 the top one percent earned only about 18 percent of the total income. In between, income inequality was even less, in the process known as the "Great Compression" with it being well under 10 percent from the 1950s through the 1970s. Yet since then, an opposite trend, known as the "Great Divergence" has occurred, reversing any gains made in reducing income inequality in the last century and there is little sign that anything besides recessions and slowdowns of the economy will end this. As a result, today, the United States is one of the most unequal countries in the world, exceeding that of virtually every other developed nation including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Japan and even developing countries in Latin America such as Venezuela. In relation to this, the United States also has one of the lowest rates of social mobility among developed countries. According to Timothy Noah's exhaustive analysis of the potential causes of income inequality, the biggest factor is that of education (especially for secondary schools) which has failed to keep up with changing times and also with other countries, making college education far more valuable to employers and inflating their wages.

In relation to this is the woeful state of our politics. One of the fundamental problems causing the current state of political deadlock is the way both Presidential and Congressional elections occur. While the Electoral College (with a few exceptions) generally follows the popular will in determining who becomes President, it is undemocratic in the sense that large areas of the country  become marginalized when electing a President. As a result the Democratic leaning academics and college students of Austin, Texas or the GOP-leaning wealthy bourgeoisie that reside in coastal Newport Beach both end up casting votes for President that are worthless. At the same time, presidential candidates will essentially focus on a handful of states such as Ohio or Florida which effectively wield disproportionate power in presidential elections. The problems regarding Congressional elections can be separated to those in the Senate and the House. While other countries such as Canada or France have upper houses that look strong on paper and which are decided in a fairly undemocratic manner (such as Canada allocating them by province much as the US does by state), they usually defer to the will of the lower house. In the United States, on the other hand, the Senate has both de jure and de facto equal powers (with some exceptions in regards to treaties, Presidential appointments, and bills of revenue), when at the same time Senate seats are allocated disproportionately by state due to inequalities in state populations. Thus California has one Senator for over 18 million people while Wyoming has one Senator for roughly quarter of a million people. This, along with procedural rules regarding the filibuster, has led to a small minority of Senators representing a small minority of Americans to block or at least delay many pieces of legislation. While the House of Representatives is supposedly more democratic in character, it suffers from having its boundary lines drawn in most cases by partisan state legislatures (with some notable exceptions such as California) who draw boundaries designed to maximize the advantage for their party. As a result, the Republicans have a 12 to 4 advantage of House seats from Ohio, a 9 to 5 advantage in Michigan, and a 12 to 5 advantage in Pennsylvania despite all of them being states which President Obama won last year in the Presidential election. This factor along with variations in the concentrations of voter populations, indeed, led to the Republicans retaining a majority in the House despite the Democratic candidates receiving more votes. Finally the number of House seats has been set at 435 for about a century now, which means that each House member represents an average of 710,767 people. By way of comparison, the United Kingdom which has only a fifth of the population of the American Republican has some 650 seats in its House of Commons.

Needless to say, these are not all of America's problems. One must also discuss the state of our health care system, the lack of advanced infrastructure in both energy and transportation (such as high speed rail or nuclear power), the phenomenon of white flight, problems with our education system, and cultural degeneration. These problems and solutions to them will be discussed in future posts of this series to be entitled "There is Something Rotten...".

Something is Rotten in America

And this is why:

President Othello?

There are certain occasions when eerie parallels arise between literature and real life which are obvious to all. Such a similarity may be observed  between Shakespeare's Othello and the current situation in American politics. Much as the Venetians in the play had a man of African descent as a general (while clearly from some area of North Africa, it is unclear whether Othello was intended to be black or simply a darker-skinned Arab), the United States now has for the first time in its history a man of African descent as its President. In addition, much as there was a malignant man determined to bring down the noble Othello in the story, so there is an entire faction of men and women in this country determined to do the same with President Obama.  This faction in question, of course, is the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party especially in the House of Representatives, which in its latest act of fanaticism to stop or at least retard a modest and conservative healthcare reform plan has shut down countless government functions including among other things the virtual entirety of NASA and various government databases that provide all sorts of useful information. Meanwhile these Congressmen have blocked a "clean funding" bill that would resume funding for the government from coming to a vote without having to accept extortion due to the spinelessness of Speaker Boehner and the fear most House Republicans have of being primaried. On top of that, the Tea Party members of the House may even prevent a debt ceiling increase in the middle of this month in order to extort defunding of or delays in the implementation of Affordable Care Act despite the massive potential economic disaster such as an action would entail. 

Similarly to how Iago incited Brabantio and Roderigo through references to the "Barbary horse", the Tea

Party has in many (though to their credit, not most) cases appealed to racial and religious xenophobia to discredit the President in the eyes of the citizenry by stating he was born in Kenya or even a secret Muslim acting as a Manchurian candidate to subvert the country. Of course there are differences, such as the fact that while the motives behind Iago's actions are unclear and disputed by literary scholars, the motive of the Tea Party is clear: to enact the dogma of a reactionary ideology that aims to restore a laissez-faire capitalist paradise that never existed in the United States and as a result to dismantle the legislation of the New Deal and the Great Society such as Social Security and Medicare. Another difference is that while Iago's scheming was subtle and secretive, the Tea Party's actions are out in the open and obvious to the eyes of the world. Let us hope this clarity on the part of the Tea Party leads to popular backlash that will force Speaker Boehner to let democracy take its course by allowing a vote in the House for the clean funding bill and averting catastrophe by passing a debt ceiling increase (or better yet abolishing it completely). Furthermore, let us hope even beyond these immediate problems, the Tea Party members in the House along with their comrades in the Senate and state governments will be voted out in 2014 to completely remove this malign force that has poisoned political rhetoric and caused tremendous suffering to a struggling nation attempting to move out of an economic crisis. 

An Introduction

First of all, I would like to welcome any and all readers to this blog known as Torchlight. In this post I hope to show to readers the inspiration behind the blog along with some information about myself and what the blog will cover in the future.

The name Torchlight was derived from a fictional political history of the future entitled Dawn of a System and posted on Alternate History.com by a man going by the handle of "Noravea". This future history (in the form of both newspaper articles and short vignettes) begins with a fictional political blog named Torchlight and its initially mysterious author growing in influence during the 2016 Presidential Election. Eventually the author reveals himself as one Nicholas Caeus who sees his career steadily rise as he forms a new political movement based on the values of bipartisanship and pragmatism. After being elected Congressman and then Governor along with restructuring the Republican Party into the National Republican Party under his control, Caeus is elected President of the United States in 2032 only to soon find himself confronting a global war...

While the future history depicted here is certainly not optimistic and not one I wish to see become our future, there were many elements in it that were inspirational. Nicholas Caeus himself is an admirable figure who overcame a difficult youth including an abusive father, to become a honest and bold political leader dedicated to the American people. Meanwhile the movement Caeus helped start with his blog and then leads is refreshing in light of actual politics as seen with the impending government shutdown and the debt ceiling battle, as it shows Republicans and Democrats working together to pass commonsense policies that move the country forwards. Especially notable was Caeus' success in pushing many people of the Millennial generation into politics and ending the apathy about politics amongst this generation which has been detected in many studies.

As a result I have named this blog Torchlight, in the hopes that it too may do some part (however minor) in improving and moving forward the political discourse of this country and in getting people of my generation into participating in politics. By way of disclaimer, I ask everyone to remember that I am not Noravea and that this blog does not represent his political views nor that of the fictional characters of his story.

Regarding this website itself, I hope to make it a blog with both a wide focus and a large amount of content. The primary focus of this site will be on the politics, and thus much of the content will be commentaries of varying lengths on current events by this author and other contributors. There will also be longer feature articles which will be explore certain issues or events in-depth with a strong focus on its background and history and the potential solutions to the plan. Other features will include "Point and Counterpoint" where two contributors will give the opposing arguments on a certain issue or matter and the "Roundtable" where several different contributors will give brief commentary on a matter.

However like periodicals such as the Atlantic or the New Yorker, I do not intend Torchlight to solely focus on political matters. Besides pure politics, it will first of all, cover materials that are strongly related to politics such as economics and demographics with a focus on analysis and connecting them to politics. In addition there will be posts covering history, science, and similar topics of general interest in the interest of enlightening readers. Torchlight also harbours some ambitions of posting matters relating to theology but this cannot be guaranteed  unless appropriate contributors are found. Finally there shall be articles relating to culture including reviews of books, films, TV shows, plays, artwork, and music.

Besides articles by Torchlight itself, there will be links to sites, articles, pictures, and videos that will be of interest to the reader including links to newspapers articles on the day's major stories.

Finally Torchlight intends to devote some of its material to the region of Southern California (as indicated in the URL of this site) where the contributors live. As a result there will be some articles and pictures here relating to the region's natural landscape, climate, history, politics, demographics, culture, architecture, and so forth.

I hope Torchlight will be of great interest to readers in the future and especially fulfill the goal stated above of getting young people thinking about and involved in politics.

Sincerely Yours,
Casey Cho