Fired up and Ready to go!

American people,

Tomorrow I will be returning from the Young Democrats of America National Conference in Louisville, Kentucky. I want you all to know that during this trip I have gained much knowledge on what it truly means to be a Democrat, why the Democratic message is the better message in American politics, and why we must succeed in spreading our message by getting Democrats elected to public office. 

Our country is on the edge of a cliff, and we have two options before us; we can choose to allow the Republican party to continue leading our nation down the cliff of immoral and deadly legislation as it has been over the past decade including major efforts to restrict abortion rights, anti-equality efforts, and attempting to end our major social justice programs or we can choose to support the Democratic party who will turn this country around and lead us away from that cliff who refuse to exclude any group of citizens from the democratic process, refuse to allow republicans to pass major voting restrictions country-wide, and refuse to lay down and give up on advancing the interest of the American people.

The Democratic Party has helped advance American values over the past century. Whether it be getting women the right to work, passing civil rights legislation, bringing social justice programs to the lower middle and lower classes of our country (Medicaid, Medicare, Food stamps, and Social Security), supporting the rights of women in relations to the choices they make regarding their bodies, bringing equality to the US armed forces in relation to race and sexual orientation, passing the best healthcare reform law in our nations history, and advancing equality for the LGBTQ community including bringing marriage equality to six states and Washington D.C. just to name a few! 

One message that I want you to take away from this is that we are not done. Over the next century we hope to expand the rights for the American people. We hope to bring total equality to the women of our country so that they earn equal pay for equal and often better work. We hope to bring equality to our transgender brothers and sisters so that they no longer face discrimination on a daily basis for being themselves. We hope to bring our nation into this era of quality healthcare for every person in our country because being healthy and receiving this care is a human right not a human privilege. We will also continue to support the before mentioned programs and rights while strengthening them. The Democratic Party is only growing stronger and more vibrant every day, and there is no end in sight.

Again, I leave you with the simple statement that we are not done. We can make the change and we can bring the energy and trust back to the American political stage. Although these achievements are great we cannot attain them without volunteers. We cannot achieve them without the American people which are the people who will benefit from them. Today I ask you to take that next step into public service in what ever capacity you are able to. Whether it be into the roles that so many other people have been with knocking on doors, hosting voter registration drives, and calling people about issues and candidates or like a few great patriots who have given their lives to representing our people as elected officials in local, state, and national bodies. Please join us so that we can move our nation forward, we look forward to seeing you on the campaign trails. 

Peter Jenkins

Community Organizer

Thibodaux, Louisiana

July 30, 2011

Republicans are playing Chicken with our Nations Financial Safety

Our nation is on the verge of financial collapse. This is no scare tactic, it is truth. We have a debt limit in our country, and as the name suggests it is the limit of debt that we may incur. Every now and then our congress has to vote to raise that limit. Now of course many citizens will say that if they can not raise their own debt limit than a country should not be able to either, and of course that would be the best solution for us all. Unfortunately our country does not have that option. Mostly due to the wars that we are in our National Debt went from a surplus of more than 500 Billion, when Clinton left office, to a debt of 10.6 Trillion, when Bush left office. If we default on these loans then we tell the world that we either can not pay them or that we will not pay them, and anyone that thinks either of these options are a real choice for our country is playing with fire. Unfortunately there are many people on Capital Hill playing with fire right now. The Republican members of the House and Senate have decided that although they voted for the increase every time during the Bush administration that now they are against it. They have decided that no matter the harm to American citizens, that defaulting on our debts is a good idea for our country. They have decided that our government refusing to pay the debts it has incurred is being a good role-model to the people of our country. We have until August 2nd to raise this limit before we default and our nations becomes a target for collection. Please do not think that just because we are the United States that we are immune to everything. It is not a far fall before we end up like Greece or the other nations in Europe that are in severe financial downturns. We must not allow the Republicans on capital hill to lead our nation down the path of immoral decay that they are currently dragging us down. We can all disagree on fiscal and social ideas but we can not disagree that we should maintain a good fiscal standing in the eyes of the world. Every citizen in our country needs to call their Representatives and Senators and tell them that defaulting on our loans is unacceptable and that if they allow it to happen that they will be voted out of office as soon as possible.
Written and Posted by: Peter Jenkins

The Conservative War on Education Part II: College Students vote "Foolishly"

There is a battle being waged right now by republicans in 32 states to restrict and in essence eliminate the ability of college students to vote. Many republicans have gone on the offensive against the large block of democrat voters which is the college students of America. In Texas they have passed legislation blocking students from using their college ID cards to prove their identification with two exceptions: the elderly and those with concealed carry permits. In New Hampshire republicans are taking it even further. One piece of legislation there would only allow students to vote in their college town if their parents have registered to vote in that same town. This should be illegal to do, why because once a student reaches the age of 18 their life choices should not be defined by their parents residency status. Another piece of legislation that they are considering is to eliminate same-day voting. This will be extremely damaging to the college students of New Hampshire since many of them do not register until election day. These republicans are doing this for one purpose purpose, they want to win, no matter how many votes are sacrificed along the way. College students tend to vote democrat, the Speaker of the House for the NH Senate says it is because we “lack life experience” and we “vote our feelings”, which is another way to say that he couldn't find any other reason for this bill to be passed so lets say that they aren't old enough to make the correct decision. If these republicans are so worried about students not voting for them then maybe the republican party should start representing the views of the people instead of the small extremely religious portion of our country. But don’t think that you’re safe, this legislation could land on your very own doorstep. As college students we should be contacting our elected officials often and in large numbers demanding that any such measures should be immediately thrown out, and threaten a recall if they aren't.

Written and Posted by: Peter Jenkins

The Conservative War on Education Part I: Educational Homicide

While no one is going to come outright and announce their disdain for people being educated, the ultra-conservative wing of the Republican party has taken its foolish view of education to the floors of both their states and our nations capital. In the past few years we have seen a tsunami of anti-intellectual measures from these individuals. From Texas revising its educational standards to remove Thomas Jefferson from its curriculum due to his views on religion to the newest members of our congress calling for the end to the Department of Education, our nation is on the edge of educational homicide. Looking at the most recent studies on the education of this country compared to others, we are failing. We are failing our children and thus we are failing ourselves. Yes, we are in an economic downturn, but we must devote more money to education. We must move to a system that has our students in school year round. We must also challenge our students more. Students must have homework every single day, we must promote critical thinking, and longer writing assignments. When we challenge our students and expect more of them everyone wins, plus it will help keep our children off of the streets and out of the gangs. These solutions that I have just offered are the exact opposite of what the ultra-conservatives in our country are pushing. They have not shown that they are willing to step up and help educate our youth and thus do not deserve our support in the next election. Check back for the next part in this series.

Written and Posted by: Peter Jenkins