view from a 17 year old....
An excerpt from his homework assignment (written last night while I was sleeping) on my computer this morning.
In the opening scene of HBO’s new show “The Newsroom,” written by Aaron Sorkin, Will McAvoy, a jaded news anchor, loses his composure when forced to give an answer to the question “why is America the greatest country in the world?” He gives a speech about how America is not the greatest country in the world, but it once was, and he wonders how the US can go back to being great.
I feel like a mostly agree with Will McAvoy’s points in the speech. However, I object to labeling the college student a member of the “Worst period generation period ever period!” Looking at America right now, college students aren’t in power. Maybe if they were, our situation would be just as bad, but they’re not. Admittedly, my generation does have some problems. We’re uninformed, uninterested in politics, uncaring about many important issues. That said, that doesn’t manifest in anything more than less active voters. The older generation who is in power in the United States, is also filled with people who don’t care, aren’t interested, and have no idea what they’re talking about. But many of them go out to vote following party lines, causing far more harm by increasing partisanship than the younger generation ever could by not showing up a polls. Our current no compromise, more and more extreme politicians, many of whom know just as little about the issues as the college students, as several gaffes in discussions about abortion rights, for example, reveal, are part of the older generation and elected by the older generation. It is painful that so many of my fellow students and youths don’t care about politics at all, but we’re the ones without any control over what happens. Maybe that is why voter dissatisfaction is so high and voter turnout is so low. We know that party elite will not listen to what we say and will continue to push frankly insane agendas.
= new reply since forum marked as read
No spoilers, except that you'd like it 
And then came the "draft test." It was a test given to college students to see if you were "dumb enough to get sent to Vietnam."
And that got me thinking... 
--imm
Because you refer to "Our current no compromise" politicians, you seem to have revealed yourself as a Republican.
Those who are Democrats would know that "our" politicians have compromised time and time again. Except for the few months immediately before an election, there is nothing that many of "our" politicians will not compromise on.
There are openly-admitted war criminals walking around free, rich, and happy? Fine. "Our" politicians will not demand that they be investigated and prosecuted. "Our" politicians agree with the Republican politicians on this issue.
The super-rich need an extension of the Bush tax-cuts? Fine. "Our" politicians will not demand that there be no extension. Again, "our" politicians agree with the Republican politicians on this issue, although they may justify their agreement on the grounds that the Republicans will not otherwise budge on agreeing to an extension of unemployment benefits or agreeing to an extension of tax cuts for persons other than the super-rich.
The super-rich want to make even more money by sending jobs to foreign countries? That, too, is fine. Our politicians have agreed with job-transferring "free-trade" agreements. Many of "our" politicians agree with the Republican politicians on this issue.
If "our" politicians will not compromise, who appointed the anti-Social Security members of the Cat-Food Commission? Who has been talking about austerity in connection with Social Security?
If you truly believe that we currently have no-compromise politicians and that such persons are politicians other than Republicans, can you identify a few issues on which they will not compromise? Any at all?
“Whenever a fellow tells me he's bipartisan, I know he's going to vote against me.” - Harry Truman
http://www.famousquotes.com/show/1711989/
