Dan Solis

Website: http://www.theyoungamerican.org/

Bio: I'm the 18 year old founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Young American. I live in Southern California. I began blogging on my own a few years back, and I decided to create this community of progressive youths to keep us all connected.

Judd Gregg Withdraws (And it’s not a tax issue this time…)

On May 25, 1995, as Senator Judd Gregg stood on the floor of the United States Senate, he voted ‘aye‘ on a resolution that included abolishing the United States Department of Commerce.

Move forward thirteen years later, and Gregg has been tapped to head that very same department.

Once Judd Gregg decided to recuse himself from voting for the economic stimulus plan favored by his would-be boss, Barack Obama, he was going to be more of a problem than an asset. But the real problem was appointing Judd Gregg in the first place. As a fiscally conservative Republican, appointing Gregg to a major economic position within the cabinet just didn’t make sense. The role of the Department of Commerce is to regulate business practices and grow the economy by creating more jobs. It would have been a bad match for a Democratic president hoping to create a more progressive economy that creates jobs but does so in a fair way.

Another factor that contributed to Gregg’s withdrawal is the control of the 2010 Census, a process usually controlled by the head of the Commerce Department. Instead of allowing Gregg to manage the census, reports indicated that Rahm “Rhambo” Emanuel would take the task under his wing instead. Gregg could have possibly believed that Democrats would inflate minority census numbers, and therefore change the makeup of districts around the country. Or perhaps the Obama administration couldn’t trust a longtime Republican attempting to do just the opposite, deflate minority representation.

As a Republican in the U.S. Senate for sixteen years, in 2008 alone he voted with George W. Bush 82% of the time. (Senator John McCain was the top man in 2008 with 89%.) Anything over 50% should just be considered suspicious.

The chair of the head of the Commerce Department still waits to be filled, after New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson had to withdraw his name from the spot due to allegations of corruption, and now Gregg after he said that himself and President Obama, “are functioning from a different set of views on many critical items of policy.”

We should wish Senator Judd Gregg well as he heads back to the Senate to get back to voting against progress every chance he gets. That is until his retirement in 2010.

Previously on “The Young American.”

Since we last left you, a new administration has taken over Washington D.C. Democrats have finally found themselves in control of everything, and it’s all they’ve ever wanted. Yet unfortunately,  partisanship has rebounded, and Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska (”D”) and Susan Collins of Maine (R)  find themselves as the most powerful people in the United States right now.

The inauguration on January 20th could probably be considered the worst in history if it hadn’t been so historical . Yo-Yo Ma’s music was a recording, Aretha Franklin’s voice was dreadful, and Elizabeth Alexander’s poem could best be described as silly and unemotional. Let’s not even talk about the oath flub.

President Obama issued an executive order closing the “detention center”/torture camp at Guantánamo Bay in his first day in the White House. It could take up to a year, and terrorists could soon be coming to a town near you. No seriously, this is a good thing. At a time when the United States’s image is tarnished around the world, it’s an important signal that we are ready to rejoin the world community by rejecting torture.

The passage of the $789 billion economic stimulus had to have been one of the most dramatic events in modern world history. Or at least CNN made it seem that way. Wolf Blitzer interrupting nice anchor lady: “Hold on a minute Candy, we have some breaking developments. President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plan has not been talked about in the last five minutes. We just wanted to give you an update. Nothing has happened.” (Not an actual quote.)

In local news, billionaire Meg Whitman, and former CEO of eBay, has announced that she intends to run for governor of California. She’ll have no chance at election once the public gets a good look at her 0% “feedback rating.” Rihanna got beat up by lover Chris Brown. Reports are saying the attack involved an umbrella-ella-ella-eh-eh-eh. At least I tried.

Enough Fun. It’s time to get serious now. There are still serious issues plaguing the American public right now. ‘What can I do to help?’ we ask ourselves. President Obama can’t do it alone. If anything, he needs our support and our ideas. Conservatives are already claiming the Obama presidency has failed. We cannot let that happen. Nobody said this was going to be easy. Please follow me on Twitter.

Rising from the Ashes of the Burning Bush

I was nine years old when George W. Bush was elected president of the United States in 2000. I now realize that half of my life has been spent under the rule of King George II. I decided that the best way to commemorate his presidency was to look back on the ups and downs of a tumultuous eight years that changed American culture and society forever.

In September 2001 George W. Bush had been president for only eight months. He became president after one of the most controversial elections in American history. He lost the popular vote to Al Gore, but still found himself sitting at the desk in the oval office at the White House thanks to the Electoral College.

That September America was attacked on the eleventh day of that month. The President was visiting the Emma E. Booker Elementary School in Sarasota, Florida. One of his aides whispered in his ear that America had been attacked. What followed was one of Bush’s most critiqued presidential moments. He didn’t freak out, jump up, and run out of the building. Instead he sat and thought. Should the President have gotten up, acted more swiftly and confidently? Should he have sat there like he did as to not panic the children in the room? He did the latter, and days later, on September 14th, in New York City at ground zero he showed a confidence in his ability to track down the people who had crashed a plane into the ground in Pennsylvania, attacked the Pentagon, and demolished the Twin Towers. “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon,” he said.

A year and half later, on March 13, 2003, Bush felt it was time to get back at those who attacked us, but we suddenly found ourselves in Iraq. We had been in Afghanistan since October 7, 2001, the location commonly believed to be near where Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind 9/11 lives. But instead, we chose to focus our resources elsewhere, and we invaded Iraq under pretenses that Iraq had developed weapons of mass destruction.

“Mission Accomplished,” read on a banner a little over a month later on the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003. Bush said that we had been victorious with our major combat operations. “In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed,” Bush declared. But, we would find ourselves in Iraq to this very day, and the terrorist who had planned 9/11, Bin Laden, still not yet captured.

The President’s re-election bid in 2004 blindsided many Americans who felt he was sure to lose that one at least. He didn’t, and America had just signed up for four more years of “Dubya.”

At the end of August, 2005 brought us the year of Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst natural disasters in American history. President Bush was criticized for his slow reaction to rescuing and providing aid to the victims of the hurricane. He had appointed one of his friends to be the head of the Federal Emergency Management Association, Michael Brown. Brown resigned shortly after President Bush told him, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” It was also reported that Bush had been vacationing in Arizona at the time of the disaster, and when it came time to visit New Orleans for his first time since the disaster, he flew over in an airplane instead of walking among the people.

The war in Iraq had reached its most difficult year in 2006. Americans wanted out, but Bush stuck to his guns and stayed. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, also resigned that year after revelations of mismanagement in war strategy and that nine billion dollars had gone missing. Photos of tortured prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Iraq also fueled the fire of American unrest. In January 2007, Bush even committed to sending more troops to Iraq as part of his “surge” plan.

This year, in 2008, we witnessed the devastating fall of the American economy. Private banks were bought by the government to save them from going under. American automakers find themselves on their own brink of collapse. And, now we can officially say that we are in a recession.

As George W. Bush enters his final days in office we can look back and say that he has at least done one thing right. That is his graciousness at a time of the transition of power in America. Barack Obama won the presidency this year, and I’m sure when Obama spoke to Bush over the telephone on election night that he thanked him for doing all that he did over the last eight years, right and wrong (mostly wrong) to help him get elected.

The Young American

And so it begins. As part of a new year, we reinvent ourselves once more. This will be the last time, although I can’t promise.

So, why the blog name change from “Think Youth” to “The Young American“?

To be honest, I’ve wanted to change the blog name since August 25, 2008. We were in Denver for a convention, and just the mention of our blog’s name was a hassle. For some reason, to get the words “Think Youth” out of my mouth was a difficult part, but what was even harder was having the person who had to hear the blog name actually understand what I was saying.

“What is your blog’s name?” she said.

“Think Youth,” I said.

“Thank You? Thank Youth?” she questioned back.

“No ma’am. Think Youth,” I repeated. What followed was the actual spelling of the blog name.

“T-H-I-N-K Y-O-U-T-H!” it ended.

So, I hope that our new blog name not only sounds nicer, but is easier to say. “THE YOUNG AMERICAN.”

Most urls/links will automatically update and redirect to the new domain name, but just to be sure, please update your bookmarks, and thank you, not think youth:

http://www.theyoungamerican.org/

RSS Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/TheYoungAmerican
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Update: Just a small update, I just realized that the contact and blogger application forms have been broken and were not actually sending anything. If you have attempted to contact us, or apply to become a blogger, please submit again because the forms now work. Thanks.

Florida, Arizona, and uh California!? ban same sex marriage

What a shocking disappointment. The numbers look too far gone. California has decided to actually change the state constitution to ban gay marriage. Shouldn’t we be focusing on more important things?

Florida and Arizona also voted to ban same sex marriage, and the state of Arkansas voted to stop homosexuals from adopting children.

Update, 11/5/08: The same sex marriages that have already been established in the state of California will most likely still be valid and legal because they took place during a time in which they were legal.

But, a San Francisco Attorney plans to take the case to the state Supreme Court in hopes of overturning the decision as unconsitutional.

What Made the Difference Tonight: Youth Turnout

Barack Obama knew something a lot of us didn’t know. He knew that young Americans wanted to find something to vote for and not against. At the beginning, many of us were skeptical of youth voter turnout. But, he proved us wrong on that Iowa night in January.

Like Obama said, the campaign took him from “the rocky coast of Maine to the sunshine of California.” All across America young people came out and supported change.

It led him to November on the night of this historic presidential election. Young people supported Barack Obama 68-30% over Senator John McCain. Young people ages 18-29 made up 18% of the electorate this year, slightly higher than 17% in 2004 and 2000. That may not seem like a large increase, but in a year where overall voter turnout reached massive numbers (estimates place overall voter turnout at around 60%) it sure made the difference.

It was the young voters who won tonight. Those that supported one specific candidate, President-elect Barack Obama.

President-elect Barack Obama

How Hillary Helped

I think Hillary deserves just a little credit for Obama’s win tonight. Just a little. She motivated many of her supporters such as myself to support Barack Obama for president. She moved faster than any loser in a Democratic primary to endorse and campaign for their opponent. And surely Hillary and Bill’s campaigning in states like Ohio, Florida, and Pennsylvania helped Barack Obama.

Looking back, I think we can say that the lengthy Democratic primary was part of Obama’s success. His national infrastructure that was created to beat Hillary Clinton has been used to defeat John McCain. His debate performances against Hillary taught him how to face off in a real debate.

CNN reported that Obama won Hillary supporters 84% to John McCain’s 15% tonight. Thank You Hillary.

Who will replace tonight’s winners in the Senate?

Joe Biden might win two elections tonight. One for the vice-presidency, and the other for his Senate seat, which he has already won tonight.

Some of the name’s floating around for Barack Obama’s Senate seat are Jesse Jackson Jr., the son of Jesse Jackson, Rahm Emanuel, an already influential leader in the House, Jean Schakowsky also from the House, longtime Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, and former congressional candidate Tammy Duckworth.

Joe Biden’s replacement could be just a temporary one until his son Beau Biden could run for the Senate seat himself in 2010.

As for Senator John McCain, the Democratic Governor in Arizona, Janet Napolitano, has the option to appoint anyone she wants as long as they are a Republican. So, she could not appoint herself.

Another twist in all of this: If current Alaskan Senator and convicted felon Ted Stevens wins his Senate seat and is ousted by the Senate leadership, Governor Sarah Palin could be appointed to Senator Palin. You Betcha!

Update, 11/5/08: Let me make this clear. The only way Governor Palin can be Senator Palin is if she resigns her spot as Governor of Alaska and then the new Governor, who would be Sean Parnell, would then appoint Palin to the Senate spot.

An election worse than 2000?

With Barack Obama drawing large majorities of votes from big states such as California and New York, and getting closer than most Democratic candidates before him in states in the South, can Barack Obama win the popular vote, but lose the electoral college?

In 2000, Al Gore suffered from low voter turnout. The state of Florida was only determined by 537 votes, and as we all know, Florida gave the election to Bush. If Barack Obama gets close enough to McCain in southern states like Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia, but doesn’t manage to get enough votes to actually win the state, he could end up with more votes than John McCain. High voter turnout in blue states will not reflect in the electoral college in favor of Obama, these votes will just pad his popular vote.

Perhaps this will never happen, or maybe this is McCain’s last chance. Let’s see what happens.

2008 Election Results!

Madelyn Dunham’s vote will count

Barack Obama’s grandmother Madelyn Dunham passed away yesterday. She was able to vote early by absentee ballot due to her illness. The Hawaii Board of Elections has said that her vote, along with the others, will in fact be counted tonight when the polls close in Hawaii at 11 pm ET.

It will be interesting to see what Barack Obama has to say about her in his speech tonight.

Prop H8TE Attempts to Use Barack Obama

If you live in California you know that there is proposition on the ballot that if passed would state that California would only recognize marriage between a man and a woman. This would be done by changing the constitution of the state by adding these words to it:

Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.

Recent robocalls from supporters of “Yes on 8″ have asked voters to vote with Barack Obama, and vote yes. The calls claim that Barack Obama is opposed to gay marriage. They’re only telling half the story.

Barack Obama is opposed to Prop 8 because it requires the constitution of the State of California to be changed. Barack Obama does not support a Yes vote on Prop 8, in fact he called the proposition “divisive” and “discriminatory.”

Vote No on Prop 8 - Equality for ALL

The Other Important Elections Tonight

Probably the most important elections are taking place for seats in the United States Senate. The balance of the United States Senate will also determine whether or not Barack Obama will actually be able to get things done.

Here are the races you need to watch, followed by the times they will be called.

Virginia at 7pm ET - Fmr. Governor Mark Warner is very likely to pickup our first Democratic seat of the night, currently held by Republican John Warner (no relation.) Governor Warner’s “challenger” is Jim Gilmore who ran for president last year.

North Carolina at 7:30 pm ET - Elizabeth Dole, wife of Bob Dole is at risk of losing her seat tonight. If Democrat Kay Hagan wins, Barack Obama and Democrats all across the country will have a good night as well.

Minnesota at 9pm ET - Former Comedian and radio host Al Franken has a good chance of picking up this seat from Republican Norm Coleman. Although, dirty campaigning has plagued this campaign in recent weeks, and is still an unpredictable toss up.

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