FB #4

Free Blog #4

            This government class has given me a chance to think about political topics and the way that our government works more than I would if I were not taking this class.  One thing that comes to mind is the welfare system.  When I was living in California, I was extremely bothered by a specific situation that I saw when I was in college in Chico, California.  I was sitting in a county office, where a woman was filling out her paperwork for welfare and I was changing my address when I moved.  Anyways, she was told that her money was going to run out soon and that her benefits were going to be reduced from what they currently were.  Her comment was, “well, I guess it’s just time to have another kid.”  I was so disgusted at what I heard; I finished my business and left the office.  I am afraid that is how too many people take the welfare benefits.  When I moved to Texas, I worked at a doctor’s office, and I had a lot of people who were on Medicaid.  They received all their visits for free, but if they had a no-show fee, they would have to pay a $25 fee.  So, when I asked to collect the fee for some of those patients, they said they couldn’t pay it because they had to buy their beer or their cigarettes.

            My recommendation to try and stop the abuse for the welfare system is to require those who are not working and collecting money to volunteer 40 hours a week (to simulate a 40-hour a week job), and also to require bi-monthly drug tests.  This would mean that in order for the welfare recipients to pick up their money, they would have to turn in a “time sheet” of their volunteer hours and also take a negative drug test.  I think this would make sure that people are not abusing the system and doing essentially a “checks and balances” on the system.    Checks and balances, according to our textbook, are “an arrangement whereby each branch of government has some power to limit the actions of other branches” (Newell, p. 524).    If these two recommendations were put in place, it could be possible that the program could be cleaned up a bit and there might be less fraud in the program. 

            I appreciate the opportunity for these free blogs.  It gives me the opportunity to put my ideas out on paper whereas I probably would not have done so otherwise.

Bibliography

Newell, Prindle, Riddlesperger.  Texas Politics, 11th edition.  Wadsworth Cengage Learning.  2011.

Themed Blog #3

Themed Blog #3

            An interest group, as defined by our textbook, Texas Politics, is a “number of people who are organized to defend an interest they share or wish to promote; the interest can be narrow (rice growers, for example) or broad (consumers, for example)” (Newell, p. 526).  There are interest groups for almost everything you can think of.  When I was thinking about my life, it was obvious to think about what type of interest group I should research.  I am going into nursing, and there are so many medical interest groups, it was difficult to pick just one, so I randomly looked into several, and looked and their standpoint on issues.  The interest group that I would be interested in joining would be the American Public Health Association.  When I looked at the 23 new policies that they adopted at their 2011 Annual Meeting, I agreed with many of them, which made me think that if I were to join any interest group, this would be the one.  In my personal opinion, I do not think that there would be a group that it would be possible for me to agree on their standpoint 100%, so if I agree on a majority of their views, that would be good.  For example, the American Public Health Association (AMPA) supports the reduction and supervision for prescription medications.  This is called the LB-11-03 Policy Reducing Prescription drug overdoses (American Public Health Association, 2012).  I especially agree with this because way too often do patients who are prescribed painkillers not only get medication from one doctor but from multiple doctors.  I used to work for a primary care physician, and patients would come to see our doctor, and I would often have to call specialists and have to check if the patients were receiving pain medication before the doctor would prescribe more pain medication.  If we had a more controlled system, I believe that less prescribed drug abuse would occur. 

            I also agree that over-the-counter contraceptive should be available as well.  This is outlined in P olicy 20111 (American Public Health Association, 2012).  In my opinion, if a woman wants to have access to contraception, she should be allowed to.  Some states, etc do not allow contraception to be freely allowed to women, which causes the thought that women will do what is necessary to either get contraception, or get an abortion if they get pregnant.  In my opinion, it is much better to provide contraception freely and over the counter to women so the latter option is not needed, because that opens up a whole new bag of worms.

Based on just two policies, I feel very strongly that this interest group would be one that I would join.

Bibliography

"American Public Health Association Adopted 23 New Policies at 2011 Annual Meeting." APHA: American Public Health Association. 2012. Web. 07 Mar. 2012. <http://www.apha.org/about/news/pressreleases/2012/2011aphapoliciesrelease.htm>.

Newell, Prindle, Riddlesperger.  Texas Politics, 11th edition.  Wadsworth  Cengage  Learning.  2011.