Imagine this scenario: You walk into your kitchen on a hot, muggy summer day for a midday snack. You fix yourself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a common and traditional All-American treat. You open the refrigerator and pour yourself a nice, cold glass of milk.

As you sit down at the table, you are in great anticipation to partake in this delicious snack. As you put the glass of milk to your quivering lips, you suddenly portray a look of disgust and dissatisfaction. The milk is spoiled. It’s been in the refrigerator without use for far too long. You groan in disbelief as you become victim to the sour taste of milk gone bad.

We were once taught that America was the place of opportunity and achievement. We believed in the concept that you can be anything that you desire to be and that America was a beacon of hope for those who dreamed of success. But for those who are looking up to America as a symbolism of hope and prosperity will quickly find that America is simply unrecognizable, and like sour milk, leaves a bitter taste in many people’s mouths.

No one seems to be able to articulate their vision for America. The Democrats seem to have a jumbled, directionless mess of government programs. And the Republicans well, the Republicans seem hell-bent on…not a lot really. We like to say no a lot. One of our “rising stars” said our response to the Democrats’ “Yes We Can” should be “Oh No You Don’t.” I could not disagree with that more. We’re Americans. There’s nothing we can’t do. We achieve, we’re not scolds. Whether it was bringing a country divided by war back together, or saving or environment or ending two major wars, winning the Cold War or preparing America for the greatest economic boom period of its history, Republicans have always led the way.

But what is our agenda now? Stopping Obamacare? Stopping Abortion? Stopping Illegal Immigration? We’ve been shouting about stopping so many things, we’ve ground our country to a halt. We need to stop…well, stopping and begin advocating a proactive agenda. We need to advocate an indoendence agenda for America.

Governor Palin is an ethnic escapist dream where simple rural girls best slick urban intellectuals.

Poverty is an important issue. One that plagues societies of every kind, in every country, in every continent.It is an issue that ranges from social to economic and then back. Everyday of my life I am faced with some kind of poverty and inequality. The way people look at poverty varies per perspective, and each one of us has a slightly different one.

I wish to share my thoughts on poverty and what I think should be done to attempt to improve it.

What would you do if there was some global crisis or event that virtually wiped out any positive incentive for urban living? Where would you get food? How would you survive? Think about it long enough and you’ll find that while living in urban cores may be fine, in the event of something substantial, one would be left with nothing to survive. What if government collapsed and your dollars were worthless?