Divided Government and Gridlock

     Divide government is when one party controls the White House and another party controls one or both houses of Congress. Gridlock happens because of a divided government. Gridlock is the inability to accomplish a goal. Gridlock can be both a good and a bad thing.
     A divided government can be good because it encourages more policing of those in power by the opposition,  limits spending, and the expansion of undesirable laws. It also forces the two parties to get along so that they can be able to work with one another. Its an example of checks and balances.
     A divided government can also be bad because sometimes the two parties will refuse to work with one another, which means that the government shuts down. It can make it so that a law can never be passed. If the president wants to create a law or bill that Congress does not then nothing gets accomplished. This has recently happened. Obama wanted to pass a health care bill, but the Republicans in Congress don't, so therefore it will never happen.
     I think that divided government and gridlock is a bad thing, but can sometimes be good. I feel that the government should always get along, but if there is gridlock then it can't. In some cases gridlock is needed, like if there's a law or bill that the president wants to make that the people don't want, then depending on who's in Congress, it could be made.
     This relates to class because divided government and gridlock were two of our vocabulary words and we took notes on it.
     Links

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divided_government
2. http://www.conservapedia.com/Divided_government

Divided Government


 Gridlock

Egypt

     Egypt has recently had a major change in their government. Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak resigned on February 11, 2011. He was the president of Egypt for 30 years. He told the people of Egypt that he was going to resign in September during the elections, but resigned a few days later.     He resigned due to protests against him that started on January 25, 2011. Because of the protests he told the people of Egypt that he would not run for president in the September election and that there would be constitutional reform. This did not satisfy the people of Egypt, so they kept on protesting.
     The next day clashes broke out between people for Mubarak and people against Mubarak. Some of the people for Mubarak turned out to be thieves and the police dressed in regular clothing. They were doing dirty work as if the nation was split.
     On February 10, 2011 Mubarak told the public that he would not be resigning until September. The next day Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had resigned. The public cheered and was very happy.
     I am happy that Mubarak is no longer the president of Egypt. This is because I feel that it was unfair for Mubarak to be the president for 30 years. He was more of a dictator than a president. The people didn't have a say in what was going on. Egypt should have a government like ours, where the president can't serve any longer than 10 years.
     This relates to class because we discussed what was going on in Egypt and what we had seen on the news.
     Links

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hosni_Mubarak#Revolution_and_resignation
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egypt#Republic