Culture of Instant gratification

Having a culture that demands instant gratification is a thought conflict. Almost everything in life is better when it is planned out. The only exception is the occasional impulse event, used sparingly so that things remain impulsive instead of having impulsiveness become the new normal. You get things right when you plan things out. If you are going to take a trip for an enjoyable vacation you plan things out so you can spend as much time while you are at your destination enjoying it. If you just show up to your location you will waste time looking for things to enjoy.

The ever increasing demand for productivity has turned us into a society that seeks instant gratification because things move so quickly. It is a sad state of affairs when you can not enjoy time with a loved one on a lazy afternoon because you can't keep yourself entertained constantly. What is worse is that this culture mentality is starting to have effects on important things. All things.

One example would be the current election cycle. People are angry with the current administration because their are implementing things that will take a long time to come to fruition. Health care for example. In the long term the health care bill will reduce our nations expenditures on medical costs. Argue what you will but when everyone pays into a system the people who don't need coverage can't opt out and create a death spiral. It is the way of insurance. Only old people can not be on health insurance because they are using it, the young have to be too. I am young and do not have health insurance because I don't need it. When the health cooperatives appear and provide me as an individual with group rates I will because it will be cheaper and I will then help subsidize older people's health care costs.

Another example is climate change. Even if you do not believe in man made climate change our throw away culture can not have no negative impacts on the environment. It just can not. You can not throw away plastic silverware and assume that burying it in a whole in the ground will not lead to some form of negative impact. We can not burn copious amounts of gasoline and have a metric truck ton of carbon dioxide flood the air with no negative consequence.

Both of these problems are a result of instant gratification. Health care premiums will likely continue to go up in the near term until the cooperatives go into effect, they would have gone up more in the future anyway. But by passing the legislation in the future with this plan set in motion things will calm down and we can reign in our national deficit attributed by health care costs and Medicare/Medicaid. The environment can be saved if we thoughtfully plan out how to purchase things and think about the effects our purchases may have in the future. We plan for the impact of our decisions instead of just making them haphazardly.

Until we combat our need for instant gratification we will doom ourselves to a very bleak future. Unfortunately, instant gratification is much more common that planned thought.

Legalizing Marijuana

Legalizing marijuana is a thought conflict. There are good arguments on both sides of this issue, and it can cause conflicting thoughts. Legalizing marijuana is a benefit because it has the potential to reduce income to drug cartels (though may be minor). It could be taxed and as a result, help balance state budgets that are currently out of control. Finally it would reduce the expenditures on prosecuting and incarcerating criminals associated with distributing and using marijuana.

Continuing prohibition on marijuana is beneficial because it continues to restrict access within homes with children from obtaining the drug. It can prevent escalation crimes associated with being on the drug (merit is debatable). Finally, it prevents the negative health affects on thus the health costs incurred by the community from use of the drug. This final argument is the biggest issue with the legalization of marijuana.

Do the negative health effects of using marijuana add up to substantial health care costs? Their are very few studies that substantiate a figure we can ponder on with any reputable value. One could draw from personal experience. Through personal use of marijuana and seeing the effects on several friends for several years the only adverse side effect I ever saw was memory issues. However, delayed reaction can lead to potentially dangerous situations. Driving while under the influence can cause slow reaction time to red lights that may increase vehicular accidents that could increase health care costs, specifically emergency room costs that are the most expensive.

It is difficult to weight these options fairly because the positives of tax income and free choice over a natural substance are very compelling. However, children with easier access to the drug will abuse the substance and the potential to increase health care costs and add to budget problems is a very real concern. I will still say that legalization is the better option simply because medical marijuana already exists, and the ability to get it is obscenely easy. What do you think?

Independent Voters

Independent Voters are a thought conflict. Independent Voters do not exist. When someone self identifies as an Independent Voter they do so with the meaning that they may vote for any party. That does not make you an Independent Voter. That makes you a party switcher. An Independent Voter would be someone who votes based on Independent thought which I assure you does not happen often.

Voters are persuaded by political will on either side. Where one is a normal conservative but may vote for a Democrat on occasion does not make them an independent voter. It makes them a conservative voter who is not resolute in his/her beliefs or can not find a candidate that shares enough of his her beliefs. Often the reason a person votes for a candidate they normally would not is because of one big issue. If you believe that Abortion is wrong, but believe you should save the environment you are not an independent voter. You show independent thoughts but you are a conservative thinker who happens to believe that saving the environment is important.

In this case if you voted for a Democrat because you believe more strongly in saving the environment you are not doing this country any good, because what we need in this country is more moderate candidates all around with good ideas in all things. Why not make your voice heard and petition a Republican candidate to be more concerned with the environment than switch your vote.

Politics becomes more and more divisive everyday. Republicans are on the verge of splitting into a more conservative branch, and liberals can go to far left sometimes. We must return to a middle ground before we can never agree on anything, but one way we should not return to the middle ground is by lying to ourselves and saying we are independent voters when really we are just moderate voters with no good choices on either side.