Goal:

I hate that whenever people begin to talk about politics I always feel so out of the loop! Obviously there is so much to learn you could never learn it all, but (being from the family that I am) I believe that knowledge about the government of our country is extremely important. In fact, I believe it's a responsibility we all have, especially as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So, my end-of-November-all-of-December goal is to learn more about the Foreign Policy of our Nation. That kind of seems to be a big deal right about now. Mainly, why are we supporting Israel so much? What is the history behind that? What is going on with Iran?  What about our presence in other countries? Where are we? Why are we there?

Obviously those are SUPER lofty goals. I think it would take years of studying to actually begin to understand what really goes on. But I want to know enough to be able to confidently participate in political discussions (especially discussions about Ron Paul). I want to be able to make my own opinion on such important issues. That always is frustrating when I talk to people who have very strong opinions about issues, but when asked why, they have no idea. I don't want to be one of those people.

Anyway, any suggestions of where to start? Reading the news is a good start--I've never liked reading the news, but I think it will be good. Possibly The Drudge Report, The Daily Paul, and The American Conservative? Those have all been suggestions. How do you go about learning about the history of the Middle East? That's kind of a scary thought. And who do you trust?

Haha, this is a weird post, but I just had a political discussion with a friend. Oh, and question: Will Israel be obliterated if we withdraw our support from them? Is Iran really that powerful and threatening?