I know perfectly well how these things work – there’s always a reader sitting at home asking “What about…” and “How could you not include…” whilst shaking their heads, stewing in a political rage that could move the heavens.  But never fear, readers…I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please comment below! – Jenna

Top 10 “OMG” Political Events of our Generation

Picking the Top 10 Political Events of the last decade is no easy task, especially since our world leaders have given us plenty of fodder to populate a Top 100 list of events. However, we like the number 10; not only is it the number of years we’ve been in a new millennium, but it makes you really focus on what was important. So this is my list, arranged in chronological order, that left us all OMG-ing over the past 10 years.

1. Dot-Com Bubble burst & Pre-fix investing:  The new millennium kicked off during a time of economic booms. This wasn’t purely a U.S.-driven economic boom either; industrialized nations saw growth with the recent Internet explosion among consumers. Companies often found their stock prices rising if they simply added an “e-“ prefix or “.com” ending to their name (A “Get Rich Quick” scheme if ever there was one). It seems while everyone was paying attention to the virtual world, no one was keeping an eye on the real world. The Monday following the NASDAQ climax, a large amount of delayed sell orders were processed, triggering a chain reaction of selling the fed on itself with investors unable to keep up. This, coupled with the United States vs. Microsoft monopoly federal trial, and a disappointing ’99 Christmas season for Internet retailers caused the first (but not biggest) economic disaster of the new decade. What a great start!
2. 2000 Election: The ushering in of a new U.S. President for a new millennium didn’t come without some bumps and bruised egos (here’s looking at you, Katherine Harris). This election will forever live in infamy due to the unusual event of the winner receiving fewer popular votes than the runner-up and the chaos that ensued. It took over a month for the results to be announced, questioned, announced, questioned again, and finally finalized by the U.S. Supreme Court. After all the chaos had settled George W. Bush was pronounced the winner and 43^rd President of the United States.  “Dubya,” as he came to be known, took office in 2001.
3. 9/11: It’s a day that really needs no explanation. Over the past nine years, 9/11 have become more than a date. It’s a moment. It’s a feeling. Everyone remembers exactly what they were doing when they heard about two airplanes flying into the World Trade Centers of New York City. Many people remember watching in shocked horror, the images of the first tower falling, followed by the second; hearing of the plane crash at the Pentagon; listening to the stories of passengers aboard Flight 93 trying to retake control of their airplane before it could be used in a similar attack in Washington D.C. It was a day that the entire world knew one enemy: terror. It was a day when “we were all Americans.”
4. War on Terror: Beginning on October 7, 2001, less than one month after the September 11^th attacks, The U.S. and its allies launched a war whose main objective was to prevent further terrorist attacks from a number of terrorist cells operating under the umbrella of al-Qaeda. Over the course of this decade, the War on Terror has reached several different fronts in the Middle East including, most notably Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as included the involvement of many different countries and international organizations. One of the more significant events during this conflict was the fall of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Hussein spent the majority of the ’90s in disfavor with its neighbors and the US.  However, after the end of Hussein’s regime, the US found another, more violent coalition in Iraq, the coalition of Iraqi nationalists and pan-Arabists. Argued by many on the world stage as a way to justify unilateral “preemptive” war, others argued just as loudly that such practices would have prevented an occurrence such as the 9/11 attacks.  As this decade saw the beginning of the war on terror, it can be hoped by both sides of the argument that the next decade sees the end.
5. Darfur: In February 2003, several Sudanese militia groups took up arms against the government claiming black Africans were being oppressed in favor of Arabs in the region. The government has a history of tampering with evidence and harassing journalists so many of the details surrounding this conflict are not known. Darfur became the center of such controversy due to the escalation of chaos and destruction in the region with little to no reaction from the rest of the world. Three years later, after numerous horrific reports of actions taken against civilians in the Darfur region, the United Nations agreed to send 26,000 peacekeeping troops to Darfur to assist in protecting civilians on both sides of the conflict. In 2009, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.  However, the Sudanese government is unlikely to execute it.
6. Same-Sex Marriage: Even though this issue has been in the public eye since the ’70s, and gained steam in the ’90s, it became a major political issue on November 1^8th, 2003 when Massachusetts became the first state in the U.S. to legalize same-sex marriage. Since then, five other states have also adopted a similar stance. California’s Supreme Court voted against the opposite-sex marriage definition on the basis that it violated constitutional rights.  In November 2008, Proposition 8 was placed on voting ballots for the California constituency to decide whether same-sex marriage would be legal in the state or not. Though Proposition 8 passed, effectively nixing same-sex marriages in California, an appeal filed the next year was upheld by the state Supreme Court that all marriages granted prior to Prop 8 would remain legal.
7. Iran elects Ahmadinejad: In 2005, Iran elected its sixth President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.  Immediately, Ahmadinejad became an outspoken critic of current world order though he does uphold the long-standing Iranian tradition of not recognizing Israel as a legitimate nation. With comments about Israel being wiped “off the map” and accusations of not believing the Holocaust really happened (and all with a smile), Ahmadinejad became a media darling and immediate target for the Bush administration. The major point of contention between Iran and the U.S. leaders was Iran’s continued nuclear program with Ahmadinejad claiming the program is being developed for peace instead of war. In August 2009, Adhmadinejad was re-elected amid charges of fixing the election from opposition supporters. Iran erupted in protests in late-August that usually ended violently. Several countries, including France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. announced that they would not send letters of congratulation as is usually customary.
8. North Korea tests nuclear weapons: North Korea’s October 9, 2006 detonation of a nuclear device re-instated the country as a nuclear threat to its neighbors and the world. Worried that North Korea would attempt to sell some of its nuclear weapons to terrorist organizations or other enemy states of the U.S., Bush named the country to his now famed “Axis of Evil.”  On May 7, 2007, North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear reactors immediately pending the release of frozen funds held in a foreign bank account. On September 2, 2007, North Korea agreed to disclose and dismantle all of its nuclear programs by the end of 2007. By May 2009, North Korea had restarted its nuclear program and threatened to attack South Korea.
9. An Age of Firsts – Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton…and Sarah Palin: Put aside the mud-slinging. Forget about the crazy and crazier accusations. Focus on the good. The 2008 Presidential election saw firsts on both sides of the political aisle, as well as that gender-specific glass ceiling. For the Democrats, it was a choice between the country’s first African-American Presidential candidate or the first woman to lead a major party campaign. For the Republicans, it was the first time the party had included a female constituent on the presidential ticket. No matter your political preference, it was an encouraging race for the leaders of the future and an affirmation for the leaders that came before. And with the election of Barack Obama, the world saw “change” brought to a political system long thought to be set in its ways. A system uninviting and unwelcoming to newcomers who wanted to change the game. Hopefully this started a chain reaction of “change” that will carry over well into the new decade.
10. The Great Recession: We all know this one. It’s been called the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. It was a slippery slope of a mess that left virtually no one untouched. Key businesses failed, the U.S. lost over a trillion (wait for dramatic pause) dollars, and the entire world saw a decline in economic trade and activity (and that’s the good news). What followed was, arguably, even more depressing with world leaders and business aficionados attempting to point fingers and lay blame instead of trying to solve a problem that left the rest of us floundering. Governments have since taken aggressive, unprecedented, and yes, even questionable steps to recover. But we’ll keep our fingers crossed that the next decade Top 10 Recap will include a line item for the economic rebound we’re all hoping for.

What would you have included on the list?