Posts

Voting

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Voting: a right for all citizens of the United States in which your voice has an impact on the decisions being made in our government. Because our votes directly impact the people put in power and office, this is one of the most direct ways we are able to be connected to our government. There are numerous ways that elections influence the political beliefs of the people. The beliefs of officials being elected get to us through elections and election coverage. What we hear from the officials is understood and synthesized through our own personal lenses and experiences. Our personal lenses are shaped by factors such as race, gender, and stances on other issues in our world. If a Republican says something a person doesn’t like or resonate with, there is a high possibility that the person won’t identify as a Republican and vote for their party. In this blog post, I chose to write about the 2016 Presidential Election. The two candidates, being Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, were runnin
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The Media

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The media seems to be one of the most popular ways to interact and connect with what’s going on in our government, considering all the people complaining on Twitter about things they don’t like. However, media doesn’t just cover social media, rather things like magazines, news papers, online articles, radio, television, etc. All of these sources of media link us to our government in many different ways, making the media the largest linkage institution because of how widely available it is. All of our news comes from media and everyone that partakes in political discussion does so through media. Because media has a way of being relevant to many aspects of our lives, they have the ability to shape public opinion and how the public views certain political issues. The two articles I chose to analyze in this blogpost are CNN and Fox News, two news sources that believe in two very different things. CNN content is geared more towards liberals while Fox News content is geared towards conser
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Political Parties and Politicians

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A political party is extremely important in the process of voting and in Democracy overall. Political parties help people identify and connect with others who have similar beliefs. Identifying with a party makes voting easier and can, at times, present alternate approaches to government. While there are many different parties, the two biggest parties are the Democrats and Republicans.  I chose to write about the Democratic party because I feel that their ideals closely align with the things I believe in.  Democrats feel as though cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls. In short, they believe people are stronger together. The ideals of Democrats differ greatly from ideals from, for example, the Republicans. Republicans believe in the protection of unborn babies and don't believe in things like same-sex marriage and gun control. Democrats believe in being able to choose whether
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Interest Groups

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A big part of how politics is conveyed to people all around our country is through interest groups. Interest groups consist of people with similar interests and once they are together, they push an agenda unique to their beliefs. The group works together to protect and promote their ideals. I chose to look at the issue of abortion and how interest groups from both the liberal and conservative side view the issue. I looked at the NARAL Pro-Choice America interest group from the liberal side and the Pro-life Action League from the conservative side. The first group I looked at was the NARAL Pro-Choice America interest group, generally made up of liberals.   In the about section of the blog, we see the history of the organization and what they stand for. This article is coming from the point of view of a group that, through experiences, developed the belief that people should have the right to abortion if they want one. They believe accessibility to abortion is critical and extremely
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What Is My Political Ideology?

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For my government class, we have been assigned to discuss our political beliefs and address how society affects politics through, none other than, a good 'ol blog! Normally when you think of politics, or at least when I think of it, I think of two parties only: the Democrats and the Republicans. But politics is so much more than just those two parties. You could share beliefs between both the Democratic and Republican parties, making you something completely different than what you may think you are. Political discussion has always been something I've avoided, mostly because I don't know much about it and because confrontation when it comes to differing opinions can be extremely scary. However, learning more about my political ideology helps understand why I believe the things I do, and my beliefs are nothing to be ashamed of.   Before this project, I really had no idea what my political beliefs and ideology were. I felt like I was leaning more towards the Democrat
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