Never
have I ever written a blog. Although this is my first blog entry, I hope that
throughout this assignment I learn a lot especially about our government and
the upcoming presidential election. No that I, and many of my peers, are now
eighteen, we have a wonderful right in our United States of America to vote and
share our opinion. From the several history classes I have taken over my public
school education, I have learned that taking advantage of this democratic
system is a novelty I should not let slip by. In many other countries I would
not have the opportunity and it would be a shame to not participate.
Another
wise piece of information I learned from a mediocre history teacher junior year
is that the only thing worse than not voting is an uneducated vote. So as part
of my new years resolution, I am determined make an educated vote for our next
president.
So
how does one go from having no education of our government system and politics
to being able to choose a party and vote for a future successful president? I am
not sure. I assume reading the
newspaper is a good place to start, maybe. And I can talk to people who think
they know what they are talking about. But at some point people’s knowledge
turns into opinion. I am not looking to be influenced by other people’s
opinion. There are so many helpful factual websites and throughout my blogs
this semester I am confident I will develop a more educated opinion all by myself.
When
will I be ready to vote for myself? Hopefully by the fall. Will I want to keep
Obama? Who knows. Will someone new be a better choice? Maybe. All I know is at
this point I can’t possibly be less educated about our political system and
there is only room for improvement.
You know, that phrase really is interesting. After all, what constitutes an "educated vote"? I've read some things that suggest that people who think they are "informed" about the candidates mostly repeat the information they see on talk shows. I mean, you'll probably figure this one out pretty quick if you start watching the news or reading the papers: there is a lot of really crazy stuff that gets thrown around about candidates. I find that the best way to read about candidates is often through the Wiki pages, honestly. On top of that, the best you can do is to read across the biases (as in, read both of our two "polar" sides--although you may find that those "opposites" really aren't so different).
ReplyDeleteKeep posting about what you find and what you think about the process!
I find this rather interesting and very curious where you will end up. I think this is a great topic and way to keep into the world around us instead of just Penn State. I really like how it impacted you to be educated about the presidential election coming up. I don't know much about anything either, so I am excited to learn with you. Looking forward to reading your blogs.
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