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Introduction

On my political ideology quiz, my results ended up with the Next Generation Left category. The Next Generation Left groups would be characterized as young, financially comfortable individuals with liberal beliefs but would not strongly consider themselves apart of the Democratic party, the Next Generation Left individual would be an individual with more of a mixed belief system. I can agree with this result, as I support gay marital rights, abortion issues, immigration laws and what not. I have a strong belief system in viewing people as human beings, instead of classifying those through their sexual preference, skin tone, personal choices and what not. I find it odd that a majority of the people making these changes for gay people or abortion rights are men, emphasis on men… It relates back to religious points of view, which can be more harm than good because religion can implement so much judgment on a group of people. I feel, allow personal choices to be personal, laws pertaining to immigration are understandable as terrorism and people coming to the U.S territory without going through a formal process, can be harmful to our society as a whole. I truly understand a family migrating from lets say, Mexico to the U.S for better financial stability, safety, health care and so forth, is admirable as they are simply trying to do good as humans for their own. I also understand how it can damage our system with not having people legally documented in the U.S.
 I do not have any strong influences as I did not grow up in a heavy political environment at home, social group or school. I find in my age group, politics are heavily discussed when we agree or disagree on a political candidate, flaws in the system and or law. It can actually be quiet frustrating to have a conversation with people my age because I feel they lack, like myself, the intelligence and most importantly facts as to what they believe they are even defending. I feel people my age do want to live in a world of peace and equality and have experienced people my age be more accepting of gay, different skin tone, language barring people rather than a baby boomer. I believe a majority of them have good intentions, but the wrong tone, delivery and intelligence to protest and have a conversation with.
I do respect and admire Bernie Sanders 2017 political campaign and his involvement towards helping the less fortunate. I agreed with a lot of his views on changes we should make as a country, I felt he had true intentions of peace, equality and progression. I do not hate or love any political current figure in my life time, I believe they are a regular person I might agree or disagree with on many topics of discussion, so it is hard for me to want to cast my vote on someone whole heartedly. I simply would like laws to stray from more personal option orientated areas and more around environmental, health and educational issues that can be extremely damaging if left alone to work on for long. Hopefully as I gain more insight in this class, I will elect new political influences.
I do not have any experience in campaigning, parading, marching or protesting involving the political world. I do agree for many protests I have seen on national television as I feel people are making their voices heard as a whole, but I do not like to participate as I know such events can be violent and even the people protesting for what they believe is right, can be disrespectful and shun other groups that differ with them. I encourage those to stand up for what they believe in and want to change, but with class and respect of surrounding stores, homes, nature, people with differing views and what not. Many people my age get upset with me when I share this with them because they believe if I am being silent, I am allowing the bad to happen, but yet they write a paragraph about their issue and don’t volunteer, help the youth, march, write congress or simply open up a book. I have voted, when allowed, but I do not usually like to discuss or involve myself in political events as I have first hand witnessed, it can drive people apart and cause heavy tension. I would rather listen to those speak about politics to see how they react, and usually it is not civil, respectful and ends in people blocking each other on facebook. I have just had a bad taste in my mouth left with politics and can admit I have become quiet insecure and nervous to speak about it.
I am taking this course in order to gain a higher insight into my political world, which is currently very small…I do feel some guilt when I am not caught up, know terms, laws, people, important dates, etc.. I find it is my duty as a young American women, to make sure I am aware of what is going in not only the world, but the country I am living in. I do find it is extremely important that our teachers, parents, friends and family all not only know a good amount of political information, but that we enlighten each other with factual, informative information, rather than scare tactic filled twitter retweets… I am extremely honored to be able to take a course like so because I know many do not have the opportunity to do so in other countries.
What I hope to get out of this course is political intelligence on present and past events, if possible. I hope to leave the classroom confidently knowing I am awareness and knowledge on what is actually going on in America rather than what I heard or read on some millennial filled blog about Trump. I would like to learn about important events that changed American history, important political figures, terminologies, significant dates, and why and how we got to where we are with politics as of today.
On the Civic Literacy quiz, I was categorized as a, Plebeian, also known as the, ‘average Joe”, in ancient Rome. This means I have average or little knowledge as the rest of the population surrounding me when it comes to politics, which I agree with. I do wish being this old (21) I would have a little more knowledge than I currently do, but I know that this is what this course is intended for…
On the Current Event quiz, I scored 4 out 10 (31% better than the public, below 56% of the public, and 13% the same as the public). So I basically failed, or scored very low on current event questions revolving politics, again not a surprise. The questions actually were quiet hard for me to even interpret, like did this actually happen? I would like to at least retake the quiz towards the end of the semester and pass with 8/10 or higher, improving my skills in this field. In conclusion, I look forward to opening my mind to my teacher, peers, articles, and other forms of information.



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