To the
average person Politics are a dry topic meant for old corrupt career
politicians who do not care about the average person. But what that same average
person fails to realize is that they are politics. Their very living on
democratic soil entitles them to an active role in politics and more
importantly a voice. By having a
voice even I consider myself a politician, although I am the farthest thing
from your stereotypical politician. I am an almost 18-year-old high school girl from
Russia. Because this is 2012, I am 18, and this is an election year, this will
be my first election that I can lend my vote to.
Not only have I been keeping up with current events in order to make an informed decision on November 6th, I have actually lent a hand to the grassroots efforts to re-elect President Barack Obama through a third-party organization called organizing for America. Between voter registration, canvassing, persuasion calls, different community events, and so much more that writing about it would take up an entire blog, I have worked hard to help democracy work in the direction that I believe is the more progressive one and the more beneficial one. I did this through an internship called a "Summer Fellowship" and now a "Fall Fellowship" and through this have gained a more active awareness of not only the political arena, but the opponents to the opinions. That is why, I have a very deep interest in the election this year.
(I'm the third one to the right wooooo Obama)
I have also been blessed with an early September birthday that has given me the privilege of being able to vote in the 2012 election,
while most of my friends have to resort to waiting till the 2016 election. But, even if you cannot vote, that doesn’t mean you cannot show interest, one just has to
stay informed! Informed is what I want all to be, and this is the point of
this blog!
Another point to this blog will be to tie in concepts from my Advanced Placement American Government class in with current events and different things that are relevant to all, not just to a stuffy elderly politic. A general theme I would like to follow with these blog posts would definitely be a focus on the 2012 election year, and what makes elections what they are.
For this post I would like to focus on how candidates interact with each other, and how they point out each-other's "flaws". For example, I recently interviewed the Mayoral candidates for Cooper City, through them I realized what fundamental things people look for in a candidate. Of course a small town mayoral election has a lot less focus on policy rather than a Presidential election for example, but I did notice that the candidates tended to make judgements about their running opponents based on lifestyles, and less on policies. Of course policies are always a main focus of debates and conversations about opponents, but in the end one has to realize that it is more what the policies say about the candidate, their morals, and how those systematic policies shape a humane candidate.
When it comes to morals I don't necessarily mean faith. But of course, in the past faith has been an issue that is severely debated in our Protestant founded country. Usually the people discussing and debating their opponents faith are the Republicans candidates. Although early on in the election there was a bit of this, especially with Republican primary nominee Rick Perry from Texas. Rick Perry created a political advert that came to be the most "disliked" video on YouTube, even more "disliked" than the much parodied song by Rebecca Black "Friday". He called his video "Strong", and declared to stop "Obama's war on religion". But after much ridicule, Rick Perry left the race, along with other Republicans, eventually leaving one candidate standing, Willard "Mitt" Romney. Unlike in other elections where one has seen direct ridicules of religion, outside the abortion debate, not much has been seen since Mitt Romney has been established as the opponent for President Barack Obama. I believe this is because when Mitt Romney ran in 2008, many other Republicans mocked his uncommon and often misunderstood religion of Mormonism (one that is so misunderstood that they have a whole series of videos on YouTube trying to explain how normal of people they are). Now that it is 2012, Mitt wants to avoid any religious speculation so he is avoiding bringing it up in his opponent because of course, like the preschool saying goes, "you would not do to others as you wouldn't want done to yourself".
Of course there are many different levels of hypocrisy in the attacks against opponents, but what is a common trend is that if you cannot logically ridicule one's policies, you have to make your opponent seem like a horrible person. Hence, many illogical debates of religion and morals, the constant display of the candidate's families (in order to make their family look superior), and the dim coloring and grim music that is played in attack ads. Because when you really strip down the presidential debates of their intellectual value, it is just an argument, and in an argument you always want to win, sometimes at any cost.
There are many different levels of interactions between candidates and issues that I will assess in this blog because of course an election year to somebody who sees life through Star-Spangled tinted glasses is like Christmas for 365 and 1/4 days (366 since it is a leap year), so of course I will take advantage of the 68 days left of the election year. Of course if the election does not go in my favor, I will most likely spend the rest of the year after November 6th ranting about my loss of faith in the country (dramatization, but I actually slightly might).
But of course thank you all for bearing with me during my first first first first post! <3
And of course big thanks to my teacher Mr.Tanner for making us do political blogs for a GRADE, I'm actually really looking forward to being able to rant and getting rewarded for it!
