Free Essay

Political Opinions

In:

Submitted By spradlinjl
Words 833
Pages 4
Joseph Lee Spradlin
Dr. Steven Shirley
Federal Government GOVT 2305
16 October 2013
Political Opinions: Free, Frequent, and Frivolous
Politics it seems is one of those volatile topics that most people try to avoid. However, I have noticed that regardless of what political party people claim to affiliate with many people have at least some common ground. As an example, I have found most of the people I have dealt with believe that Politicians in general are Lairs and Crooks. Many of those people believe that the person in office has it wrong and that they could do a better job. Though few choose to actively participate in the political process by educating themselves on the candidates, topics, voting, or expressing their thoughts to the elected officials by means of correspondence.
“Political Socialization is the process by which an individual acquires values, beliefs and opinions about politics.” (Dautrich and Yalof 272) This is an ongoing process that for many people grows and broadens with age and education. That is to say that as we gain knowledge through formal education and wisdom through life experiences the concepts of what we hold as important change. We then excise our expressed views by use of the political process. This can be accomplished by way of donating our time or money to a particular cause or candidate, petitioning for or against causes, or voting either for a Political Party (known as along Party Lines),or the candidates that best represent our views, or for referendums at the local, state or even national level.
I have been told many times by people that they do not vote because they do not like, favor, or feel any of the candidates express their views or beliefs. Jarod Kintz summed up this view point by saying “Voting for the lesser of two evils is still voting for evil. Next time, go all out and write in Lucifer on the ballot.
” (goodread.com) I believe that choosing not vote is simply playing slave to the will of others.
Former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson had this to say about voting “The vote is the most powerful instrument ever devised by man for breaking down injustice and destroying the terrible walls which imprison men because they are different from other men”. (goodread.com) I feel this quote best describes the practice the U.S. Supreme Court has employed over the years as it has granted more and more rights to those who have been oppressed.
As members of a Representative Democracy it can be argued that we have a civic duty to vote. Others would argue that choosing not to vote as a form of petitioning a grievance is protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
As Political Parties vie for power they employ a large array of techniques to attempt to sway the voting populous. These include things like TV, radio, and Internet ads. It can also include political mailing, phone calls, billboards, grassroots campaigning and Town Hall Meetings. These are referred to as agents of political socialization and are defined as the “Factors that have a significant impact on an individual’s socialization to politics.” (Dautrich and Yalof 273) Either way in the ideal democracy it can be said that “Every election is determined by the people who show up.” (goodread.com) However, I believe that most if not all of our elections are far from ideal.
It is my personal opinion that the key to a successful democracy is an open-minded education of the topics and the candidates then voting based on the beliefs and values that I hold as truth. I consider myself to an independent, though on issues such as abortion, gun control, and welfare I tend to conservative. I cannot say that there is anyone outstand factor that contributes to my political decision making process. I feel that an understanding of the issues is equally as important as an understanding of the candidates. All too often we see well qualified elected officials become involved in negative character issues not negative competency issues.
We all have the right to express our own political views. Many people avoid the subject all together. Others will use any medium available to express their option. Some of these options will be well structured, fact based, and well presented. Others will be biased, speculative, and presented in an unorganized manner. Ultimately, only a person who chooses to be politically well educated on an issue will be able to wade through the free, frequent, and frivolous political options.

Works Cited
Dautrich, Kenneth, and David Yalof. THE ENDURING DEMOCRACY. 3RD. MASON, OHIO, USA: CENGAGE LEARNING, 2013. 272. Print. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/voting Jarod Kintz 99 Cents For Some Nonsense http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/voting Lyndon B. Johnson
Dautrich, Kenneth, and David Yalof. THE ENDURING DEMOCRACY. 3RD. MASON, OHIO, USA: CENGAGE LEARNING, 2013. 273. Print. http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/voting Larry J. Sabato Pendulum Swing

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Public Opinion: The Role Of Political Parties In The United States

...Public opinion is defined as the views prevalent among the general public. Some researchers asked several different people about the monetary control bill of 1983. Some said they favored the bill, some said they did not. Little did they know that the monetary control bill was actually nonexistent. This is due to public ignorance. Polls have a way of manipulating the answers of people by wording the questions the way they want the answer to go. The questions may focus on one side of an issue at the expense of another. Also, polls are manipulated easily due to not being very educated on the topic and not having a passion for it, as David Moore stated in “The Opinion Makers.” Moore said they weren’t accurate all the time, for example, when they...

Words: 1324 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Political Opinion

...1.) The primary sources in survey research come from three major components. They are, sampling error, measurement error, and specification error. When sampling error becomes a problem it is usually because the population is irrelevant to the question at hand. Either the chance for a purely random sample has been skewed because not everyone in the population had an equal chance to be chosen for the sample or response rates have made it hard to have a truly random sample. Defining the universe is also a major component of sampling error. When conducting a phone survey you always run the risk that the same person will answer the phone in every home, usually the mother. To avoid surveying the same group of people from each house hold (i.e. middle age women), you must implement a line of questioning that will lead you to another member of the household. Another problem is that many people refuse to take the survey once they are contacted; this is where call back come into play. It is crucial that the interview sets up a callback to the residence that refused the survey. Over the past several decades refusal rates have been on the rise, and it has been found that response rates to surveys directly correlates with their participation in politics. The more involved the citizen the more likely they will be willing to respond to your survey questions. Another major risk in sampling error is the disclosure of sampling information. News stations have a much lower chance of producing a...

Words: 1595 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Facts

...means that any individual has his or her own opinions about certain things regardless of being right or wrong. He advances in saying that it is a phenomenon known as “a natural defense mechanism to avoid that cognitive dissonance.” Keohanes explains that in order for a something to “backfire,” an individual whose opinion about a fact is proven wrong he or she gets defensive and believes they’re even more right than they were before. An example he gives of this in his essay is when Keohane describes a situation in which a group of people were asked if they believed there were WMDs in Iraq. Of all those who answered that they believed there was WMDs in Iraq, would not accept that this was in fact a lie and instead believed that there WMDs were in Iraq even more; regardless of the correction. This situation proves the concept of “backfire,” because it demonstrates the idea that the more an individual has to defend their beliefs or opinions, the more they in turn believe it to be true. He implies that people naturally defend themselves and put up that wall is because of their ignorance. Further stating that, “most of us like to believe that our opinions have been formed over time by careful, rational consideration of facts and ideas, and that the decisions based on those opinions, therefore, have the ring of soundness and intelligence.” This is a valid point and is of great importance because as he later states “we often base our opinions on our beliefs, which can have an uneasy relationships...

Words: 521 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Documentary

...In a world where teenagers are often cast aside as rebellious, disrespectful people who can’t do anything beneficial, media seems like the one place that we’re heard. Our generation lives in the age of technology and the avenues through which our opinions can be expressed are becoming greater each and every day. The media is one of the most influential ways to make a difference, and there truly is a way for everyone to express their feelings. There’s art, literature, videos, photography, giving each person a way to be artistically heard. Media gives an individual who may feel like a speck in the world, a bullhorn so they can be heard by millions. Media doesn’t just reach to the people who it was originally directed to, it can reach to many different groups of people and eventually the world, making it an empowering way for your opinion to be heard. It seems like whenever there is a political debate or the news is on, issues regarding schools are constantly brought up. School reform is something that our government is always trying to regulate, but are these politicians always the best qualified to make the decisions about schools? Students are never asked their opinions on the reforms and laws that are directly impacting their education and consequently their lives. Documentaries are frequently made regarding issues in schools, but they are from the point of view of people not directly involved in the issue, giving it an outside clear view on what the issue truly...

Words: 255 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Operation Strategy

...MKT420 HW1 Article Summary Omar Salim AL-Ghamdi 201182370 The article: Why Customer Satisfaction Still Matters How attitudes, opinions and beliefs come together to form the basis for brand loyalty​ Perhaps the most disruptive of ideas to hit the market research community in the past several years has been the notion of ditching the long relied upon “customer satisfaction” model that researchers have leaned so heavily upon for years. A wave of recent methodological research has suggested that our five-point, Likert-scaled question “How satisfied were you with your experience?” no longer cuts it. It just doesn’t do an adequate job of predicting future customer spend. This attack has principally been led by proponents of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) method, which argues that it’s not satisfaction that matters, but rather, loyalty. According to studies by NPS architect Satmetrix, utilizing the assigned loyalty metric of how likely a customer is to recommend a brand or product produces predictive models that do a significantly stronger job of forecasting future brand spend than simply asking how satisfied customers were with their experience. As they rightfully argue, plenty of customers will leave a store completely satisfied with their experience, yet remain entirely unlikely to return based upon an abundance of variables that satisfaction models can’t account for. This results in retailers and service providers who sit befuddled in conference rooms across...

Words: 1408 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Keirsey Classic Temperament Report Analysis

...be extremely “Tough-Minded and Scheduled”, while finding me less “Friendly” than average. The other qualities were all approximately average. The temperament of “Guardian” implies that I likely possess traits of; dependability, hard work, strong work ethic, devotion, and more. The Subtype of “Supervisor” takes the traits of “Guardian” a step further and applies them to the career aspect of life. In theory, “Guardians” with the subtype, “Supervisor”, are highly social community minded people, and are likely to take charge in group situations. Often the optimal career lines for these individuals are that of management or administration in a social, political or business scenario. In my opinion, this survey has given a very accurate of my temperament at this point in time of my life. For me, this survey just re-enforced my own opinion of what traits I naturally demonstrate in life and my professional career so far. In situations where I have an interest, I usually assert myself and become a natural leader of the situation as well as assisting others in finding what skills or traits they possess that are of the highest value to the group effort. For example, I regularly play recreation paintball with some of my friends and the UNLV paintball club, and when given the opportunity I, without knowing it, seem to assume a position of leadership on the team to which I have been assigned. I always assist players in finding the formation that helps the entire team perform at its best, while...

Words: 743 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Journals

...Judgement The statement I decided to disagree with was under "Judgement" and this statement said "If society believes a behavior or a belief is morally wrong, it is a good idea to adopt and not challenge that belief." I strongly disagree with that. I truthfully believe that if a person has a strong belief on something, they should stay with it. No matter what it is. I don't think anyone should have to change their belief(s) just to fit in with society. It's your belief, therefore anyone else's opinion should be irrelevant. A lot of times with beliefs, you won't be alone with them. There will usually be someone right there with you who believes the same thing or something close enough to your belief. The biggest example that I can think of has to do with sexuality. A lot of people believe it is wrong. A lot more people argued for a long time about gay/bi/lesbian couples getting married. Eventually, thankfully, enough people stood up for themselves. Even more importantly; their beliefs. It's truly amazing to see how people standing up- and enough of them at that- get what they believe. Standing up for yourself is hard. These people went through a lot of work, shame and social problems getting to where they are today. So on June 26, American finally took the first step and made gay marriage legal. Many people probably hate that day, for a number of reasons. But that's okay, cause they aren't involved in it and it isn't tampering with their own personal beliefs. Overall, I do not...

Words: 275 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Argument on an Argument: Public Statements of Opinion

...Public Statements of Opinion The first amendment protects the right of people to have and share opinions. People speak their minds (unfortunately not always WITH their minds) knowing that the freedom of expressing their beliefs is there. The information gets published and it becomes available to the public through television, radio, internet, etc. and it ranges from sports outcomes to new gossip about the presidential election campaigns. The unfortunate part of all this is figuring out which opinions are worth taking in as reliable and valuable as this bulk of information comes from people from all over the world with different environments and issues that filter their views. Not everyone shares the same views and not all of the important information floating around will ever seem valuable, but people need to get their priorities straight and acknowledge what is really going on. The media is filled with random opinions of random people from random places and random backgrounds. So which ones do you trust? The people with the highest education can be reliable with technical facts, but what about personal views? Do you trust the opinion of a renowned physicist when he makes a comment about a “true” religion? Is a mathematician the best person to comment about how abortion is wrong and that it should be illegal? You have the right to creating your own views and choosing to not believe any other opinions. Everyone is allowed an opinion and the fact that the...

Words: 405 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Internet

...Some people say that the Internet provides people with a lot of valuable information. Others think access to so much information creates problems. Which view do you agree with? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion. There is no doubt that the Internet is one of the greatest humankind's inventions of the last century. It is fast and easy way to get a lot of valuable information. However, some people believe that the Internet creates many problems. From my point of view I think that the Internet brings us advantages as well as disadvantages. First of all, I think that the Internet brings us many benefits. People can have access to the latest news, weather, traffic, bid-and-asked quotations, etc. Another important benefit is that the Internet is a great means of communication. A few years ago it was rather difficult to imagine that it would be possible to communicate with people from all around the world. Students have the opportunity to speak to the professors from prestigious universities, ask their opinions and extend their range of interests. People have the opportunity to communicate with the people from other countries, find out their customs, traditions and even visit each other. I think that the Internet makes our world smaller and friendlier. We' ve got the chance to learn more about the world's history, our forefathers and gain more knowledge. From the other hand, many questions and difficulties arose with the appearance of the Internet. For example...

Words: 309 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Case Study: Building a Coalition

...MGMT 591 11/9/2014 Case Study: Building a Coalition Dr. Anne Hallcom Case Study: Building a Coalition for Woodson Foundation The Woodson Foundation, a large nonprofit social service agency, is teaming up with the public school system in Washington, D.C, to improve student outcomes. It appears the schools have problems with truancy, low student performance and crime. The teachers are discouraged to help students due to the disrespect and behavioral issues in the classroom. The turnover rate for the best teachers is high, they tend to leave and go to schools that aren’t as troubled (629). Part 1: Group Development The organization has five stages of group development. In the forming stage they have identified that there is a problem, now the plan is how to drive results. The first stage is bringing the plan forward and forming an executive development team. The team will consist of an HR representative from Woodson, the schools, and the NCPIE. This team’s responsibility is developing an operating plan for improving school performance. It is expected that representatives from both teams participate. Once this stage is finalized they can move on to the storming stage. The storming stage will consist of conflicts. This is an aggressive way to get to know each other a little better. Once the team has gotten over differences they start the norming stage. In this stage they realized although they have differences they still share things in common. The cohesiveness is...

Words: 1186 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Angry

...use this system to see where they all stand on the verdict. The old man decides to state his individuality because these factors: his beliefs, values and morals. This man has a belief that you cannot just send a young man off to possibly die without having talked about it first. He also made this decision based on the context on the situation. He knew some of the people in the room would be too scared to voice their own opinion. Others people’s belief though in the room are not in the right place. Some are more worried about a baseball game or money. Others are basing some things off their background such as the one of the other older gentlemen and his issues with his children. Their background experiences all reflect their actions and attitudes during the whole movie. This was also due to the perception of the situation they were in. Their attitudes and values were also a big influence on them during the movie. The old man that first voted not guilty was definitely a leader. He also had very high self-esteem because he was not afraid to voice his opinion. Many people went through intrapersonal communication during the movie, because of the examples and flaws the old man was sending to them to receive. Throughout the whole movie there is a lot of interaction between most of the characters that are strong from the beginning. One man, after another vote, changed his decision...

Words: 363 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Business

...Initiator/Contributor Contributes ideas and suggestions; proposes solutions and decisions; proposes new ideas or states old ideas in a novel fashion. 2. Information Seeker Asks for clarification of comments in terms of their factual adequacy; asks for information or facts relevant to the problem; suggests information is needed before making decisions. 3. Information Giver Offers facts or generalizations that may relate to the group’s task. 4. Opinion Seeker Asks for clarification of opinions made by other members of the group and asks how people in the group feel. 5. Opinion Giver States beliefs or opinions having to do with suggestions made; indicates what the group’s attitude should be. 6. Elaborator/Clarifier Elaborates ideas and other contributions; offers rationales for suggestions; tries to deduce how an idea or suggestion would work if adopted by the group. 7. Coordinator Clarifies the relationships among information, opinions, and ideas or suggests an integration of the information, opinions, and ideas of subgroups. 8. Diagnostician Indicates what the problems are. 9. Orienter/Summarizer Summarizes what has taken place; points out departures from agreed-on goals; tries to bring the group back to the central issues; raises questions about the direction in which the group is heading. 10. Energizer Prods the group to action. 11. Procedure Developer Handles routine tasks such as seating arrangements, obtaining...

Words: 519 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Why Communicate?

...Preguntas ¿De qué trata el artículo? • de que los que los ejecutivos no están haciendo su mejor esfuerzo para comunicar la estrategia de su empresa a través de la organización; no están siendo sinceros con los trabajadores lo cual afecta su desempeño. La importancia de la organización de una empresa afecta mucho en el éxito de esta. Tomar en cuenta a los empleados, hacer conversaciones y darles a conocer su empresa como misión, visión, etc.. garantiza un buen desempeño en su trabajo. Al parecer, la mayoría de las organizaciones no hacen una buena labor de comunicación. ¿Por qué crees que esto suceda?; ¿qué ideas sugieres para revertir lo anterior? • No se han dado cuenta de la importancia y se enfocan más en otras cuestiones. Sugiero hacer hincapié en este punto para que las empresas lo tomen en cuenta y hagan al respecto, es decir, tomen mas en cuenta a sus empleado para que estos les den los resultados que desea la empresa. Describe en tus propias palabras las conclusiones que aporta Halley Bock. • Se tiene que platicar con los empleados de las empresas y crear relaciones entre ellos, hacer que se conozcan todos para así generar una gran fuerza de trabajo. Los líderes deben invitar a los empleados a ser parte de la ejecución de la misión y la estrategia de la organización. Crear programas de reconocimiento o compromiso de recompensar a los empleados que quieren reconocer. Describe en tus propias palabras lo que sería un buen programa de comunicación. • Crear lazos...

Words: 401 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Group Dynamics

...The Most Important Characteristic of a Successful Group In my opinion the most important characteristic of a successful group is the Information seeker. It asks for clarification, facts and current information about the group. An information seeker is a very important person in a group because it has the ability to clarify any arguments, ideas and opinions with ease. A very good example of clarification would be that a person in the group will come up with many brainstorming ideas and opinions and is the job of the information seeker to organize and clear every theme so everyone in the group can understand what the topic is being discussed. One of the main problems in a group is that many of the group members sometimes don’t understand the material that is being discussed and more often feel very lost in the process, the information seeker does notice these problems and minimizes it’s stated in the paragraph before, the information seeker gathers facts and current information and it makes it easier for everyone in the group to understand everything that is being discussed. The information seeker also wants to stay current on the topic so it also incorporates a lot of current events regarding the information given. It is very important for an information seeker to keep every opinion and facts in order so the group can get a better understating and keep good moral in the group. In conclusion I do believe that information seeker is the most important characteristic of a successful...

Words: 277 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Employee Commitment

...A STUDY ON EMPLOYEE MORALE AT ELGI EQUIPMENT LIMITED COIMBATORE A PROJECT REPORT Submitted by AMUDHA.S Reg. No. 088001112007 Of MAHARAJA ENGINEERING COLLEGE, Avinashi – 641654. In partial fulfillment of the requirements For the award of the degree Of MASTER OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION JULY, 2009 Faculty of Management Sciences School of Management Studies Anna University Coimbatore BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE This is to certify that the project work titled “A Study on Employee Morale at ELGI Equipment limited, coimbatore” is the bonafide work of AMUDHA.S, Reg no. 088001112007, who carried out the same under my supervision. Certified further that to the best of my knowledge the work reported herein does not form part of any other project work or dissertation on the basis of which a degree or award was conferred on an earlier occasion of this or any other candidate. This project work is submitted to Anna University Coimbatore as partial fulfillment of requirement for the award of degree of Master of Business Administration. _________________________________ Signature and Name of the Guide __________________________________ Signature and Name of the Director/HOD Submitted for the viva-voce examination held on__________________________ __________________________ ________________________ (Signature of External with date) (Signature of Internal Examiner with date) ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I extent my deep sense of gratitude and sincere thanks to our chairman...

Words: 7904 - Pages: 32