Participation

I am starting off with a side-note, I dyed my hair blonde! Ok now onto business.

Last week in my Pols 120 class we talked about several things that I thought were very interesting. One student in my class stated that we, as citizens, need to pay attention to politics and government because if we do not things could happen that we may not like. He meant that, for example, if we do not do a little research and use our right to vote, people could be put in offices or policies could be enacted that may not be the best. We were talking about this in class because it had been mentioned that Sarah Palin is a political figure and we may need to watch out if we do not want her in a position of power in the government. I thought this idea of paying attention to government was interesting. Personally I think it is vital to stay at least somewhat in the loop when it comes to our government and politics. This lead me to start thinking about what if voting was mandatory and if it would be a good idea or maybe not. Ideally everyone that votes does a little research so that they are an educated voter. However, usually that is not the case. Moreover, a lot of the people that do not vote probably do not care as much and most likely would not cast an educated vote. Having more uneducated voters would not be the most beneficial thing for the country. Although I do think there are many people that should be voting and do not. Today my dad's girlfriend, who is very involved in the gubernatorial campaign for Jerry Brown, told me that she was told this election for governor will be decided by only about half a million people. I do not know how factual that statement is, but if it's true then it's sad. California's population is millions and for that low of a number to decide who the governor of the state will be is just scary. I think that more people should be involved in such a huge election for this state. However, nothing is ideal and if it were that might be scary as well.

Words of the Week:

Both words are from Pols 195A lecture.

Probabilistic: adj, based on or adapted to a theory of probability; subject to or involving chance variation.

Empirical: adj, based on, concerned with, or verifiable by observation or experience rather than theory or pure logic.