Deconstructing Politics In America

From social media , newspapers , or radio , different forms of media can influence the public. Media is a form of a linkage institution because it connects the people to the government ; citizens can learn about new laws in place or people can also have the chance to spread awareness about a particular topic. Based on the source of news consumption and bias present, this affects the way the public think and hence the way they vote . News sources have different biases and through examining sites on opposite sides of the spectrum, biases can be identified. The Blaze is a news source where the audience is more consistently conservative and The New York Times is one where the audience is more consistently liberal . A current event that has been written about on both of these websites is when football players take a knee during the national anthem as a form of protest for police brutality . On The Blaze , there was an article that was recently written by Dave Urabnski on Octo

Linkage institutions are channels that connect the people and the government . Some of these forms include the media, election, and interest groups. Most notable are political partie s, that have roughly similar political aims and beliefs. They are considered a linkage institutions because they represent what the people want; this is done through voting , where the public elects a candidate who they best believe addresses their concern. In America, there is a two party system , where the main two political parties are the democrats and republicans. This often makes it difficult for third party groups to gain traction; however they are able draw attention to a particular topic. After researching five political parties ranging from very conservative to very liberal, I chose to focus on the Democratic Party . In the Democratic Party , some main beliefs are that they want to support everyone , not just those at the top. They also believe that people are better when united as a wh

This week I will share more about interest groups, specifically those related to the environment . I chose to research more about environmental interest groups because I am involved with Team ECO at school and was interested to learn more about groups that care about the environment. Interest groups are a group of people who have a shared goal of influencing public policy , and they do this through advertising , lobbying (influencing public officials such as legislators), and litigation (a lawsuit against an individual or organization). For environmental interest groups, an example of a liberal group is the Sierra Club and a more conservative group is the Heartland Institute . The Sierra Club's mission statement includes promoting responsible use of Earth's ecosystems. More details about the Sierra Club is that they aim to protect the wilderness and support cleaner energy . To do so, they help with several acts: the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and Endangered

I am a senior at Everest Public High School, a small charter school in the Bay Area, which is a pretty diverse area. Throughout this blog, I will explore different topics regarding politics in America. In this post, I will share about my political ideology and consider reasons why I believe these things. I figured out my political beliefs by completing a 23 question quiz from the Pew Research Center. My political ideology is Next Generation Left, who typically  affiliate with the Democratic  Party. Some common characteristics of people who fall in this category are " Generally young, well-educated and financially comfortable." In regards to common issues, I have   liberal attitudes on "homosexuality, abortion, the environment and foreign policy." Since I have grown up in the diverse Bay Area, I have heard the different sides regarding  the most controversial topics. I think that the personal decisions like homosexuality and abortion should not be contr