Problems of Uninformed Voters

Problems of Uninformed Voters Did you know many Democrats are opposed to standardized testing? Did you know many Republicans don’t believe there should be a set minimum wage? Many people don’t even know what the parties and candidates they are voting for represent. In the 2012 Presidential Election, Bipartisan Policy Center estimated there were about 126 million voters. Voting is essential in a democracy. Voting is the definition of a democracy. A democracy is a form of government in which people elect leaders by voting according to Merriam-Webster dictionary. Throughout American history, thousands of people have fought for this right to vote. We advocated for men of all ethnicities to be able vote, and later we extended this right to women. However, a democracy functions best when informed citizens vote. Unfortunately, much of today’s population is not quite as informed as they should be. Many adults lack the crucial knowledge to make informed political decisions, like voting. First, we will examine how uninformed voting is a problem today. Second, we will discuss why uninformed voting occurs as often as it does. Finally, I will offer a solution for this perpetual problem.   Ignorant voters hurt democracy. You cannot run an effective democracy when the citizenship is weak. Voting is a crucial aspect of citizenship. It is how you display commitment and respect to your country and form of government. People do not take this responsibility seriously enough. When people vote impulsively or don’t put enough thought into their decisions, our democracy is not a true reflection of what the people want. A survey was conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2012 to determine how knowledgeable the public was on the presidential campaign. Their findings were alarming. Only 60% of registered voters were aware that Romney opposes gay marriage. Only 66% of registered voters knew of Obamas policy that allows undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as juveniles to remain here and apply for work permits. Additionally, in a 2006 Zogby Poll, 73% of Americans were able to identify the names of The Three Stooges, while a whopping 42% could identify the three bra nches of government. 77% of Americans could name off two of Snow White’s Seven Dwarves. On the other hand, 24% of people could name off two of the nine Supreme Court Justices. As sad as it is, the average voter probably spends more time becoming informed on which car to buy than who they want to run their country. Who you elect into office has such a huge impact on the future of all Americans, not just yourself. So don’t you agree we should be somewhat familiar with the candidates stances on current issues? And that we should understand the basic setup of our government and the officials that run it before we vote? Not knowing crucial details of a candidates intentions, you may be disappointed when they do something you weren’t expecting. And unfortunately, once your ballot is casted, you cannot take it back. For this reason, voters need to stay relatively updated on campaign issues, current events, and general workings of the U.S. political system.   Obviously, you can see how prevalent uninformed voting is in today’s society. But why is this happening so frequently? Well, think about like this. From the moment children are born, their lives are being shaped by those around them, in other words children learn what they live. And they spend the first eighteen years of their lives, some of the most influential ones, living with their immediate family. Inevitably, families who vocalize their political beliefs will naturally sway their child in that direction. Furthermore, their circle of friends will play a factor too. In my American Civics class last year, we put on a mock trial. Before the trial, we had to determine our political affiliation. As a class, we had to get up and divide ourselves into groups based on which party we wanted to represent in the trial. I observed that everyone just so happened to fall into the same group as their friends did. There were cliques within the parties. No one had the confidence to sp lit from their friends and represent their individual ideas. Family and friends can inhibit people from forming their own opinions. This results in a biased political perspective which may not reflect your core values. In other cases, it’s simply that people don’t care enough to become informed. They just vote to because they feel obligated to, but don’t give the decision much thought. People have disengaged themselves from politics because they don’t think it directly affects them. However, this could not be further from the truth. U.S. government and politics regulates so many aspects of our lives. It funds our public school, provides grants and loans for higher education, builds and maintains the roads we drive on everyday, provides the water that runs through our homes, and determines how much we pay in taxes. Most citizen have at least one political interest or concern. By voting, you can have a say in it. So take advantage of this opportunity and ta ke it seriously.   Now, how do we go about addressing this problem? Ideally, people would take matters into their own hands. You would perform research on the issues and stances of the politicians running for office. Once you establish where you stand, then you can compare the politicians views with your own and the one you are most compatible with is the politician you should vote to elect. It would also benefit you greatly to follow significant world-wide events. You should also be able to accurately depict the functioning of our government and which branches are responsible for which tasks. Reading the politics section in your paper, flipping to the news channel every once in a while, tuning into electoral debates during campaigns, and subscribing to magazines like Time, Newsweek, or U.S. News and World Report will keep you in the know. For someone who is apathetic in politics, the motivation to become informed has to come from within you. And to be brutally honest, many people would hear this a nd it would go in one ear and come right back out the next. As a last resort, we could require that all registered voters pass a comprehension test to prove their knowledge of politics. If we threaten to take the option to vote away from the uninformed, it could be just the spark we need to get them thinking seriously about politics. Amendments 15, 19, 24, and 26 to the Constitution only say that you cannot deny someone a vote on account of race, sex, failure to pay tax, or age after the individual reaches 18. Immigrants have to pass a test before being allowed to vote. Why do we assume that that all American-born citizens already know everything they need to know before voting? We have now analyzed the consequences of being an uninformed voter, the root cause of uninformed voting, and potential solutions to the problem. Winston Churchill once said, â€Å"The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.† It doesn’t have to be that way. We can all become more informed.

Food, Inc. Essay

Food, Inc. broadens the consumers prospective on the production of foods such as chicken and cattle. The documentary was convincing in regards to showing the consumer what manufacturers are afraid to show us, consumers. Nowadays, there are approximately 47 thousand products in a grocery store. That of which four producers have 70% of the market. Food, Inc. had many facts and statistics telling the viewers of today’s farmers and other large corporations in the food industry. It used to be that it took three months to produce a chicken from when it hatched to the time it was ready to slaughter, now, it takes only 48 days. Farmers average a borrowing of $500,000 in which they only make $18,000 profit. Large producers are keeping farmers in debt. Rather than letting the plants and animals take the time they need to produce naturally companies are always thinking â€Å"faster, faster, bigger, bigger†. Candy, chips, pop, and hamburgers from McDonald’s are all examples of cheaper food than compared to vegetables or fruit. Although they are higher subsidized, they are low in cost. Food, Inc. could have overlooked the value some Americans have on these cheaper meals. A Hispanic family was shown on the documentary. This family was faced with having to choose between buying medication for their diabetic father or getting groceries. Him, as well as one and a half million other Mexican farmers lost their jobs due to larger corporations and with all the debt that is due, they don’t have a lot of money for the quality of food they may want. Food, Inc. however did overemphasize all the negative larger companies were doing to farmers, as well as animals. Some interesting facts are as follow: at a slaughter house located in Tar Heel, 32,000 pigs are slaughter a day; that’s 2,000 per hour. If a plant is always failing the USDA testing, they are said to be shut down. However, the law never took affect, instead, the plants took USDA to court. In 2008, 90% of soybeans did not have the original seed. Although documentaries are usually biased, there were many times throughout the film where a large corporations were asked to talk, however, they declined. Large corporations could have helped their side of view by taking time to conduct an interview with the Food, Inc. crew. Food, Inc.was very intriguing, although it could have furthered explained through a corporations prospective overall the documentary was successful. The harsh facts with the jaw dropping graphics were just a bonus on the heart touching stories all of the farmers told. The graphics of reality was most bothering. The fact that companies could get away with employing illegal immigrants than do nothing when they were arrested was annoying, as well as knowing that a company could sue anybody for anything even if they knew they would lose. Something that was realized as result from watching this piece, is that to eat well in this country you need money. Questions that could be asked are how can companies like Monsanto have all of one farmer’s bank accounts and check written from the last 10 years. How can this company sue farmers (and win) for the farmer’s crops being contaminated against their knowledge. Why did patenting a seed ever become acceptable when the seed needs to be grown and consumed by millions. And why can the FDA sell food without a GMO label.

Government And Virtue By Benjamin Franklin - 1197 Words

Government and Virtue America is a country well-known for the phrase, â€Å"we the people;† it is a nation created by the people for the people. â€Å"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters† (Franklin, 1840, pg. 297). This statement by Benjamin Franklin strongly emphasizes the importance of virtuous citizenry in a country founded on claims to freedom. This gives rise to the question of what makes a person virtuous and how that virtue should be cultivated. Regardless of the specifics of virtue, virtue is a value that every society should foster. However, the federal government has little active role to play in nurturing a virtuous citizenry because the power to do so has†¦show more content†¦The American society as a whole has varying views of what can truly be considered virtuous. The line between right and wrong is certainly far blurrier than it was in the past. However, there are still qualities that are viewed as inarguably desirable. For example, society as a whole would view honesty as an important and desired quality. Generosity, as well, through donations and service has always been viewed as a valuable quality. Additionally, when it comes to politics, no one would claim that civic involvement is a negative thing although people disagree on perspectives and opinions. So, while the details of virtue have changed, the meaning behind the word--the idea that there are good qualities that society desires--has not. Because the government’s main purpose is to nurture citizen welfare, logic suggests that the job of government should also entail the promotion of virtue in the citizens of the country, however, this should be nurtured at the state level, and not by the federal government. Nurturing Virtue Nurturing virtue is important to government because doing so will create citizens that uphold the law, improve society, and are involved in political affairs. Without virtuous citizens, America’s current form of government will fail and be replaced because a Republican form of government is fully dependent on virtuous citizenry. Ronald L. Hatzenbuehler (2016) states that â€Å"theShow MoreRelatedA Biography of Benjamin Franklin Essay1080 Words   |  5 PagesA Biography of Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin was born into modest circumstances. With sixteen brothers and sisters, there was no room for selfishness. He learned early on the importance of putting others before himself and did not have excessively ambitious plans for the future. As a child, Franklin ...had a strong inclination for the Sea, but his father would not hear of it. He ended up indentured to an older brother, who began his life as a printer. 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Useful German Expressions to Organize Your Writing

If you feel that your German writing assignments sound choppy or stilted, try incorporating some of the following expressions to make your writing flow better. These are all variations of common phrases that we often include in our native language — often without even thinking about it. Listing and Ordering Facts and Ideas First of all, first — zunà ¤chst, erstens.Secondly, thirdly... — zweitens, drittens...besides — außerdem.then — dann.incidentally — à ¼brigens.further — darà ¼ber hinaus.above all — vor allem.lastly, finally — letztendlich, schließlich. Introducing and Stating Examples For example — zum Beispiel (abbreviated as z.B.) An example, as in I would like to give an example — ich mà ¶chte ein Beispiel anfà ¼hren.Referring to point/example†¦ — dabei sei auf Punkt/Beispiel†¦ hingewiesennamely — und zwar.    To Clarify a Point In other words — Mit anderen Worten, anders ausgedrà ¼ckt.This signifies particularly... — Dies gilt besonders fà ¼r...This means — Dies bedeutet. Writing a Summary or Conclusion In a nutshell — Im Großen und Ganzen.In a word — Kurz und gut.In conclusion — zum Schluss.To conclude, one can say that†¦ — Zusammenfassend là ¤sst sich sagen, dass...