Pictures

Political Panel:


Group Picture before Panel







The ushers at the panel are waiting.

 



Political Pane Group Pic










Physical work at a Polictical Panel



 

More physical work for Ty and me 



HOA Meeting: 




I am at the HOA meeting (I'm way too stiff)

 


Another pic of me standing in front of a map





Kaylee and I @ HOA Meeting



HOA Map Plan





I was bored, so I stared off into space





What is Political Participation?

     I accomplished my community service hours via political participation. After a whole semester experiencing politics that occurs on a daily basis. To understand what political participation is, we must consider the definition of it. Political participation is where people participate in society to the extent to where the people as active in the government (Lincoln, 2010). Some of these activities include voter registration, polling, and orientations. Without these simple events, the country would not be able to function fully because the people, who run this country, would participate less by voting less. To encourage and entice U.S. citizen's to participate in the political system, political parties run voter registration drives and informational meetings at popular events such as sporting events (Smith, Scholzman, Verba, Brady, 2009).

           Participating politically is a very important responsibility in the United States and there are many ways of doing it. Citizens can simply vote during the Mid terms or Presidential Elections or be extreme by erecting voter registration booths or supporting the candidate or proposition with advertising. People, however are not the only entities that politically participate, other entities include interest groups and businesses (Jacobus, Dirk, 2002). Some famous interest groups that participate are AARP and the NRA, who both lobby the government to pass the propositions that appeal to the group the most (UCC, 2002). Interest groups are essential because they have members, who are enticed by the incentives the group offers, who are willing to vote for anyone or any proposition that will benefit them even more. Factions are also similar to interest groups except they do not lobby like interest groups, instead they compel candidates to look into their issue (UCC, 2002). Factions are also essential because they provide the country with voters. Political participation is also essential because voters are better informed on what the country is about to do than those who do not participate (Jacobus, Dirk, 2002), and when people are better informed then they are also better prepared to stop or inhibit their country from going to far such as war when diplomacy is possible.

           We can observe today that a lack of political participation can cause havoc among the different levels of government. For example, take the extremely controversial SB 1070 that Arizona passed, and now imagine a scenario where all Hispanic U.S. citizen's living in Arizona (or any citizen who opposes it) oppose it. If this scenario had really happened, the SB 1070 would have had a harder time passing the Arizona State Congress, because more congressmen and governmental leaders would have started opposing it to increase their popularity (Arizona, 2010). Fortunately, the United States was created in such a way that everyone is given a second chance to support their opinion more strongly. Citizens who oppose any bill may have an opinion, but their opinion will not be effective until they participate in the government. However, until people express more of their opinions on the government's actions, they will have to suffer the consequences of not participating the first time. This example portrays why political participation is important and the consequences of not doing it.

            Political participation mat seem unnecessary, because people believe that one vote does not matter. Well, they are gravely mistaken because if you look at Nazi Germany and you may observe that Adolf Hitler was elected because many German citizen's did not vote. The lack of political participation in this example almost led to Armageddon. Another example would be the DVUSD Override, which was passed by only two hundred votes. The Override could have passed because of the work Politico Club members did at the football games, and it could be a possibility that we changed enough people's mind on the proposition to actually get it passed. These two examples portray the contrasts of not politically participating and actually participating. I have never see one action have such different results, where the citizen's of one country almost led the world to ruin to where our education system is funded the same instead of the reduction of the education budget.

           Political participation is more important than what a lot of people think it is. Without it, democratic countries falter and convert to another type of government, and with it democratic countries succeed. But we should remember, that political participation starts with the normal citizen, and without citizen's who care there will be no government.

Bibliography:

• Lincoln, Allison. (2010). Political Participation: Definition from Answers.com. Answers.com: Wiki Q&A Combined with Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus, and Encyclopedias. Retrieved from http://www.answers.com/topic/political-participation.
• Smith, Schlozman, Verba, Brady. (2009). The current state of civic engagement in america. PewInternet. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/15--The-Internet-and-Civic-Engagement/2--The-Current-State-of-Civic-Engagement-in-America/2--Participation.aspx
• Jacobus, Dirk. (2002). Social capital and political participation among ethnic minority groups in brussels. PAPER for the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops. Retrieved from http://www.essex.ac.uk/ecpr/events/jointsessions/paperarchive/turin/ws14/jacobs.pdf.
• UCC. (2002, October 2). Interest groups. Retrieved from http://faculty.ucc.edu/egh-damerow/interest_groups1.htm.
• Arizona, Az. Arizona Senate, 49^th Legislature. (2010). Senate bill 1070. Retrieved from http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf.

What I did?

       I chose to complete my community service hours by participating in political activities through Politico Club. Politico Club allowed me to experience first hand of how political activities are organized. For example, the several voter registration drives that Politico Club volunteer organized allowed us to observe how political groups arranged drives and encourage citizens to vote. It is also gave us an exceptional insight on how political committees, which include the Democratic National Committee and the Republican National Committee, are managed. What we did to organize the voter registration drive at Boulder Creek was setting up a table at the entrance to the football field and advertise what we were doing. Unfortunately, when I volunteered for the voter registration drive many people had already registered, so we improvised and advertised the DVUSD Over Ride. I advertised the Political Panel at another football game, by placing most of the flyers, with others, on the cars in the student parking lot.

            I gained more community service hours by participating in the Political Panel by moving furniture and organizing the stage where the candidates will debate. This experience allowed me to to comprehend why debates are so important and why candidates should take them seriously. Unfortunately, the panel was only attended by two candidates, both of whom are Democrats, and had a low audience turnout. I received the last of my hours by attending an Anthem Home Owners Association meeting. The meeting allowed me to observe first hand how a professionally organized political meeting is run and what they discuss about and why they discussed the certain topic. The HOA meeting I attended discussed a new multipurpose building, a performing arts center, and maybe building a downtown area in Anthem.

Analysis of Political Participation

         My experience of political participation was definitely different than what I thought would be. Before starting the community service required to finish the community service, I believed that political participation would be boring and would not be entertaining. I was deeply mistaken and I now realize that political participation is so much more that the community and a bunch people trying to govern this state and country. My three month experience of political participation has taught me that the United States government really starts with the people and ends with the rule or law that the people want. For example, the countless registration drives and information drives held annually would never exist without citizen's who support their country. Just imagine a scenario where no one participated and voter registration drives are a thing of the past, this scenario would definitely result in a U.S. government that will not represent the people and most probably be a unitary government.

            To achieve the community service hours required by the history project, I participated in multiple political projects. The first project I participated in was a voter registration drive before the Midterm Elections in 2010. Since the drive took place on the first of October which was close to the Midterms (only four days away0, and because the majority of the people already registered at previous drives, we did not have many people register. However, we improvised our voter registration stand to advertise the DVUSD Over Ride. This littler improvisation to the project compelled me to realize that political parties also make mistakes by organizing something that might not have significance on that day, but they are always allowed to change the subject or event they are sponsoring to attract people. I also learned that most of the people will decline the information respectfully, however not all people have that sincerity and will become angry at you and whatever you are supporting. So, the next you are at a political event, please approach people with caution and always be prepared for the worst. Voter registration helps the society by enticing citizens to register so they can vote for the political system.

              The second project I participated in was advertising the Political Panel the Boulder Creek Politico Club was sponsoring on the twenty fifth of October. Advertising an event is a very arduous task, especially when you know that the event you are sponsoring will be considered by the people who are interested but will not attend because you know that it will be difficult for them to attend the Panel. We attempted almost everything to compel people to attend the Political Panel, even placing the flyers on people's cars during the football game. Unfortunately, our tactic did not seem to work because not a lot of people attended the meeting. I realized if political and interest groups do not advertise the bills they support, then not a lot of people will vote for them. The U.S. federal and state governments will be negatively affected if the groups do not reveal who or what they support.

             The Political Panel was the third project I volunteered at to complete the required to ten hours to successfully complete this project. To prepare for the political panel, students had to 'beautify' the large auditorium by removing the furniture such as the chairs and plants. The Panel started after we temporarily renovated the auditorium to a more political environment. Unfortunately, even after heavily advertising the Political Panel at the football games and the homecoming assembly, we did not see many people attend. Also the Republican party members failed to attend (except for one, who had to immediately leave), which inadvertently caused a one sided panel, where the Democratic candidates agreed with each other. Even though many people did not attend and the Panel seemed one sided, the event still showed me why national debates and political panels are important is because they allow journalist and citizens (at panel's only) to ask controversial and important questions that occupy all areas of the government. Without the debate or panel, many citizens would be clueless on who they support as a candidate and which propositions they support.

          I served the last of my hours by observing an Anthem HOA meeting on the 2 of December. The HOA meeting allowed me to experience first hand how a truly organized group meets and what they discuss. At the HOA meeting they were discussing building a multipurpose center and and performing arts center to attract visitors and the raise the house value in Anthem. The HOA meeting was kind of similar to the panel where Anthem residents were allowed to ask questions or comment whenever they want. The Anthem HOA meeting also showed me that these projects will never be approved if the residents do not agree with it. This same thing happens at the state and national level where propositions and candidates will never succeed until they entice the voter.

The political events I participated in to complete my community service hours for history showed me that the simple events I took part in are actual every day events that run this country. Without the simple notion of politically participating, the nation would eventually wither because the nation is literally rum by the people. You can observe from the Anthem HOA meeting that people, in this case residents, have to agree before the governing body can take any action. We should all be gratefulfor this process because not all countries give their citizens and residents as much say in their government than the U.S.