Lowering The Voting Age Seminar Reflection

Overall I think that the seminar we had today was good. What it lacked was the amount of preparation leading up to the seminar. As a result of many people annotating last minute the conversation got off to a rocky start. As the conversation got going more people got passionately involved in the heated conversation which led to a great learning experience. As a group I think we should have controlled the conversation better in order to give others a chance to speak and stop one person from dominating.

I think that the text was sort of bias since it empowers sixteen year olds and lists off all the rights the should have. I think that some of the ideas proposed in this text were very good but definitely had some flaws. For example it talked about how a teens should vote by passing a civics test. As a seminar we explored this idea and realized that it wasn't the best idea. I think the text really helped us argue and explore the whole concept of voting at sixteen.

I think a lot of my fellow students said something crucial during the discussion. Zac Wendroff mentioned how the civics test would be unfair if it was only given to sixteen year olds and would only work if given to everyone who wants to vote. It is this phrase that made me think of another viewpoint to this crucial issue.

Is this the year of the youth vote?

That is the question that seems to be crucial for the next presidential candidate. Will the youth finally take onto themselves their own suffrage to elect a leader? Will the youth voter turnout finally yield progressive results for this country?

I feel like this year is the year of the youth vote. I think this is true because of one man in the democratic coalition. Barack Obama seems to be the single candidate that has all the youth votes. I see Obama as an outlet for the youth to fight against the rule of two families in the white house for the past twelve years. I think that all the youth is fed up with the rule of the presidents that have controlled this country the majority of their lives. He is a fresh face and the youth are ready to support their candidate with all their power. I feel like the youth neither worry if hes too liberal or too conservative. I think all they want to do is free themselves from Bush's overpowering almost evangelical reign. Barack Obama is someone that radiates change from the way he speaks and addresses the people.

Overall I think this year will be the year of the vote. The constituent youth will definitely go out and support their candidates in order to let their voice be heard. I think this year will be when the youth will make an impact in society and the history of this country.

The Race for Presidency

The research process for me was very interesting. I liked learning about a real candidate that could very well be the next president of the United States. John McCain was an interesting guy as far as his background goes. I liked this process because the topic of economy was one that was interesting to me. Although it wasn’t one of the more heated topics I would say the state of the economy is something that’s in the balance and something that has to be changed by our future president.

What I found out was something I think most Americans want to hear. John McCain feels like he needs to reduce government spending in order to lower taxes. To me this is good news because like many Americans I feel like the government is overspending.

I agree with McCain’s plans for the economy but I do not like his views on other issues like border security. I feel like illegal immigrants should be treated more fairly.

Now that I have gone through the research process I am very interested in the presidential candidates. Some of the issues that interest me are border security and Iraq. These issues interest me because I feel like they will affect my life thee most in the next few years. I feel like I need to be a part of this democracy and system. By being a part of this democracy I want to change our country and overall change the future of the world.