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My Political Socialization
by Sarah Wei
Probably the most
important factors in my life that have influenced the way I feel about
politics is my faith, my family and my education.
I belong to the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and was raised in the church.
This has had a great impact on the development of my political views.
While my activity in the church has impressed me with a great value for
traditional morals, which often leads me to sympathise with the right,
I probably have more leanings toward the left. This is because I
have been taught the importance of agency, or the right of man to make
choices. I have also been taught the importance of not judging my
fellow man, which allows me to support giving people the right to do something,
even if I would never do it and it is something I do not condone.
The particular history of my church also biases me somewhat towards the
left. When the church was first founded in 1830, the members experienced
great persecution from the conservative "Christian" groups of the time.
On more than one occasion, Joseph Smith, the leader of the church and one
of my personal heroes, was saved from unlawful imprisonment by demanding
a writ of habeas corpus. However, in general many members of the
government at the time ignored constitutional protections and persecuted
the church members, forcing them to move from state to state, issuing an
executive order to "exterminate or drive out the Mormons" from Missouri,
and finally killing Joseph Smith and his brother in Carthage Jail, Illinois.
A plea for protection from the president of the United States, Martin Van
Buren, only gave the Saints the response, "Your cause is just, but there
is nothing I can do for you." So from there the Saints had to cross the
plains and emigrate to Utah Territory to escape the persecution.
Because of this history, I have always been especially sensitive to maintaining
religious and other civil freedoms frotected by the Bill of Rights.
That is the primary reason why, although I seem to share some moral values
with the Republican Party, I also lean Democrat, because some of the measures
undertaken by the Republicans seem too extreme for me.
My family is
also a major influence on my political socialization. I was raised
in a traditional, nuclear family. My parents usually vote Republican
because of their moral leanings. A major determining factor for them
is the candidate's stand on abortion. However, my parents do not
always even vote, especially if the election is not a presidential one.
However, like myself, my parents do also have liberal tendencies, especially
my father, whose parents were both immigrants, in education and who are
pretty liberal themselves.
My education
has probably made me more liberal. I attended Dranesville Elementary.
In sixth grade, I was one of the founders of the Environmental Conservation
Committee. I learned the importance of conserving the environment
in elementary school, something that has stuck with me as a priority politically.
This naturally makes me more friendly toward the Democrats' environmental
views.
My summer
is going to busy and fly by fast.
Immediately
after graduation I am going to a reunion for my grandmother's family, the
Dangs. It is in Dallas, Texas. Click on the picture below to
visit a site with lots of helpful information about Dallas.
I also have
a church camp to go to, it will be from Thursday to Saturday and we will
be at the Marriott Ranch in Hume, VA, recreating the pioneer trek, with
handcarts, authentic dress and all. It will be a difficult few days
but should be fun. Click on the Mormon Washington D.C. Temple below
to visit the Oakton Stake LDS website.
And I will
be working at Great Harvest, it will have been almost two and a half years
by the time I leave. I love bread. The link below will take
you to the main site for Great Harvest.
For the
month that I will be home, I am going to be busy working, packing up my
stuff, and doing last things with friends.
My three favorite websites:
Yay for Strongbad
email! Look at the dragon one first, it is the funniest. Although
English paper is pretty good also.
This is
also a good site I do research on, for my church. It has lots of
good info.
Even though
I am generally too poor to buy anything, I like to look here and get ideas
for skirts and stuff I can sew.
Government
My government class, AP Comparative
Yay for the Constitution of
the United States!
http://www.house.gov/Constitution/Constitution.html
Visit the president at whitehouse.gov
Visit Congress at congress.org
Visit the Supreme Court at supremecourtus.gov
My Representative in Congress
is Tom Wolfe, the 10th District in the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Click
here to go to his website
The Virginia Senators are John Warner and George Allen
Sweden is a country which has
always interested me. They are very devoted to education there, almost
everything is paid for by the government, even through college. Of
course, it is a pretty socialist country. They have a parlimentary
government, with the parliment, or Riksdag, appointing the Prime Minister
every four years. The Prime Minister then appoints the cabinet.
Click
here to visit the Swedish Government site in English
I am independent, but I do think that Bush will win the next presidential race, especially in light of the factions within the Democrat party.
These are the main Democrat challengers: Howard Dean, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, Bob Graham, John Kerry, Dennis Kucinich, Joe Lieberman, Carol moseley-Braun, Al Sharpton
I think that the democrat that will present the greatest challenge to Bush is Joe Lieberman, because of the familiarity of his name, the outcome of the last election and the past popular support he enjoyed as Gore's running mate.
Although i do not necessarily agree with this cartoon, the commentary it makes on iraqi freedom is amusing, how it suggests that America is not exactly acting in the best interest of iraq. it is the second cartoon on this page.
The Virginia Governor is
Mark Warner
Fairfax
County Home Page