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.

 
 

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
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