The Distinct Need to Know
      by Paul


Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 11:34 AM

   Friends, I am a Life Science Major here at Henderson State University.  Life Science? you say.  Why are you studying what a lot of schools have renamed as their Home Economics courses in college.  Well, the answer is I’m not.  But if I told you what my field’s common name is, you would blow me off.  The vast majority of people have placed my field of study into the same category as religion, with such excuses as “it doesn’t matter that much,” or “I can’t make a difference, so why should I even care,” or my personal favorite and the reason for my renaming, “it doesn’t affect me.”  Have you guessed my major yet?  My major’s name is Political Science. 

 I am an aggressive political thinker.  My spare time is consumed with charity organizations and political ones.  The conference I attended in DC was a political action conference.  I wear a big fat elephant on my left hand.  And if you just randomly talk to me, chances are politics come up sometime during the discussion if you’re lucky.  Unfortunately, I have a tough job talking to most college students even before we go to the meat and potatoes of politicking.  That is because I’ve found that almost all of the students here on my campus, nay, in fact, everywhere have become disenchanted with the world of politics.  Why is this I wonder.  Well, several of the reasons are listed above in the excuses that have been given to me.  However, there is one that is far more dangerous and discouraging than the others.  That is, “I don’t know.” 

 Folks, politics is going to affect you.  If you’re going into the art realm, copyright infringements, laws, and bills affect you.  For those in the nursing and health professions, malpractice suits and other laws are everywhere and you must be aware of how to deal with them, as the first one to hit you, if not dealt with properly, could sink your practice.  No matter where you’re headed professionally, even if it’s down to McDonalds to work and eventually become a manager, politics affects you.  So, we can reasonably assume that politics affects everything in life, and therefore, it is Life Science. 

 You pay taxes on everything you buy.  You can’t buy certain items because they have been made illegal.  You can’t go certain places if you’re in the military because they have been deemed as violent areas.  All things in life are affected by the government in some way, and you have a voice in government.  This person is your House Representative. 

 Find out in which district you reside in your state and find out the congressman for it.  This does wonders because a loud constituent is an informed constituent.  Send emails to your congressman saying you don’t like this or that.  Call their offices both in your hometown and in DC.  If you go to DC, drop by their offices and tell them thank you for a good job, or let them know you will try to get them ousted in the next election year.  That gets most politician’s blood stirring.  The thought of not returning to their cushy offices is enough to make most congressman and senators wet their pants.  Anyway, get informed. 

 The second, is what I plan to do in this rant.  That is, get informed on your political terminology.  It has been requested of me many times that I post something just giving a general overview on this means that and what means which.  And I plan to do just that here. 

 
Let’s begin:

 Republican – One of two politically dominant parties in American politics.  Generally they are the more conservative party.  They hold control of the House and Senate currently, as well as the Presidency.  Their symbol is the elephant. 

Famous party members: President Bush, Speaker Dennis Hastert, Dennis Miller, Sean Hannity, Arnold Schwarzenaegger, Representative Jon Boozman.

 
Democrat – The other politically dominant party in American politics.  Usually the more liberal party.  They are minorities in congress, and front running candidate this year for the Presidential nomination is currently Sen. John Kerry.  The symbol of the party is the donkey.

 
Conservative – This is where the meat and potatoes come in.  This classification (not your party) tends to demonstrate how you feel on issues and policies.  Being conservative in a one sentence nutshell is: Smaller government, as the people are trusted to make their own decisions with what to do with their lives, money, and futures.  This also means that the government is not there to pick up your slack if you screw up, you must take personal responsibility for yourself instead.

Liberal – Totally the opposite of conservative, being liberal means that you tend to want the government to control the playing field known as life and make certain that it is perfectly even for everybody at all times.  Liberals want larger government to nullify mistakes in life and help make certain that people don’t fail.  Unfortunately, this comes with a price, and that usually is that the government has controls on most of the aspects of life and you have to comply with them by very strict standards, thus limiting creativity economically.

Okay, those are the general ideas of four of the most used terms in politics.  I, myself, am a conservative, as most self motivated people tend to be.  I take responsibility for my actions and as a result I have the opportunity to extend far beyond the reaches of what other people expect me to perform.

 All right, here’s the deal.  As we discussed before, politics affects you no matter who you are.  So, what should you do?  Well, for starters, vote.  Go vote in your next election.  Vote for everything from Mayor of your city or town, to your Representatives in state congress and US congress, and finally, if the election is the right one, vote for who you want to be President.  I wrote this not to indoctrinate or convince you of my view points.  I have plenty of other opportunities to do that.  No, I have written this to begin convincing you of how important it is that you do your civic responsibility and that is vote and stay informed.  It doesn’t take but a little while to log onto a website and scan headlines, or watch ½ hour of news each night.  Do yourself a favor and stay abreast of all those politicians and what they are doing to you.

  Paul -“To be politically informed is to know when to stop taking a politico’s crap and rise up and get him out of power.”

Currently: sitting at work unaware that Jay is posting these rants
Currently playing: Warcraft 3 -Tides of Blood
Currently listening to: Gremlins theme music
Currently sleeping: on a bed without sheets