A Student Handbook to Politics
By Maggie Eckhart
Democracy, America’s and all of those old English dudes baby. The U.S. government and its elected officials are both confusing beings. With all of the rhetoric used in their speeches, it can be hard to define what on earth they are trying to express.
This handbook is going to make it 1000 times easier to say definitively yes or no to where you agree with the officials. It shouldn’t take someone who has studied economics, lived and breathed politics for 20 years and a professional lawyer to understand what the people in charge of our country are doing for us.
The Basics
First off, we have to determine what politics even means and why you should care about it. Politics is defined as this: an activity surrounded by our government and other activities such as a debate between parties.
Why you should care about any of this mess? Because it affects your everyday life! Do you know that pothole that you drove over this morning? That relates to politics. What about your hourly wage? That is politics. What about those annoying taxes take out of your check every day? That is politics.
Your world revolves around who we vote into offices based on our core beliefs of what is most important to us. Whether that maybe climate change or taxes, it’s all about your right to vote on politics.
Parties
Branching off of that, in the emotional and chaotic world of politics, there are parties in which you can identify as. The quiz below helps you determine what party you mostly fit into.
Now that you have your party, just remember to take it with a grain of salt. Your views may change as situations arise and fall.
Who to Support
As hard as it may seem to stay tuned in with the candidates and frankly, their mostly boring speeches, the best topic to listen to is what they are going to do in office. If their core beliefs align with yours, they may be the best-suited candidate for you. Although, you can never go wrong with your good old gut feeling.
This is a tiny tip of the iceberg that is politics. These are the fundamentals of politics, what it is, parties and who to support. Good luck in your quest at fulfilling your American citizen duty.
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