Why is Community Service Benificial?

          There are many people who do not believe that community service can really change a community; these people are wrong. The impact one can have on their community is impressive. Members of the Politico’s Club, me included, went out during football games, back to school night, and parent teacher conferences to inform voters about the DVDUSD override on the ballot. We informed the public that passing the override would be beneficial to themselves and their family, and that it would not increase property taxes if passed. It was predicted that the override would fail, like many around the US where schools are looking for funds, but as of today, it is passing. (Arizona Election Results) I believe that out of our effort, we were able to change the opinions of the voters around us. We showed them what positive things could come from passing the override and it seems many of them listened. We were also able to register a few people who otherwise may not have registered to vote in this year’s elections.

            Even when I wasn’t actually participating in a work type of service there was still a point for me to be there. At the homeowners meeting, the speakers very much appreciated input about the designs they were pitching. They had markers and sticky notes for anyone who wanted to leave a note with advice for the projects. Many people don’t participate in this kind of political involvement because they fear their voices will not be heard. The irony of this is that by not going to meetings like this one and not trying to get your opinions out there, your voice really won’t be heard. These are also often the people who wind up complaining when they don’t get their way on a project.

            In political participation, I think society can only be bettered. If everyone in America cared about the politics around them and got involved in the community, we could have a better society as a whole. People would be more educated in politics, and they could chose politicians that they knew were the best for their individual wants. This would lead to less conflict between what the legislatures want and what the average American wants. If every American knew what they wanted, then legislatures who wanted the same things would be elected. This would lead to a stronger connection between the American people and the national government. In a stronger relationship, society in America would benefit greatly, the people would be able to trust their legislatures and the legislatures would be able to trust the people. If everyone volunteered or took a few hours from their week to get involved in the politics of today, we would be a much smarter and efficient society.

Resources:

Arizona Election Results – Phoenix Election Results azcentral.com (n.d.) retrieved from             http://www.azcentral.com/elections/index.php

What Is Political Participation?

           Defining political participation is a surprisingly difficult thing to do. In a general fashion, it is the activism in the government by citizens of a country. Probably the most common form in the USA is voting. Even though in the United States, voting is an easy to do, well fought for privilege there are still low turnouts to many elections. The main cause for this is low registration rates for Americans. This is why around election time, voter registration drives are popular as well as drives that are created to get information out to the voters, so they will be more educated when going into the voting process. The other reason that people in the US don’t tend to have a high voter turn-out, is the fact that voting isn’t our only way to influence our government and get involved in politics. People can go to town hall meetings, protest, or even propose amendments to their state’s constitution, all without the need to vote. Many Americans today feel that in voting, they will not be represented sufficiently, therefore they do not vote at all. (American Government 9/e)

            Of the people who are able to participate in politics, there are six main types of participation. The first is inactive participation. This means that the person does not vote and probably rarely talks about politics. The second are voting specialists; these people pretty much only vote, but at least they participate in that way. The third are campaigners who not only vote but also participate in campaigning. They are often very aligned to a belief or political party. The fourth are communalists, or a more nonpartisan version of a campaigner. They tend to communicate on a more local scale. The fifth are parochials, they do not vote, but they do often contact politicians about personal problems that they have with the government. The sixth and final type of participants is activists. They are highly educated people who participate in every form of politics imaginable. (American Government 9/e)

            There are many reasons for someone to either participate in politics or not. The first is schooling, the more educated someone is, the more confident they are, and the more likely they will vote. The second is whether they go to church, studies have found that those who do tend to be more likely to vote. Overall, men and women will vote at the same rate and surprisingly, the level of trust someone has in the government shows no correlation with the probability that one will vote on any given year. If registration becomes easier or if political parties become stronger and closer to the voter, turn-outs will increase. The odd thing about this country is how we determine that our voter rates are low. We compare to European countries that have automatic registration for voting and do not have quite the system of government that we do here. Also, we have so many voting opportunities in America, that many people may feel that elections just aren’t very important. (American Government 9/e)

Resources

American Government 9/e – Study Online Cengage Learning (n.d.) retrieved from               http://college.cengage.com/polisci/wilson/am_gov/9e/students/studyoutline/ch06.html

My Project

            For my community service I worked with the Politico’s club helping them in a few different ways. Firstly, I aided them in registering voters for the November 2010 elections. We did this during football games, during lunch at school, and at back to school night. Sometimes we had computers for the people to register online and other times we just had the paper forms, both methods were simple and we stated that when trying to get parents and students to register. Secondly, we informed individuals about the DVDUSD district override. We let them know that passing the override would not result in a tax raise, but that it would keep the funds for the schools that we currently had. It was quite surprising to see how many voters didn’t know about the override at all. Lastly, I helped organize, advertise, and put into action a political panel at Boulder Creek High School. The hardest part was getting the politicians to commit to a date for the panel. In the end we had two actually come and stay for the actual panel. Pat Flickner and Teri Conrad two Democratic choices for State Senate and the State House of Representatives were the two to stay. We also had Lori Klein, the Republican choice for State Senator, come in and leave shortly after, stating that there was a Republican committee meeting that she and the other Republican political party members had to attend. We also created fliers that we passed out during football games, and put on cars in the parking lot to advertise our panel.

            Along with helping the political club at school with the elections, I also went to a homeowners meeting for the people of Anthem. At the meeting they discussed a new project that they wanted to begin. They want to create a main street in Anthem where residents can go to shop and walk all around the old-time feeling area. This would be approximately a quarter mile long and it would be very cozy. It was also very interesting to discover how excited they seemed to have teens at their meeting. One of the leaders was ecstatic to get a younger point of view on the matters. I really liked the ideas but I understand the criticisms that it will cost quite a bit and it will take a very long time before these renovations can occur. I feel I was really able to understand the political community more so after this project.