The blog assignment for Monday is:
Do the quiz located at http://www.isidewith.com/ before reading the articles. Is the result what you expected? After reading the articles what is one thing that you learned about each candidate? Did any of the platforms really surprise you? Did having the information about each candidate change your ideas of who to vote for? Include at least one topic for which you feel extremely passionate about and explain how that influences your decision of who you support.
The reading assignment for Monday is:
http://www.isidewith.com/
http://www.ontheissues.org/
http://change.gov/agenda/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/
http://www.treehugger.com/
http://www.lp.org/platform
http://www.lp.org/states/
http://www.lp.org/issues/
http://www.gp.org/committees/
Do the quiz located at http://www.isidewith.com/ before reading the articles. Is the result what you expected? After reading the articles what is one thing that you learned about each candidate? Did any of the platforms really surprise you? Did having the information about each candidate change your ideas of who to vote for? Include at least one topic for which you feel extremely passionate about and explain how that influences your decision of who you support.
The reading assignment for Monday is:
http://www.isidewith.com/
http://www.ontheissues.org/
http://change.gov/agenda/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/
http://www.treehugger.com/
http://www.lp.org/platform
http://www.lp.org/states/
http://www.lp.org/issues/
http://www.gp.org/committees/
Firstly, I want to thank the group and say that I really liked this quiz to determine how one stands on the political spectrum, and more specifically with whom one most likely stands for the presidential election. I especially thought the feature where you could select “choose another stance” per question, and then there was a more in-depth answer/solution than just “yes” or “no”.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I was not surprised that I most closely identify with Barack Obama on social, economic, foreign policy, environmental, science, and immigration issues, for a total percentage of 84%. Jill Stein of the Green Party is the second-highest ranked candidate that I associate with, specifically of environmental, foreign policy, domestic policy, and healthcare issues.
One important issue that is important to me is abortion. I am pro-choice, as are Obama, Stein, and Anderson per the survey. I believe that abortion is a viable method of birth control, and although it should by no means be the primary method of birth control, is a medical practice with economic and social benefits. The growing world population scares me immensely, and the strain of the poorer classes on our economy is not something that we want to prolong. Stephen Levitt and Dubner’s novel Freakonomics, explores a hypothesis that cites the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade with the legalization of abortion to have helped reduce crime rates in the 20th and 21st centuries, due to the fact that less children were born into the high-crime-risk class of citizens.
Moreover, I identify with pro-choice because I think that it should be up to a woman and her personal choice whether or not to bring a child into this world, because accidents happen, birth control methods fail, and I would rather someone who isn’t completely ready or financial able to have a child, to not have one.
As a side note, I would like to include that although I support the Democratic Party and candidate on this specific issue, Romney is not completely against abortion as some people believe. He has been cited as stating that he is pro-life, except in the “cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother or child's health”.
On the quiz, I sided the most with Jill Stein (93%) and Barack Obama (89%). I also sided on several issues with Rocky Anderson (71%) and Gary Johnson (54%). I sided with Mitt Romney (24%) and Virgil Goode (9%) on no major issues. These results are pretty close to what I expected, as I have supported Obama over Romney on a vast variety of issues throughout the presidential race. One thing I found interesting in the articles was that the government is a greater polluter than oil companies, chemical companies, etc. This was a bit surprising at first, but the more I think about it, it seems to make sense. The government really does do a lot of things that harm the environment. Additionally, this pollution rate certainly will be affected by what candidate is elected. Most likely, Obama would implement more environmentally-friendly policies than Romney. Therefore, this pollution rate could go down with Obama and go up with Romney. The Green and Libertarian Party Platforms were not that surprising. As I expected, the Libertarians focused on individual liberty while the Greens focused on helping and protecting the environment. One topic that is very important to me is the issue of money for science. I believe that science is one of the most important things that the government has to fund. Without funding of science, increasing renewable energy and solving global warming are not possible. This is one of the main reasons why I support Obama. Obama is the pro-science candidate in this election, as he would support and fund scientific research to a much greater extent than Romney.
ReplyDeleteAfter taking the quiz my results weren’t very surprising for me; I side with Jill Stein on 85% of issues, President Obama 82%, Gary Johnson 63%, and Mitt Romney 30%. The result is what I expected because I would describe myself as a moderately liberal person with my most liberal views being on the environment and social issues. One thing I learned about Mitt Romney is that he doesn’t really support government investment in green jobs because he thinks we should just hope that they will somehow out-compete jobs dealing with cheaper fossil fuels on their own. Something I learned about President Obama is that he supports finally standing up to the fossil fuel industry; an example of this is when he blocked the potentially harmful and dangerous massive Keystone Oil Pipeline extension across multiple states in the heartland of America. None of the platforms surprised me because I am a very politically active and informed voter so I knew Mitt Romney has openly mocked environmentalism and climate change and that his administration would work to allow businesses to do whatever they pleased to the environment in the name of economic growth; I also knew that President Obama has a far from perfect energy plan but that it is vastly more sustainable than Mitt Romney’s. A topic which is very important to me is marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. This topic is important for me because as a gay American I see no reason why I am not entitled to the same rights as everyone else simply because of who I am and who I love. On this issue only one candidate, President Obama, has stood up as an advocate of LGBT equality by voicing full support for marriage equality and repealing the discriminatory policy of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” in our nation’s military. Mitt Romney on the other hand openly supports writing discrimination into our nation’s constitution and he is an avidly proud opponent of gay rights and equality. I support President Obama fully and I proudly cast my vote for him on October 19th in my home state of North Carolina, here’s to hoping we can celebrate four more years of moving America FORWARD this week by re-electing President Barack Obama!
ReplyDeleteI was slightly surprised by my results when I took this quiz because my results were different from the previous times I took it. Previously, I had most strongly sided with Gary Johnson, but this time he wasn't even in my top 3. My results were 92% Romney, 74% Virgil Goode and 67% Barack Obama. I was very surprised I sided with Obama 67% but after reading what I agreed with him on, I found that they were issues that both Romney and Obama shared a similar stance on.
ReplyDeleteSome things I learned from the articles:
Obama vows to ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
On the topic of emissions, Romney stated, "I side with states to be able to make their own regulations with regards to emissions within their own states. I side with states being able to make their own decisions, even if I don’t always agree with the decisions they make." I think this could be a wise choice because I first of all support devolution and giving more power to the states rather than the national government, and also, the states would likely have stricter regulations on emissions in their own states than the federal government's regulations because they have to breath the air they live in.
I really like the isidewith.com quiz. I have taken it before and it definitely helps me think about some issues I either wouldn't know existed or wouldn't take a stance on. I already knew who I was voting for, but the quiz has been very beneficial in making me more politically aware on the stances of the President and other candidates - especially the third parties who are often overlooked.
One issue I feel strongly about is progressive tax rates. I do not believe that the wealthy should be taxed at a significantly higher rate. This is not at all because I don't think the poor need help or that we shouldn't be generous with our money, but my issue is that those who give 38% (wow!) of their income to the government do not get to decide where that money goes. If those people could keep a percentage of their money they could decide what charities or causes they would like to support. Their money in the government may go towards off-shore drilling, but an environmentalist may wish they had rather had that money to donate to a pro-environment cause, such as CVSC. I also have an issue with the progressive tax rates because those considered "wealthy" are actually in what everyone calls the "middle class". Candidates constantly talk about supporting a "strong middle class", yet they tax them as if they were the wealthiest. Someone who only makes $42,000 a year is taxed at a rate of 25.2% - that is $10,500 a year paid to the government, I think taxes should be lowered, not because I think we shouldn't support a government, but because that money would go back to the economy which could help without the need for excessive government regulation to the economy. I believe in supporting and helping others, but I do not believe any government should take 30% of it's citizens income.
If we are in the group doing the presentation would you like us to do the blog as well?
ReplyDeleteYou can get your 2 points by replying to two of your classmates posts or writing one of your own
DeleteI would say I was moderately surprised by my results. I sided with Obama on environmental and foreign policies which I put as more important to me. I sided with Romney however on domestic policy and healthcare issues. I think my biggest problem with this quiz was personal. I feel like I do not have enough information from enough non- biased sources to give me all sides of the issue before I take an emphatic stance. I agree with Obama's theories on environmentalism at face value but am not sure how they can be fully realized without some drastic economic growth. I cannot see how the admirable goals that Obama has set for energy consumption can be reached while banks are still gun shy from the 2008 crisis and Americans lack the capital and technology to make his promises pan out. I did not know that Obama added so much territory to the national parks and wilderness programs either. I found the article about the government's pollution very interesting. There are a lot of Libertarian concepts that I find too unrealistic and idealistic, but this article argued against government logically. The Green Party platforms did not surprise me, but I struggle to see how it can be applied within our developed world.
ReplyDeleteI feel strongly about the criticisms about how the 2008 recession was dealt with. I think too many people speak against the bail outs before really understanding the big picture and the chaos that would have ensued without them. Many radical Republicans wanted to get rid of Ben Bernanke because of his decisions, but his innovation and willingness to see long term ultimately saved the American economy.
When I took this quiz, I expected the result I got. I am a supporter of the Green Party. After reading the articles, I learned about Romney that he believes our food system is one of the best in the world, an opinion of which I completely disagree with. I think, as a majority, the American food system has much room for improvement. I was also surprised to learn that Romney wants to build a natural gas system. I didn’t think Romney really cared about the environment. I was aware of Obama’s support of green energy and investing in green companies, but I was quite disappointed to learn that Obama supports nuclear power and also that he wants to construct the Alaska Natural Gas Pipeline. This definitely put Mr. Obama into a different light for me. It was, on the other hand, a pleasant surprise to find that Obama is in support of the “de-development” of the U.S. I think it is important for our leader to see how greedy we Americans are in comparison to the rest of the world. I didn’t know much about Stein beforehand, but one thing I learned is her goal of having 100% renewable energy by 2050, a goal of which I am completely in support of. As for Libertarianism, their idea that all people can govern themselves is beautiful, but they are too idealistic and unrealistic. I also can’t help but disagree with their policy that the U.S. shouldn’t interfere in other worldly affairs. The U.S. certainly shouldn’t turn into a dictator, but if another incident such as the holocaust occurred, I’d like to think that our government would step in to put a stop to such atrociousness.
ReplyDeleteI am passionate about energy and where it comes from. My vote will go to the candidate who isn’t in support of dirty energy, who doesn’t promote nuclear power, and who isn’t turning a blind eye to such atrocities such as mountaintop removal. My vote will go to someone who is willing to invest in a healthier, cleaner environment. I do think this assignment has changed the candidate I will vote for. Regardless of whether my candidate of choice has no chance of winning the election, it is my civil duty to vote for who I believe will make the right choices for a healthier world.
I took the quiz on who do you side with and I was not surprised. It said that i agree the most with President Obama , agreeing with his platform 82 percent. This does not surprise me because as a poli sci major I have previously done political research and I voted for him in this election. Something I feel very passionately about that i support is stem cell research. Through amazing technological advancements, the use of stem cells have aided in finding cures and saving the lives of millions. Through the continued use of stem cells we have the possiblity of one day finding a cure to cancer and other deadly diseases. It bothers me when people argue that stem cell research is murder due to the use of embryos and growing tissue. Its saves lives, doesnt end them. One thing i learned about Jill Stein is that she wants a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2050. I found out that Romney thinks states could be able to control their own emissions regulations. I was surprised to find out how environmentally savy Obama is after reading the article about his war on cheap energy. This supports my decision to vote for him even more, and Im glad that I did. I look forward to finding out the results on tuesday.
ReplyDeleteAfter taking the quiz, my result was somewhat what I expected. I regret to say that I have not been very informed about this election and the ideas of each candidate, but doing this assignment has helped me with that. I figured I’d side more on the democratic side, but I wasn’t sure because I was not confident on the stance of the candidates on each issue. According to the quiz, I identified closest with Obama on a number of issues. My results were 82% Democratic and 76% Green. Most of my issues identified the closest with Obama. I would consider myself to be a liberal person, especially in regards to the environment, so my results were partially expected. One thing I learned about Romney is that he plans to update the Clean Air and Water Acts. He finds them important, but not completely relevant right now, as some approaches have become out of date. I learned that both Obama and Romney plan to increase the use of nuclear energy and speed up the licensing process. Obama also is concerned with developing clean coal rather than eliminating it as Stein plans to. Stein has strong opposition to things that would harm the environment, such as the Keystone XL pipeline, offshore drilling, and favoring 100% renewable energy. With her, the lines seem much more definite between what she supports and what she does not care to even associate with. The Libertarian Platform surprised me in the sense that most was new to me. I was previously not very aware of what the Libertarian Party was or what it supported/opposed, so this was very helping in learning more about that specific political party. The way their Statement of Principles in their Platform is written makes it seem as if it’s difficult for the party to truly decide on anything. The Libertarian Party does not have an clear-cut yes or no lines, but rather simply emphasizes personal freedom and a decrease in the presence of government. Reading this information did not change my mind on who I planned to vote for, but it increased my knowledge of the issues at stake to give me more of a reason to vote for my candidate choice. One issue that I am passionate about is the Keystone XL Pipeline, mostly because my economics teacher used to mention it every day in class. I believe that protecting our wildlife is important, and I am a strong advocate for green energy and making the transition to using only renewable resources. I do not think establishing the Keystone XL Pipeline will be necessary if we do not rely on oil as much as we do. Obama’s opposition to the pipeline is one of the reasons I think I will support Obama on election day.
ReplyDeleteYou talked about the Libertarian party having no "clear cut guidelines". If they were to be elected, how do you feel it would hurt or help our country as a whole?
DeleteI was not very surprised with my quiz results. I sided with Romney 72% on immigration, domestic policy, healthcare, and foreign policy issues, and Jill Stein 66% on environmental, science, and healthcare issues. I had 62% on Gary Johnson on foreign policy and science issues, and 60% with Barack Obama on environmental, healthcare, and science issues. Although I agree mostly with the side of republican, there are some things that I am liberal about. My family are all strictly republican, except for my sister and I, but I like the fact that our views differ and we have our own political standpoint and thoughts. I really liked that the website would offer you different answers to the question if none were best suited for you. This let you really answer the question truthfully and more accurately. I think it is great that Mitt Romney is wanting to modernize the clean air and water acts. It is also great that Obama is wanting to design and create a new energy plan for America that will also provide new jobs. Learning more about the candidates did not change my mind on who I am voting for. I do not completely agree with Obama on Obama care and that is partially why I chose to side with Romney. It is something that I feel strongly about because my family is impacted by it. I have a disabled uncle who needs healthcare and can not afford it. Then I have a cousin who is on food stamps yet we know she does not need to be and she is just using the system.
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for your republican upbringing and influence of family members, do you feel like you would be more open and accepting of Obama and willing to conform to his changes?
DeleteI was not too surprised at the results of this quiz; I had taken different quizzes before and gotten a similar outcome. I have only followed a bit of this presidential election, and the only two names I knew of were Obama and Romney. That's why I was a bit confused when my results showed that I sided pretty evenly with Barack Obama and Jill Stein. I have never even heard of Jill Stein before, but apparently she's a part of the Green party, who's stand on certain issues I agree with. I agree with my results though, and support issues on both Obama's side and Stein's side. In my Government and Economics class I took last year I took quizzes and did a bit of research to find out that I am a Libertarian, and that still holds true until today, there's not really another platform that I agree with more. I had done research on most of the platforms before, so none of the info really surprised me. As for who I am going to vote for; I knew who I wanted to be president before doing this blog, and nothing has really changed my decision. I am not really "extremely passionate" about any certain issue, but I do have strong feelings towards protecting the environment, and that's why I agree with a fair amount of what the Green Party believes in. I want to stop the use of dirty energy, and I will pleased with any president who makes an effort to do something about that.
ReplyDeleteYou said you wanted to stop the use of dirty energy, which is what Romney is the polar opposite of. Although you may side with Obama, are there any Romney views you find convincing?
DeleteAfter taking this quiz my results where very surprising. I am 87% with both jill stein and gary johnson. Which is funny becuase i never have heard of them before. we share the same view on key issues like on enviromental, immigration. social, and economic issuses. Originaly i was going to vote for obama, but now im to sure. especially if i have more in common with others. One thing i learned is how strong of a stance obmama takes on green issues. He is considered to be a "mean green" He reallys takes a stance on finding inexpensive energy. one problem though with giving america cheap energy, is like giving " an idiot child a machine gun." Which is very true to me, if we could have cheap and and abundannce of energy it would get a crazy. Basicly if one wants to have an energy source such as coal this individual will be cahrged a great deal of money because of all the green house gasses. Which is smart because this way itmakes people see for them selves that this itnot the right way to go about energy,. He added two million acres to land that cant be drilled. He blocked american oil rigs in the gulf. This actually convienced me that i still want to vote for obama becuase i believe that finding an alternatinve energy source is our countries next biggest problem. For our economy, and for our planet. i think that the next presedent needs to do something major about this issues. and obama seems to have a good handle on it.
ReplyDeleteDo you feel as if charging an individual a great deal for coal would have a severe back lash?
DeleteAfter taking this quiz I was shocked by the results. For this project, I selected Mitt Romney to outline and cover, simply because my entire family are Republicans, so I am very influenced. The results from the quiz show that I side 88% with Obama and only 59% with Romney. Jill Stein and Gary Johnson both fell in between the two with 74% and 73% respectably. This was surprising to me because before the start of this project, I had never heard of the two and now I seem to be more alike them than I realized. This quiz was an eye opener to me, because I just assumed that I would side with my family and like Romney, so I never fully investigated on my own. I regret not researching this topic or even taking this quiz earlier because I already sent in my absentee ballot and I feel as if my vote may have been very different if I was better educated on the issues at hand and had more time to reflect on them. One issue that is very important to me is gay marriage. I have a lot of gay cousins and family friends, so it is only right that I want justice for them. I know Obama is pro-marriage so that makes me like him alot more.
ReplyDeleteI was very excited to be involved with this specific group teaching project, and found the material very helpful in my own political decision making. It was great to have direct knowledge on all the candidates before my first time voting. It was also perfect timing to discuss the platforms of various presidential candidates the day before a very critical time in our country for all of us-Election Day. The quiz was an amazing way to grasp a better idea of where one stands in terms of social, medicinal, and financial policies in our country as well as how the country should handle foreign affairs. My results from the quiz were mildly expected, but a few things did seem peculiar to me. First, I figured I was more of a Democrat than a Republican which coincided with the high percentage results I got for Barack (85%). Secondly, I knew I’m a Libertarian because of my prior research in political ideologies, but the rate I got was relatively high also, (89%). Some rates that caught me off guard were my similar opinions with Mitt Romney, and not having as much in common with the Green Party as I expected. I expected to have plenty in common with Jill Stein and less with Mitt Romney, but this quiz showed me I am not for all democratic/liberal views; which is why I scored similarly with Romney on a few issues. I’m not a Romney fan and his platform kind of surprised me, because of the self-interested policies he wanted to implement. I feel very passionate about switching the types of energy we use in America, while also not exploiting the oil that we already have located. I feel that Romney does not share the same passions, and this quiz gave me his platform displayed so that I could see it for what it is worth.
ReplyDeleteI am a political science major so taking the quiz did not surprise me. I have always been very moderate in my thinking. I tend to be more conservative with foreign policy, economics, and issues such as gun control. However, when it comes to social justice and environment I tend to lean more towards the left. Because of this my quiz said that I agreed almost equally with the platforms of Obama and of Romney. Because of my moderation it has been difficult in deciding who to vote for. As far as green values go I feel as though neither of the candidates have true plans. All of the candidates platforms focus on making the US more self sufficient, however many of them are not focused on renewable energy. The plan to convert to renewable energy is not truly in place. The idea sounds great but no candidate has outlined how they plan to take action. I am also really big on state government and believe that it is the responsibility of each citizen to educate themselves about their representatives. Therefore, I have found that my representatives such as congressman Joe Wilson and representative Chip Huggins have green ideals on the agenda, however they are not a priority for either of them. I believe that green issues need to become a priority or the damage being done to the Earth will become too great to deal with. I feel as though all of our politicians are doing too little and soon it will be too late.
ReplyDelete