As we enter the fifth week of Political Science 1100, there is something you should know about the class. It serves two purposes: 1) to teach you the structure of your government, how it became the way it is, and give you reasons to get involved and 2) to confuse you until you figure out what you really believe about politics.
There is a saying that is far too often quoted for my taste. It is "Never talk about religion or politics." The reason these two subjects are often avoided in mixed company is because both involve very personal and sometimes controversial feelings. But, if we avoid these subjects forever, we will go throughout life without purpose or direction. There is also a couple of sayings that go something like this: "If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything," or "If there is nothing valuable enough to fight for, you must not value anything."
That's where this class comes in particularly handy.
Although I can't do much for you in the area of religion, I can help you form your own political points of view. Interestingly, I have very little if anything to do with it. All I do is facilitate a class for three hours a week where I let you explore your own feelings about tough issues like abortion, civil rights, immigration, judicial review, taxes, and government involvement in your lives. You do the rest.
As you ponder and allow some ideas to marinate in your minds and hearts, you will find an almost religious conviction of the truthfulness or falsehood of tough issues. I suggest you open your minds to the possibilities that you might be wrong. It's amazing what you learn when that happens.
So, in the end, this class will have done one of two things: strengthened the ideas you had at the beginning of this class so much that there is no more doubt OR confused the hell out of you, which is also just as good. As you meander through your confusion with an open mind, you will refine your points of view. You will pick up nuggets of truth that will eventually shape your personal political doctrine. Funny thing, though. The more you seek for the truth, the more it will be challenged. Be prepared to defend it because an idea that can't stand up to scrutiny in the light of day isn't much of an idea.
My personal political journey is still ongoing. My points of view are constantly being challenged and refined. I'm always finding my views shift depending on the knowledge I allow myself to gain. A little advice, let change happen in your search for political truth. You will be a better informed citizen and a truer American.
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7 comments:
I can definitely understand the reason why religion is avoided in class discussions, but I really think it would be beneficial not only to myself & others. It's not that if we avoid this subject forever we would go through life without purpose or direction but it would give others a good perspective.
I really look forward to this class & quite honestly I feel like this is the only class that I'm taking this semester that is keeping me on my toes. I'm excited to strengthen the ideas I have - hopefully not be more confused at the end of semester because at this point I'm trying to find where I stand.
I liked this post because it explains alot of what i'm going through. I started this class HATING politics i was bored even mentioning politics and I figured I was going to vote for Obama because "he seemed like a nice guy".
However this class has challenged the way i think and I have formulated a few different ideas. Politics actually aren't as boring as i assumed, i just never took the time to try and understand anything about them. Second thing I discovered, I have no clue anymore who I am voting for!
Well ive been watching the blogs for this last week and this morning decided to post a comment on this one. I love this class im excited to come every week i actually wish that we had it a couple times a week. I dont have much to say in class because for my whole life ive kind of gone by the saying "Never talk about politics and religion" so that landed me in a spot of not knowing a whole lot about the whole system especially current affairs. The religion thing is a bit different but i dont need to get into that. Ive actually learned a lot and like amy said at first i was going to vote for obama because he seemed like the better choice but that debate we had a couple of weeks ago where we split the class into thirds depending on who they were voting for has changed the way i look at it and now i dont really know who to vote for. Anyway im kind of rambling on but i also wanted to say thanks for loving what you do and being so involved with the class and with your government.
As a student and learning more and more all the time about what my views are on such a topic such as politics I'm glad i am able to come to a classroom setting and learn from others. My views for sure change just as all of you. I am always confused and have yet to find out what my stance is on politics. although I can say that i learn a lot while in the classroom but just get that much more confused on what I think about such a topic.
I'm really glad that I am put in the situation to talk about such things. Its not all the time that i get to I talk about politics. I know that this class is serving it's purpose for me. What a great experience!
I've been excited to come to this class as well. I’m definitely learning a lot in this class and am glad to have Matt as the teacher. I admit that I was apprehensive to take this class, thinking that it would be a class that I would not like. I am glad that was not the case here.
I have been having a hard time finding something that I want to comment on in this website. So I do have a suggestion about some things that could be posted on this website. In each chapter of the book there is a section across the top of the book called “At Issue.” I have found their “For Critical Analysis” to raise some good questions…Questions I have been interested in answering. If that is something that could be posted each week or so, that would be awesome.
Far to many people abide by the "never talk about religon or politics" motto. I can see where some are coming from on this, but i do not feel that is beneficial attitude. I feel it is healthy to agrue, and what better way to argue than other religon or politics. I really never pull any punches I call it like i see it, we get Obama in office and the democratic party back running things. Why anyone would vote republican after the past eight years is just beyond me, look at all the economic problems we are having, that is reason enough to vote democratic. But anyway i think this class is amazing, its actually my favorite is only three hours a week and i wish it was longer. Because the heated discussions are so stimulating for me. I think we as a society should talk about religion and politics much more.
In my family we have always steered away from talking about religion and politics. However I have noticed a difference in the last few years as me and my siblings get older. I think this class has definitely helped further that progress because it has helped me to be more aware of what is going on. Every morning the first thing I do is look at all different kinds of political and news internet sites and it has made me more interested in how my friends and family feel about different things that are going on in our country. I think everyone should take a class like this because it serves the purpose of getting more people involved in politics and hopefully their own communities. I would recommend it to anyone!
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