In this podcast, Georgetown University public policy professor, E.J. Dionne speaks about his perspectives of empathy in our current democratic society. In the podcast, he introduces the topic by speaking about the consequences of recent political polarization and the dangers that stemmed from it. He then went on to explain how those effects culminated in the Trump administration. However, the main topic of his podcast spoke about how it would be possible to get us back to an empathetic society where we were many years ago. How do we take advantage of the climate and reaction to the Trump administration and become more proactive about it?

To start, Dionne speaks about his work during the months leading up to the midterm elections of 2018. Dionne called for “a partisan response to achieve a non-partisan goal in returning a sense of legitimacy to our politics”.  He claimed that, within the scope of the midterms, the Republican candidates were far too “right-leaning”, thus setting a converse with the democratic candidates. But at the same time, he noted that through historical data, a massive shift can be seen in general public support of the democratic party, now towards the Republican party. He mentioned how this change was likely the cause of dissatisfaction within the American populace and their efforts at sending a message. Instead of blaming this type of ugly reaction on pure bigotry, he asserts that the root cause of the issue was the idea that the same political party that provided the civil rights laws and voter rights acts is now unable to act or acts on a very poor scale.

Something else that was talked about was what the standpoint was of conservatives that were not necessarily aligned with Trump but still supported the conservatives ideas. Dionne mentioned that it was worth remembering that, back in the 2016 election, over fifty percent of college-aged, white men actually voted for Trump. How do we turn that around in the next election cycle?

Another idea that Dionne brought up that I thought was particularly interesting was how the Trump administration actually had more of a positive effect on government and politics than initially intended. He states that the number of people, who were originally uninvolved in politics, that was riled up to join this “Anti-Trump” movement will allow a more pressing retaliation in the next cycle. He joked that President Trump didn’t actually damage our democracy, but may have accidentally saved it in a way that was unintended at first.

All in all, I really enjoyed this podcast. Dionne did an excellent job at presenting an idea that, while controversial, is also worth listening to, especially with the 2020 presidential election coming up. Personally, I will take what I have learned from this and try to apply it to thinking about future political participation. I think that making a good voting choice is not only about staying informed, but about making an on-the-spot decision that is creatively secure too. I hope that this idea is shared more around the internet for the next few months.

On Tuesday, March 19th, Democratic presidential candidate, Beto O’Rourke, visited the University Park Campus to advocate for his presidential campaign. He addressed an audience of over 500-hundred people at Heritage Hall over topics in gun control, immigration policy, and healthcare. Unfortunately, due to the size and scope of the event, I wasn’t able to get myself in the best seat or position to watch. However, I was able to find a little riser in a corner to stand on and tried to listen and observe to as much of his speaking as I could. I wanted to use this opportunity to see what qualities make an effective public speaker and captivating public figure.

During his address, I took the time to try to identify some of Beto’s quirks or strategies that make him such a compelling public speaker and popular democratic candidate. One of the most obvious things that stood out to me was his sporting of a Nittany Lion baseball cap. As someone who is both an advocate and candidate for public office, I now recognize that it is important to be able to establish immediate amicability and rapport with your audience. It’s probably also important to adjust the method of building rapport so that it is appropriate for your audience. I think that Beto and his campaign team took the time to identify and recognize the power of school spirit and the young student body here at Penn State and capitalized on that fact through wearing the baseball cap.

Additionally, something else that Beto and his campaign made sure to do was establish a good public relations base. He made sure that he had only the best and friendliest relationship with Penn State students. Each mini interaction he had with students, whether it was a handshake or a high-five, continuously added to his credibility. The effect of this was a rage of social media posting and blurbing that, through the power of the internet, spread at a commensurate rate.

Finally, I want to write a bit about his style of speaking and rhetorical skills that makes him such a captivating person. Whenever Beto speaks, he strategically analyzes his sentences and knows exactly what topics and words get people excited. Therefore, he recognizes when to purposefully accent certain words and slow his speech so that the most emotionally powerful phrases are the clearest. This video is an excellent example of that!

As a political science major and an aspirant for a field in government and politics, I think that this experience really taught me a lot about presenting yourself as a public figure and running for public office. In RCL this year, we spent a lot of time learning how to best present ourselves to a public audience so that we may interest them and get them to think. However, I know believe that when it comes to public speaking and advocacy, there is no replacement for pure experience. I hope that in my future years here at Penn State, I will be able to better present my ideas and arguments in any given situation.

Review for Capturing the Nation’s Mood podcast, Democracy Works, December 6, 2018

In this episode podcast of Democracy Works, we get a lot of insight into the emotional effects that politics has on the American people. This specific podcast states that people’s political emotions are gauged on a scale of 4 separate topics Anger, pride, worry, and hope.

The podcast first begins speaking on the topic of anger. In this section, there is a lot of focus on the style of aggressive and antagonistic arguing between people with polarized political ideologies. An example of this that the podcast uses is the relationship between young liberals and older conservatives. The podcast claims how the two opposite groups tend to argue without any regard for either side, which, in turn, creates lackluster political improvement. Additionally, the podcast speaks to a lack of true communication in political discourse. The example the podcast uses is the Fred Rogers testimonial before the Senate Committee. The speaker stated that in this testimonial, the chief legislator offered a lot of polite questioning and discussion with Mr. Rogers. She tells us that if this style of reasonable discourse is incorporated into everyday government and people were less quick to judge and were less dismissive, much less gridlock would potentially occur.

The next section that comes into play is pride. A main point of pride that is brought up is the sense of durability our current governmental system has. The idea that there are systems of checks and balances for each political branch and that no singular individual can hold fundamental power for far too long is, in many ways, a sense of pride. Something that is actually pretty funny was the idea that, in most polls asking about pride, most Americans cannot explicitly say what exactly makes them proud of their nation even though there is so much to be proud of. The civic engagement that Americans partake in, is something that we as Americans should be proud of specifically. No other nation has the same type of civic engagement, participation, and love for the community that the United States has.

Worry was the next section that was discussed. In this specific podcast, “worry” was defined as anything that causes unease to American citizens. One panelist mentions that he was worried that Americans take their civil liberties for granted. he believes that if democracy is not valued and cultivated enough, it may not necessarily sustain and improvement cannot be made. Worry can also be seen in the type of disengagement of citizens. People, when they come across opinions they do not agree with, tend to hide and forget instead of working with it.

The final section that was discussed was hope. Hope is a topic that I personally believe is most pertinent to us as Americans at the moment. With current political officials driving policies that are against certain interests, one cannot help but try to remain hopeful that things will change for the better and that our people, Americans, will come together for a united cause.

All in all, this was an interesting conversation to listen to, especially considering that it is my first political podcast. I am especially inspired by the fact that many of the speakers were Penn State faculty that I hope to one day be able to meet and have a discussion with.

Lion Bash was, without a doubt, one of the first large-scale university events I attended as a freshman. I recall hearing about it in one of the new student pamphlets that were presented to us upon arriving at the school.

I was amazed by the size and scope of LionBash. I came from a small suburban town to the southeast of Pennsylvania and was not really accustomed to seeing an entire community come together for one event. I spent the first half-hour or so walking up and down Allen street just observing the stands and tables that were displayed in those three blocks or so. One of the first things I noticed was how many university-based organizations and clubs there were. Throughout the day, I saw multiple performing arts, service, interest, and political student groups recruiting and sharing their ideas and opinions with the public. A group that, in particular, caught my eye was an organization that dressed up as fictional characters such as superheroes and fairytale characters to spend time with children with terminal diseases at medical institutions. Seeing the amount of passion that the group had was a clear indication that Penn State was the school for me.

Additionally, the politics-based interest groups that I saw also caught my attention. Though I was not a very politically involved high school student, politics-based groups that I saw at LionBash helped present me with a new perspective in aspects of American Politics. For example, until LionBash, I was not completely aware of “Gerrymandering” as a term. Though in high school, we were briefly taught terminology and definitions for the word, I never really saw it come onto play until LionBash. Having “Gerrymandering” explained to me and demonstrated on a map helped me solidify my understanding of the term and realize its influence in political elections and how it resonates as a negative aspect of American politics.

Finally, something that I saw that day that inspired me the most was the public service groups that came out to become more involved with the communities that they served. A prime example of this was a presentation by the Centre County fire department division that services the area surrounding Penn State. Throughout our daily lives, we never really stop to think about and appreciate all the hard work and sacrifices of the men and women working in fields of public service. That day, I saw a group of 4 firemen sing a song for the public at the LionBash event. Seeing the smiles and pure sense of enjoyment on people’s faces, I understood that the event’s true purpose was to help strengthen the relationships of the community as a whole.

Caricature done at LionBash