Political views are a very diverse subject in which many people share the exact same and the exact opposite views. There has been a big surge in the news, recently, with the upcoming presidential election that is less than a year away. Rather than the typical affiliations as a Republican or Democratic Party that the United States has seen go toe to toe each election, there is a third growing group identified as the Independent Party. Additionally, there are currently 221 state representatives with affiliations to 39 different Parties (ballotpedia.org). Each party shares their own general beliefs while each core member may share some or all of their party’s beliefs showing the true diversity among people of the same citizenship.
There are many core values that each party has a stance on for topics such as economic ideas, military issues, gay marriage, abortion, and more. Some people use these stances as a basis on which to or not to identify with. For instance, the average Democrat would agree with decreases on military spending, support of gay marriage, oppose the death penalty, and support universal healthcare (diffen.com). Republicans would be the opposite on the aforementioned topics. This is where our cultural and personal diversity comes in to play. It is not uncommon to see a Democrat who is for an increase on military spending and is in support of abortion. Just because someone identifies with a particular party does not mean that they have to agree with everything that party believes in.
In our lesson we learned about deep-level diversity which “refers to differences that a person has acquired through learning” (worldcampus.com). People have the ability to identify with one party, no parties, or all the political parties. Someone who believes and values something can change their way of thinking through research, findings, cultural beliefs, religious beliefs, or personal experiences. For example, someone could be pro-choice (for abortion) but recently has a new found learning through religion and has changed their way of thinking to pro-life (anti-abortion). Sometimes through learning one’s personal beliefs may change or strengthen due to the experience.
Political views in America are filled with a large amount of diverse beliefs that can bring people together and force them apart. Although you may not personally agree with someone’s political views, respecting their opinion is crucial in order to maintain a relationship with that person. With the presidential election coming up, political views and opinions tend to be a hot topic for discussion in everyday life. This is a time were tensions can run high and feelings towards a belief can affect someone’s view of another. Understanding and being open-minded towards others is a key success in order to be a leader on a global scale.
References
Democrat vs Republican – Difference and Comparison | Diffen. (n.d.). Retrieved September 10, 2015, from http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican
Dr. Redman, B. (n.d.). OLEAD410: Leadership in a Global Context. Retrieved September 10, 2015, from https://courses.worldcampus.psu.edu/fa15/olead410/001/content/03_lesson/03_page.html
List of political parties in the United States – Ballotpedia. (n.d.). Retrieved September 10, 2015, from http://ballotpedia.org/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_States
I am not really into politics. Not at all actually, but having reading the political view of it all and interlinking diversity is quite a good read. I agree with the part of respcting their opinion is crucial as if you dont it will cause chaos. And intead of being together with different opinions, it will cause them to be apart with hatred for one another. And that is dissapointing as in my country “Egypt” politics can make wars between people here. But I guess its the media that really does that.