Month: December 2021

This blog is about the second extra credit opportunity I attended, the Zoom session with Andrew Yang.

This links back to the other blog I wrote, specifically about minorities in leadership positions. To start off, no matter the political affiliation, I was happy to see an Asian representative running for a Presidential position. While I think America has a long way to go until it votes for an Asian president, if it does ever, it is still encouraging to see people trying. Yang was also a really funny presenter. I found myself occasionally smiling or laughing when he was talking.

I agree with what he said in that the two party system is driving us towards a “civil war”. This creates an us vs. them system, and especially in the past few elections, people are more divided than ever, and are less willing to listen to each other. It already has caused so much disruption and violence in our country. Especially with the election of 2020, I feel like we got pushed to the extremes. It is so sad how much people have been directed to hate people of the other party, regardless of whether they may or may not actually agree with them and if they want to vote for a bipartisan bill. Diversity is important within a political party! I am interested to see when my generation makes up the majority of the voting body how that will impact the Democrat vs. Republican party dynamics. There has been a surplus of hate in the past 5 year towards people of color, and having both parties divided instead of unified did not help anyone. I feel like we are a more progressive generation, which I am proud of, and I would like to believe that some of the policies that have been passed lately and the mindsets that have been apparent lately would not stand right with us.

I also agree that social media is not always the best when it comes to politics. On one hand, it spreads information quickly, which can be good, but on the other hand it spreads information quickly, which can be bad. I know I pay attention to the news, but not as much as my parents might. On TikTok or Twitter, I’ll see something trending politically, and that is a quick and efficient way for me to get my information, as long as it is from credible sources. Also, with cancel culture, specifically from my generation which may not be the majority of the current voting body, if a politician says one wrong thing it can wreck them and/or their career.

Some other things he talked about that I agree with…it is sad that our standard of living has gone down, while our standing of living has gone up economically. Especially with the worldwide pandemic, so much is changing rapidly and not everyone can adjust quickly. I also believe in terms limits, that our country is governed by fear, and that we need change.

This blog is about the first extra credit opportunity I attended, the panel.

I have never been to a political panel like this before, so it was something new. Granted, I did not speak but it was interesting to hear other people speak, especially local people from the area. Sometimes it is easy to forget that there are active communities here that are not just made of college students. I wonder how our community impacts their community, or if it has an impact at all on their political community. I know when we were being informed in class on it, Hastings Hall in East was its own thing or something like that? It would make sense for State College to be grouped as one district; while I do not live here and I voted for my home county, I see the validity of keeping this area together. I was surprised that many of the speakers had a script as well, but they sounded very professional and informed.

I agree that densely populated areas should be kept together. That would make sense for any city, like Philadelphia or New York City. Now the question is if different areas of the city have clear political divides, but that was the whole point of the panel, to decide how areas should be split. I think if you grouped areas together by majority, it may pressure people of the opposite political affiliation to move, but if every area was on the fence about majority, that would be tough for politicians to campaign everywhere. Also, depending on the population, if it is like 500 people compared to 5,000, obviously there may be a difference.

I also agree that minorities should be represented more. I say this not just in terms of politics but in all terms of leadership. Just like in a movie when the director is a person of color, they can tell stories their way, and have more peoples’ stories be told. Obviously everyone’s story is different, but especially when it comes to policies that may affect minorities more severely, having representation in political leadership positions is critical. Also in terms of gender, women should be represented more, as well as the LGBTQ+ community, but I think we are definitely moving in the right direction. Politics affect everyone, but they affect everyone differently. However, only having one narrative be told ignores everyone else.

I wish that students would be more educated on things like this; while some people may not be interested, we are developing young citizens, and I feel like we will be expected to know this when we graduate, how the political system works, how our area is organized, etc. Our generation needs to know the importance of voting, and how to actually vote. Especially with the past few elections, each vote counts. While I do not think I would go to another panel necessarily, I thought it was very informative about general political processes and it was a good opportunity to attend.