Blog #5

Welcome back to my blog, today we are going to talk about the elections and how candidates use evidence to communicate their point of view.

Voting is a linkage institution because it connects the citizens with the government by encouraging them to participate in the selection of governmental officials. Voters are usually influenced by factors such as political party identification, specific candidates and key issues. The election I chose to write about is Brian Kemp vs. Stacey Abrams. These two candidates are running for governor in the state of Georgia.

Candidate #1
(https://www.kempforgovernor.com/index.php)

The first candidate I will be talking about is Brian Kemp, who is affiliated with the Republican Party.

Some of the main issues this candidate cares about are immigration, specifically criminal aliens as he calls them, and lessen the regulations for small businesses. For the immigration issue, Kemp plans to track and deport "criminal aliens" from jails and prisons. He believes that  "deporting criminal aliens from the Peach State will certainly impact the opioid epidemic, curb sex trafficking, lower crime rates, and protect families from violence, we must stop gang violence and dismantle gang infrastructure to ensure a bright and promising future for hardworking Georgians." Regarding the business regulations, he believes that people should be spending more time working on their businesses than dealing with the government, and that is why regulations should be cut. Additionally, he opposes more gun control in the state of Georgia because he claims that no one can take away his rights.

In this video from Kemp's campaign, he does not argue anything specifically. Instead, he portrays his opponent, Stacey Abrams in a negative way by implying that her views on the same issues are incorrect. However, this article relates to Kemp's point of view as it shows that he, in fact, opposes immigration, gun control and the development of social programs as they raise taxes.


Candidate #2
(https://staceyabrams.com/)

The second candidate I will be talking about is Stacey Abrams, who is affiliated with the Democratic Party. Some of the main issues she cares about are affordable housing, gun safety, and equal rights. She believes that essential to ensure that every family has the freedom and opportunity to thrive and therefore, she wants to find solutions for housing. Regarding gun safety, she thinks that it is time for sensible gun policies that enable responsible ownership and keep firearms away from people who use them to harm other people. Finally, she believes everyone should have the same right no matter their sexual orientation and/ or immigration status in the country. She strongly opposes legislation that demonizes immigrant communities.

This is video from Abrams' campaign. This video pretty much argues about the issues that she cares about and how they need to be fixed. This video relates to her point of view on the issues as she is basically just expressing how she feels about certain issues, it shows her stances on the issues I previously mentioned and some other issues.

Now we are going to focus on two specific issues and compare and contrast how their differences are meaningful.

The first issue we are going to discuss is immigration. Stacey Abrams sees immigration and immigrants in a good way. She does not want to kick out immigrant communities, in fact, she believes immigrants should have the same the rights as everyone. She also believes that families should not be separated on the border. One of the reasons why she holds these beliefs is that she belongs to the Democratic Party, which is liberal. Liberals usually support immigration and promote equality.

On the other hand, Brian Kemp strongly opposes immigration and he believes that they are responsible for most of the issues that Georgia faces. He wants to track and deport undocumented people and believes that this would be the solution to significant issues.  One of the reasons that influence Kemp's stance on this issue is that he Represents the Republican Party, which lies to the conservative side. Conservatives usually oppose immigration. Although there is not a specific reason as to why they oppose it, part of it could be that conservatives do not like change, which is what immigration is doing as it changes the population.


The second issue we are going to discuss is gun control. Stacey Abrams does not oppose the second amendment; however, she believes that there should be certain regulations that prevent people from getting harmed. She believes that it is essential for people to feel safe and that the current state of gun control is not providing security to the people. The fact the Abrahams is a Liberal, influences the stance she has on this issue as Liberals believe that there is a need for laws that make it harder for people to own guns just so the risk of mass shootings.


However, Brian Kemp strongly opposes gun control because he believes it is a right that cannot be changed as it is in the constitution. He thinks that by having guns, security can improve because people can defend themselves than wait for the police to come.  This is a common ideology that Conservatives have, they value guns because most of the conservatives who support guns, grew up around guns, either by practicing hunting or other activity that involves the use of firearms. The opinion Kemp has regarding guns connects to his campaign because in multiple campaign videos he talks about how he will oppose any regulations that affect the second amendment.

Blog #4

Welcome back to my blog! In this episode, we are going to be talking about linkage institutions and the media.

The media is a linkage institution it connects the government to the people by holding them accountable, informing the people on what is going on with the government. The media affects the general public and the way they vote by covering or uncovering certain issues or candidates, the media can also choose how much it covers which affect the way people make their decisions to vote as the way they percept issues and the candidates is not 100% accurate.

The articles that I chose are from CNN  and Breitbart News. According to the Pew Research Center, CNN targets a more liberal audience and Breitbart News targets a more conservative audience.
The current event that I will be looking through these sources is the incident in the synagogue in Pittsburgh, where 11 Jews were killed.

CNN Artcicle
(https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/28/us/pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting/index.html )

This article talks about how the police found that the suspect Robert Bowers had a collection of weapons from previous posts on his social media. They also mention that he had been posting anti-semitic comments on the internet. It is also mentioned that the suspect was posting about trump before the incident happened and complained that the Jews were helping the central American caravans. The article then proceeds to talk about how the victims have been identified and that the gunman could face the death penalty. The article is convincing because it presents all the information about the incident such as the actions previous to the shooting, the aftermath, the victims and people who were affected as well as the consequences that the shooter will have to face.


This article seems slightly biased toward the left
as it mentions how the shooter had been posting about trump which basically forms a connection to him. This makes it a little biased as the article does not really tell what the gunman said about Trump, but just that he commented on something, which subconsciously makes people think that Trump had an impact on the shooter's acts. Another thing that could make it a little more biased to the left would be all the details that the article gives about the firearms used as most liberals are against guns which would emphasize in a way how the Republicans might be one of the cause why these incidents happen as they are pro-gun and do not really think could cause this much damage as it did to this Jew community in Pittsburgh. Something to take into consideration is that this article was written a week before the midterm elections which could be a reason why the authors decided to mention Donald Trump and give such many details regarding the guns used and the damage caused as it could be a strategy used to make the Republican side look bad as they usually support guns. One thing that the author could have added to strengthen the argument would be to add what the shooter commented about Trump because we do not actually know if what he supposedly was real or had any connection to trump, which makes it a bit untrustworthy.

Breitbart Article
(https://www.breitbart.com/news/11-slain-in-pittsburgh-synagogue-shooting-identified/)

This article talks about the incident in a very brief way, as it only states the most known facts such as the casualties, the firearms that were used to commit the crime. Most of it just gives basic information and the rest of the article basically talks about how Donald Trump has been supporting the people that were affected.

The article seems credible and convincing because it has lots of direct quotations from relevant people from the incident. One of the biases is that the article tries to make Donald Trump seem supportive as opposed to the CNN article, which makes him seem as if he had a certain impact on the motivation to commit the incident. Another thing I noticed is that this article does not mention much information about the firearms used, in fact, there is only one sentence that acknowledges that firearms were used and even then, the sentence does not provide much information which defers with the CNN article in which the firearms used are clearly stated and portrays the message that having guns is very negative. This article was written before the midterm elections happened which could have affected the way that it was written as the author probably wanted the positively represent the conservative side since the source lies on the right. It could have also affected the voters who were not sure who to vote for and if this article was the only one they could read then their point of view might have been changed. Something that the source could have added in order to make the source more credible would be to acknowledge the other side and maybe tell how Donald Trump did not have anything to do or impacted the suspect's motivation to commit such crime.

I usually get my news from NBC or USA Today, which are slightly biased toward the left. I believe that sources that are less skewed to either the right or the left are more credible because then they would not have as many biases as a conservative or liberal source would have. I think I make an effort to understand both sides of a given topic, and I usually do not trust the news unless I have done enough research or if I already have knowledge about the topic.

Blog #3

Welcome back to my blog! On this episode, I am going to be talking about interests groups and their views on a specific issue. I am going to be analyzing both Democrat and Republican interest groups.

I chose America's Voice for the Democrat side and Federation for American Immigration Reform for the Republican side. These two groups are involved in immigration, which as of right now, the subject has become very controversial. Right now there are multiple issues tied to immigration but the most prominent issues are the separation of families at the border as children are being separated from their families when they cross the border, and they are being put in cages.

America's Voices

The mission of this group is to harness the powers of American voices and values to enact policy change that guarantees full labor, civil and political rights for immigrants and their families. An artifact that shows the stand of this group is shown in this post by group: https://bit.ly/2Jj3Gcu

"Republicans control the White House, Congress, and the Supreme Court. Yet, Trump is blaming Democrats for the Republican failure to deal with this challenge in an intelligent and serious manner. In fact, over the past two years, Trump and his immigration advisor Stephen Miller made sure to blow up every serious effort to enact bipartisan immigration legislation. Instead, the centerpiece of Trump’s border policy has been to rip thousands of toddlers from their parents — a practice both immoral and ineffective. Now the Trump administration is gearing up to restart this dehumanizing and cruel policy."

This portion of the post shows the group's bias towards the Democrat side, which is not surprising. The post criticizes the decisions made by the Republican party by mentioning that they are the ones have control of the white house, thus making it seem like Democrat seats are not involved or do not agree with the current ideologies. The post also criticizes the effectiveness of the Republicans as they mention that even though they have been in control for over 2 years, they still fail to do the right solutions to issues. This group uses specific words to transmit the message to the public such as cruelty, immoral and ineffective. All of these words have a negative connotation, thus making the Republican party as an inadequate organization to be part of.

Federation for American Immigration Reform

The mission of this group is to seek to reduce overall immigration to a more normal level and allow America to manage growth, address environmental concerns, and maintain a high quality of life. FAIR puts the interests of American citizens and future generations ahead of big business and partisan demands. 

This video shows the groups bias towards immigration by sharing an anecdote of an immigrant woman whose son was killed by an undocumented immigrant. By sharing this video they are portraying the message that immigrants are only here to harm the country and other American citizens. However, the group does not really take into consideration that immigrants do have a positive impact too, one undocumented immigrant doing something improper, does not mean that all of the immigrants are seeking to harm the U.S. Showing only one side of the story makes this message biased to the Republican side as it is commonly known that Republicans have the ideology that immigrants are not good for the country. This group uses rhetoric devices such as pathos to present their message. By making a video of how an immigrant caused a tragedy and setting a sad mood, they expect the public to emotionally connect to their ideas and ultimately support them. 

The missions of these groups differ in a very evident way as the
The democratic group supports and believe in the idea that immigrants are good for the country, while the Republican group does not support immigrants as they cause harm and are criminals. The group that I resonate with is America's Voices because I agree with the idea that immigrants need to be supported and accepted by this country. I believe they deserve a chance to do something better. The reason why I do not agree with the other group is because I am an immigrant, and I know that I am not here nit harm the country but to contribute to it, and certainly there are more people like me who are doing nothing but good actions. There are actual statistics that show that more undocumented immigrants do not increase the rate of murders.

Blog #2

Welcome back to my blog! In this episode, we are going to be talking about political parties and concentrating on one political party to understand their ideologies.

Political parties connect the people to the government by presenting ideologies on different subjects and the response or solution the government should execute. People usually link to the government by identifying with a political party, e.x. Democratic Party, Republican Party. Political parties are an important linkage institution because these parties transfer the public's opinion to the government so that better decisions can be made according to the public interests.

The political party that I chose to write about is the Democratic, which is the party I connect to as it has liberal ideologies, and if you read my previous post, you probably know that I was rated s solid liberal. Some of the main beliefs of this party include raising incomes and restoring economic security for the middle class, create good paying jobs, fighting for economic fairness and against inequality, bringing Americans together, combatting climate change, and building a clean energy economy. This party differs with the ideologies presented by the right, some of the ideologies include immigration, gun control, and abortion.

An artifact that shows the point of view of this party is their opinion on immigration posted on their website, that reads "Democrats will fight to end institutional and systemic racism in our society. We will challenge and dismantle the structures that define lasting racial, economic, political, and social inequity. Democrats will promote racial justice through fair, just, and equitable governing of all public-serving institutions and in the formation of public policy. Democrats support removing the Confederate battle flag from public properties, recognizing that it is a symbol of our nation’s racist past that has no place in our present or our future. We will push for a societal transformation to make it clear that black lives matter and that there is no place for racism in our country."

A  limitation of this rhetoric is that it would be hard to be able to remove the Confederate flag from all public places as many people feel like that is a symbol of patriotism. In addition, almost all of the southern states have kind of like an attachment to it and it is part of their history, which would be disregarded if the Confederate flag were to be removed. In addition, people might appeal to that decision as it may be breaking the first amendment. Though I strongly believe that the Confederate flag has a negative connotation for many people.

The politician affiliated with the democratic party that I chose is Gavin Newsom. He is married to Jennifer Siebel Newsom. They reside in Marin County with their four children. Gavin grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. He attended Santa Clara University on a partial baseball scholarship, graduating in 1989 with a B.A. in political science. After college, Gavin sold orthotics and worked as an assistant at a real estate firm. In 1991, Gavin recruited investors and founded PlumpJack, a wine shop, which he grew into a thriving enterprise of 21 businesses including wineries, restaurants, and hotels.

An artifact that reveals the politician's point of view is a post including a video of how housing affordability Homelessness is becoming a major problem in California that has to be addressed

Video: https://vimeo.com/253060924

The video talks about how he is going to build 3.5 million affordable housing by 2025 by  Identifying a new funding strategy, increasing investments can exponentially housing output, and rewarding cities that produce housing and punishing the ones that do not.

The video uses specific phrases to effectively communicate their message. By saying that the cabinet will be committed to solving homelessness and not just manage it, the message causes a positive reaction from the audience as the word commit portrays a strong connotation and establishes a sense of ethics. In addition, the video is more biased to the right as it mentions that taxes need to be revamped in the sense of them being raised in order to build more affordable housing and solve homelessness, which is a more liberal ideology that taxes need to be increased to fund social programs.

Blog #1

Hello! My name is Dahim and I am an AP Government student at Rainier Public School in San Jose! I was born in Mexico from a Spanish man and a Mexican woman. I immigrated to the United States in 2015. The purpose of this blog is to be used to share my political beliefs and to share more about what I learn as I keep developing my political views.

After taking the pew research questionnaire, I found out that my political typology is Solid Liberal. This means that I believe that immigrants strengthen our country and that there is still work to be done in order to address racial discrimination.

I believe these things because I have seen the positive impact immigrants have in the country, some even have a more positive impact on the country than non-immigrants. Some examples are the people who benefit from DACA; most of them continue with their education and are doing more significant stuff than the average American. Also, I believe racial discrimination is still a major problem in some parts of the country as I see that the Black and Hispanic incarceration rate keeps going up. My past experiences that have shaped these beliefs are watching different people Some issues that I care deeply about are immigration, racial discrimination, and gun control because those are issues that I feel are the ones that affect me and my community the most.