Public policy

The most important public policy issues to me are the nations wide health care. It is a stupid idea that will, and has put us way further into debt. If we aren't careful our government will fall apart. It has gotten way to large and powerful. I think that we should downsize the government and give people more freedom. These issues are important to me because I want to see our country thrive and the economy to do well so that everyone is doing well. If neither candidate shares my views I would vote for a third party candidate or the one that is closest to my beliefs.

Political ideology

When I hear the word democrat I think of our president, Barack Obama. When I hear the word republican I think of previous presidents that were republicans and who did good things for our country. I don't know much about the beliefs held by democrats. I know that they like to have taxes that take money from the the rich. I know that democrats love to spend money on pointless things. I know they like big government. The republicans like to tax everyone, but they don't like big government. I know that they are trying to cut back on our ridiculous spending and get our economy going again, by getting rid of inflation. I think that the republicans ideas suit me more than the democrats, but I would like to hear about both sides more before I decide if I'm a republican or a democrat. After doing the online quizzes I am what I thought I was, a republican. I learned that I am a weak conservative, bordering on a moderate, and that my positions on economy are very strong. I think that the second quiz was the best. It showed me that I was a northern free market kind of person. I thought that the questions were good and that they got an understanding of my beliefs more than the other two quizzes did.

Courts and jurries

After viewing 12 angry men, and reading the articles, I believe that it is okay to have 10-2 verdicts from juries. In the movie we saw that number three wouldn't listen to anyone and just wanted to say guilty because he thought the kid deserved it. Number 10 also was biased and wanted to convict the kid because "those kind of people are scum." I think that it would help a lot. When jurors are in the court rooms I think that they should have their cell phones taken away from them. I don't think that people can resist looking for evidence, and some people would have biases based on what they read. I don't have any other solutions other than taking away cell phones while in court.

Earmarks

Congressional earmarks are government funded projects that are of no relevance and do nothing but bring money to the companies or organizations often in their districts. This upsets many Americans because earmarks are a big waste of tax payer money, and that money could be going towards better things like health care. Bucknell University’s “Marcellus Shale Research Initiative,” which was supported by Sen. Bob Casey and Sen. Arlen Specter for $1.25 million each and Rep. Christopher Carney for $1 million. This is an earmark that upsets me because we don't need to research shale. We know enough about shale currently and we shouldn't be wasting 3.5 million dollars of tax money on a project like this. The senators probably say that shale has valuable resources in it. There might be resources but so what, the cost of getting those resources would be way to high, so stop researching it. They might also say it boosts our economy, Obama has tried stimulus already and that did absolutely nothing for us. Those are some reasons I am upset by this earmark, and some reasons why the senators say we need this earmark.

Filibuster

The filibuster is when one person has the floor in the senate and they talk to stall, or stop the others from voting on a bill. The filibuster could be a positive thing in many situations such as stopping a bad bill from being hastily passed, or unjustly passed. The filibuster can be a bad thing when they can ruin a great bill just because one person doesn't like it, or doesn't like the person who proposed it. I support the filibuster because everyone has the freedom of speech and they can positively help the USA. They have helped us multiple times and the founding fathers chose to give the senators the right to use it for a reason, and I support them.

Capital punishment

I don't support capital punishment in michigan for many reasons. My top reasons are, it is very cruel and some executions are very unusual. This is a violation of our rights, we have the right to not have cruel and unusual punishments used on us. Another reason is that the executions sometimes don't go as planned and the person being killed suffers for awhile, this is terrible because you could be in a ton. Of pain for a while, or be in severe distress. The last of my top three reasons for not supporting it is the extreme costs of exciting someone, about 2 million more than just letting them rot in jail. I don't think you should be executed under any circumstance, no matter what. If other states want to use capital punishment then that it up to them, if they do they should be able to choose any method available.

I think that the school should be able to search, or seize some of your things if they believe that there is a threat you, other students or themselves. If they have facts that there are drugs in your locker then they could search it too. They can do this because there is an immediate threat to the safety of the school and they are trying to keep everyone safe. I feel like going through airport security is a is a violation of my fourth amendment because they are extremely crazy with checking your things and taking things from us. The two times that i've flown somewhere I've had trouble going through the airport. When I went to Florida for spring break I had a Gatorade with me in my bag, they took it out and we about to throw it away. I wanted it back or at least to drink it but he said no and threw it out. When I was coming home from the Dominican I got in trouble for having a conch shell in my back pack, they said it could be used as a weapon, so it was taken.