I never would have thought my only class in two years that was not

advanced or AP could teach me anything meaningful. However, US

Government teaches the most ubiquitous and relevant facts to every student
in the school. Before voting for the first time, everybody ought to know
some basic facts about the workings of the system in which they are
engaging. In order to ably perform ones duties as a responsible citizen, a
person needs to know the heart of the political issues at hand, the
individuals place in government, and the roots of his or her political
affiliation.
As politics have slowly entered the forefront of my mind over the past
few years, I have found myself trying to define myself politically. I, for one,
greatly appreciate the help that government class has given me. Earlier, I
couldnt decide what to believe because everyone seemed to be telling me
conflicting stories:
George W. Bush is the Devil!
John Kerry is the Devil!
Liberals have no souls!
Conservatives have no souls!
While each side had good points, if both men represented Satan, they
would not fight so much. So I could not pick a side. And I did not really
know neither really existed as an option. The assessment that we took in
government supposedly would tell us whether our beliefs were more liberal
or conservative. The test, although not foolproof, proved my suspicions. My
score labeled me as a model moderate, equidistant from modern

conservatism and modern liberalism. I discovered, though, that moderate

did not mean all of my views fell in the crevasse between the two major
parties of the United States. My net conservative and liberal views simply
evened out. Similarly, the enumerations of specific issues helped me
comprehend the entire platforms of the five relatively major parties
presented. Particular beliefs also enabled me to assess party platforms piece
by piece. Despite being able to decide on certain points, though, I became
aware of the knowledge needed to make a well-educated judgment on
matters.
Including much group work, the class has additionally enabled me to
compare my beliefs to those of others. Even though, I was often unsure of
exactly where I stood, I often had a hard time accepting some stances that
my classmates buy into as a given. As I began to perceive the
interconnectedness of so many issues, my thinking had to accommodate the
relationships among the many variables. I still did hold many common
beliefs with my peers and could definitely sense our similar upbringings and
environments. Likewise, I saw similarities and differences between my
parents and myself. Sharing a comparable, although certainly not identical,
worldview with my parents led to our concurrence on certain fundamental
points. On the other hand, opinions about how best to change things for the
betterment of society do occasionally separate us. From what I know of my
brother, and what I now know of myself, I find that we are much more alike
than I once thought.

In respect to the country and the political environment in which I find

myself, I feel much change is (and probably always will be) needed.
Recently, major elections have veered too far from, well, anything important.
They have been dangerously divisive. Politicians should at least attempt to
decisively prove that their way of helping the American people indeed
advances them. On a more specific note, the right to harm or help oneself,
gradually or immediately, is fundamental to free will. Therefore, the
government indeed ought not punish perpetrators of victimless crimes.
However, I do not know how the government could make such an alteration
to policy and certainly there are gray areas exist in which it is hard to
decide who harms who or if there is harm at all. What one person finds to be
the morally obligatory thing to do, others believe would damn us. All in all, I
wonder if one does not enact widespread change by living by what he or she
believes and, hopefully, influencing one person at a time, entirely outside of
the besmirched arena of politics.