Young Politics

Today in class, my teacher shared with us answers from 1st graders about who they would have voted for in this year's election. The majority said Obama. They were so cute. Some of their answers were simple and unrelated to politics, some were
For example one kid said he would vote for Obama because "Obama wants to make taxes lower for the poor people and for the medium people and higher for the rich people and McCain wants the poor people to pay more money and the rich people to pay less."
This kid must have a family that talks a lot about politics, for him to know that much. The answers ranged from things like this to voting for Obama because his symbol is a donkey, Obama doesn't throw bombs, etc.
It was interesting to see their answers. It was interesting to see that some of them said things about the war and taxes and how much they knew at that age. Before this last election, I don't remember knowing anything about the presidential candidates. I just think it's crazy that little kids know something, no matter how cute and simple it is.
But it's weird because when you're little like that, shouldn't you be care free and play all day? Obviously politics are important to most adults, and little kids like these, pick up on some stuff. It's sad in a way that they have to learn about the war and politics, like abortion, gay marriage. But that's what this country is, a government and its people, and with it comes issues.

I Am Who I Am

For a school project, we were asked to write about our "political souls." As we are still only sophomores in highschool, for some of us we are only just discovering what we think of politics and what is important to us. Since this trimester we have been learning about politics and the election, we were ready to talk about how we feel on some issues or just how we think about politics in general. As I write this, all the class's papers are being printed into a book form, an exciting thing. The title is "Our Political Rising" a fitting title i think, since we are only beginning to realize who we are politcally. Well here is a part from my paper that is called "I Am Who I Am" in the beginning we chose a quote that we could relate to. I chose this quote from a Japanese band called Arashi, they are my favorite band right now, and a lot of their music inspires me this song in particular:

“People are people, you are who you are.When you compare yourself, you will be defeated.You have the strength not to lose.So you can break through any walls.”
-Fight Song written by Arashi


In my school I am a minority. Almost every single one of us has had this feeling of being alone, and the struggle to be ourselves in a world that is different. In my school I am one of the very few Catholics. I go to church every Sunday and sing in the youth choir that my mom directs. I also go to youth group after mass. It’s nice to have that place and people who believe the same thing I do. We have a huge youth group and we do a lot of fun things together. It’s a great place to learn about being Catholic, and if I didn’t have this place I would be ignorant of many important things about my faith...
It's easy to be Catholic at home and at church, but it's different at school. Not only do the people not believe in the same thing I do, but sometimes I'm scared about what people will think about me. In the past I’ve run into situations of people bashing Christians. It's a hard and sometimes scary thing to do, but I speak up and defend it. Although this doesn't happen very often, I have had some arguments with people about religion. There are even some times when I keep my mouth shut because I'm afraid that people will not care that they're offending me and it'll get worse.
..... There are people who are in the minority in my class and then when they speak about something they believe in, sometimes those things are shot down by people who don’t agree. Sometimes they are strong and can still talk about it, others just sort of seem to shrink back and stay silent. I wish people weren’t so judgmental. I wish we could see the differences and accept them and try to understand that person’s views or beliefs. For example, the recent election, people seriously disagree with others who don’t share their views. But it is easier to be with people who agree with you.
On the retreat and at my church, most people are conservative. I hear lots of negative comments about liberals especially when Obama won the election. I definitely support Obama and it was hard being with people who didn’t agree with me on that. But I looked past that and I saw what we have in common which is our faith. At school, I’m in the majority who like Obama. They are two different worlds for me. Since I live and grow in two different places, what I’m taught and what I’m exposed to can become who I am. I was raised Catholic and I’ve gone to this school since kindergarten. Almost equal time in these two very different places. Even though I’m Catholic and have some conservative views, I have some liberal views as well. I’m right in the middle. These places shape who I am and I’m still growing and there is still so much for me to learn. But living in these two worlds has shown me that it’s important to see both sides and to bring them together.
Barack Obama talks a lot about the unity of our country, the unity of two parties, the unity of two worlds. Like Obama said on January 4th in his Iowa victory speech: “In lines that stretched around schools and churches, in small towns and in big cities, you came together as Democrats, Republicans and independents, to stand up and say that we are one nation. We are one people. And our time for change has come.” In our nation, though we must stand united, we are a nation of individuals. We must be Democrats, Republicans, Catholics, and everything else and live together.
When I see people being themselves, even if it takes courage that many lack, I want to figure out where that bravery comes from. When I see that, I applaud them silently in head and hope I can be more like them. In fact, some of the things I said in this paper were things I’ve never told anyone before.
My religion is a part of the many parts I am. I am who I am. I need to remember that, and so does every person in this country and world.


It was cool to write this paper. But I think we all feel the same sometimes, we all try to fit in, even if our beliefs are different. There are many people who are a minority, though for many different reasons. Like I said, I think it would be really cool if people were themselves more often. I mean I can't say for sure if someone was being themself or not, only that person can. But really individuals are what make up this world, we were all created to be different. Let us have the courage to be who we were meant to be. Lets do our best.

Election 2008

Last night was a night to remember. I watched the electoral polls on TV. At 7:05 pm the votes were Obama with 174, less than 100 votes to go until he won, and McCain with 76 votes. It was so exciting. They were talking about all the states that had previously mostly voted for a republican president, that Obama now carried. That was really cool to see how much Obama changed the numbers.
I've never followed an election before this one. I mean I remember seeing a similar map on tv in 2000 and 2004, but I didn't really care. But this election was different. It was important even though I can't vote yet. Whatever happens in this country affects me no matter what.
I was a little nervous because Colorado wasn't called until the end. I hoped that it would be for Obama.
Unfortunately I decided to go to the bathroom when it was announced who our new president was going to be. So as I was walking down the hall, I heard my brother cheering and almost ran into the room. When I walked in, I was confused. How had he won in those few minutes I was gone? When I left his vote count was close to 200 I believe, maybe more, maybe less. It happened so quickly. The western states' votes came in and it was obvious Obama had won. I was really glad. I wanted to go upstairs and tell my mom that Obama had won. But my brother went ahead of me.
Now, my mom was upstairs in our church, doing choir rehearsal, in our Catholic church. Obviously in a Catholic church most people would be considered conservative. So I went up passing a friend of mine.
"You've been here the whole time?" she asked me.
"Yeah, I was watching the election." I told her. "Obama won by the way."
"Alas... Bye."
"Bye." I forgot that she would be pretty unhappy about him winning. I walked in the church while texting my sister about the win. There wasn't really anyone there, just my mom, dad and a choir member. I asked my parents if they happy and my mom said she wasn't allowed to be happy while in a place where all the people were probably sad about it.
Later on the way home we got ice cream and my mom fully pronounced how happy she was about the win. I was happy too. But mostly amazed about how for the first time ever the USA will have an African-American President. It's so cool how far African-American people have come. I studied civil rights and about color segregation, and how it was unimaginable that we would have a black president. But it happened. It just shows that we're a changing country and we've come so far.
I find it interesting how closely people from other countries were watching the election. I saw a video of a news station in Japan called News Zero and Sakurai Sho, the news caster talked about the voting ballot and he also went around and asked US students who they would vote for. Then today, seeing pictures of people celebrating Obama's win in various countries. It was so weird seeing people with Obama signs and buttons when they don't even live here. But it makes sense, our country affects the whole world. It's weird to think that I live in the most powerful country in the world. I feel very blessed to have so much.
I hope that our new president will help lead our country into better times. We've had many problems in the last eight years and I just hope that even if it will take a long time, we will eventually renew our country. Watching his speech gave me that hope. But I know he knows it will be hard. He looked very serious and at the same time he seemed to be confident in what he is going to do. He inspired many people this year. He inspired people to vote and act. My parents said that at least four people came to our door for Obama, making sure we were going to vote.
Right now though, I'm a little scared that racism will come out more, after it's been hidden for a long time. But I don't know. I also wonder how it will be having Obama as the president and how it will differ from Bush. Will we see the differences right away? Will I be able to notice differences?
Overall I feel pretty good. I think and hope Obama will be a good president. All that's left right now is to wait for the future and what it will bring.

Our Government, the Judicial Branch

The Judicial Branch of Government
What is the Judicial Branch? Why is this branch important, what are the responsibilities/jobs of this branch?

When you go to work or school, or where ever you go every day, look around you. Do you see African-American people? Or you yourself if you are African-American, you see many different colors around you. You aren’t confined to be with people of the same color. This is because many years ago in 1954, the Supreme Court, decided that it was unconstitutional in the case of Brown vs. Board of Education, for blacks and whites to be segregated. Then in 1957 this allowed the first black students called the Little Rock 9 enroll into an all white school. That time is past now, and many of us think nothing of the different colors of skin we see around us. In fact at this moment, we have a black candidate running for President of the United States of America. Before Brown vs. Board of Education, that would have been unthinkable! Now look how far the decisions of this Judicial Branch have taken us. This is just one of the many, many examples I could use to say how important this branch of our government is.

As I stated above this branch is very important. Its main purpose is to keep our country and laws constitutional, so none of us lose our constitutional rights. The Executive and Legislative branches are in charge of making the laws, and this branch makes sure the laws follow the constitution. When there is a law passed by the legislative and executive branch, the courts have the power of judicial review, to decide whether or not the law is constitutional. If the law violates the constitution, they can void that law or action, meaning that it will not be an enforced law.

There are many different levels of courts. The highest court is the Supreme Court, which was created the constitution. There are nine judges, called Justices, in the Supreme Court and one of them is the Chief Justice. The other lower courts were created by Congress who decided they were necessary. These are courts such as state and federal courts. When I was in middle school, studying about civil rights and the Brown vs. Board of Education, to learn more about how trials were held we went to the courthouse in our city. We watched the trial of a drug dealer. I think that’s mostly what we think about when we hear about courts and judges, criminals either getting proven innocent or guilty. A person breaking the law or in other words the constitution.

Right now there are people on the Supreme Court that have made decisions and will make decisions for us. The Executive Branch or the President gets to appoint these people. The justices on the Supreme Court also have political party preferences, so if there are more conservative judges than liberal, the court will most likely have a conservative ruling. That is one thing about the presidential election people are thinking about. If either Obama or McCain gets elected, that will definitely have an impact on who one of the next Supreme Court judges will be. Think about these nine people on the Supreme Court, what kinds of characteristics would you like them to have? Think about how these nine people have the power to make huge decisions for our country.

The Supreme Court has had to rule on were such things as Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal in the whole country. This is one big issue with lots of controversy. Another is gay marriage. Is it constitutional to deny people who love each other the right to marriage even if they are the same sex? Is it constitutional to allow it?

Do you feel comfortable with the fact that the President in the Executive Branch gets to choose who these people are? Should this be changed? Keep in mind that these people can be judges for their whole life if they choose to be. It's a little crazy and scary that we put so much faith in our government to make decisions for us. The least we can do is decide from the few people who will be in the government and vote when we can.

But really I think we often forget that the Judicial system is in fact a part of our government and do have a say in how our country works. All we can hope is that these people have a strong sense of justice and integrity.

Democracy in the U.S.A.

Today in class, I got a quote about democracy. The quote is from Dwight D. Eisenhower: "Politics ought to be the part-time profession of every citizen who would protect the rights and privileges of free men."

To me this quote means that in democracy, "the government of the people" you need to be educated about politics, or should be in, order to vote. People's votes affect this country and like the quote says if you care about rights and privileges of people, then you should be involved and know what is going on.

Unfortunately, i feel like this country is losing some of its democracy. For example, how certain presidential candidates go against the majority in making decisions in the war with Iraq... Just a thought. It seems like the people are losing their government.