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Civic Participation
Citizens are able to be active participants in government. Whether it being able to elect
officials such as Congressmen, and Presidents. Or even local members such as Judges, Mayors,
or Governors. For the most part, there isnt too much guessing as to who will win in these
elections due to our nation's two party system. This means that two major political parties
dominate the political spectrum and receive most of the votes. In this case, the Democrats and
the Republicans are the two major parties that the majority of the population votes for.
Democrats lean slightly left of center. This makes them liberal. Most liberals believe in little
regulation of personal matters, but believe in a well regulated economy. This can be seen in the
typical liberal stance on certain issues. Most liberal are for the legalization of marijuana, for
abortion (in some cases), for safety nets such as welfare, and are for a progressive tax system. On
the other hand, Republicans lean slightly right of center. This makes them conservative. Opposite
the liberals, conservatives believe in regulating personal matters, but believe in a free market.
This can be seen in a typical conservative stance on certain issues. Most conservatives believe
that drugs such as marijuana shouldnt be legalized, believe that abortion is wrong morally and
biblically, dont believe that programs like welfare are useful, and are for a flat tax system.
Although Democrats lean more to the left and Republicans lean more to the right, both are
typically near center. This is one of the reasons why these parties are so popular. They catch
major opinions on all issues and although many of these, even if people dont agree with arent
radical in the slightest. Another reason for the high success of these two parties is the hold that
they have over the media and corporations. Due to the large amounts of money these parties have
accumulated, they are able to successfully spread their ideas through television political ads, on
the radio, or even online. This way people associate with these parties more since their views are

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so public. Yet, two parties are better than one. Two parties even though both are very large, still
allow for political discourse, whereas one party is just a dictatorship. This demonstrates the
importance of multiple parties being able to run for office.
Even though, the Democrats and the Republicans run the national elections, smaller
parties have the opportunity to gain influence in local governments. These are what are known as
third parties. Typically these parties are small and tend to have a radical stance on one issue that
focus on as their main political platform. A few of these parties are the Green Party, the
Communist Party of America, and the Libertarian Party. The Green Party is a third party that
focuses solely on environmental issues. They believe that we as humans are responsible for the
destruction of this planet and it is our job to fix it by any means necessary. The Communist Party
of America is one of Americas older third parties. Formed back in 1919, this party has more of a
socialist stance on economic issues, but this party is not as radical as the name suggests. Other
than the socialist view of economics, this party has the same moderate opinions on most other
issues as a Democrat or Republican. The Libertarian Party is a radical leftist third party. This is
what is considered to be one of the most liberal parties, out there in mainstream America.
Libertarians believe little economic and personal freedom regulations, and these beliefs match up
with the rest of their platform. These third parties offer an identity for people who have a strong
stance on one issue. Even though these parties rarely get elected in national elections, they do get
a lot of media attention, which helps them gain influence in local governments.
Other than just voting for leaders, citizens are able to propose laws that could end up on
the ballot, or they could even write their Congressmen to propose a change to a law. Another
way that citizens can participate in government is to volunteer within their community. If they
are involved, then they are able to give back and help decide where taxpayer dollars is spent and

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can really know what's going on. Without citizen participation, our system of government would
not be successful.
The Electoral College helps was put into place to ensure that the best candidate possible
ran this country. However, the Electoral College has evolved to discourage political
participation. There are many factors that affect voter turnout such as race, age, education, social
class, and competition amongst the candidates. Through all of these factors, the group that has
the highest voter turnout is white, old, male, educated, middle to upper class, republicans. This
isnt a stereotype; it is just what surveys have said. Yet, even though there are many reasons why
this is the main voter turnout, the Electoral College discourages participation among many
groups. This could be because they dont believe that their votes matter. Many people think that
because the electoral isnt legally contingent on the popular vote, this means that their vote
doesnt who could be elected. We saw this during the George Bush and Al Gore election in
2000. In it, George Bush won the most electoral votes, but Gore won the higher number of
popular votes. Even though there was a huge controversy over the validity of some of the votes
in Florida due to the hanging chads, this still proved that a candidate can become President
without the majority of the people on board. Also, many people question the effectiveness of the
electoral system and just dont vote at all. This may be because they dont think that the electors
are qualified to make this decision, or the question how the electoral votes are divided up.
Whatever the case is, these discrepancies cause people to not exercise one of their most
cherished liberties. Many people, who share this same opinion on the Electoral College as I,
believe that the Electoral College should be abolished and the Presidency should be strictly
decided by the popular vote. I dont this should be the case. I do agree that the electoral system is
flawed and needs some remodeling, but the system itself is much better than relying on the

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popular vote. Handling elections like this could be very problematic due to the amount of voter
fraud, the effectiveness of the polling machines, and the voting turnout. However if the system
was fixed in such a way that the will of the people will truly be demonstrated, more and more
voters will carry out this long cherished power.
Today's world is overrun with technology. With this expansive array of information, the
media has been more crucial than ever in spreading ideas and shaping public opinion. As far as
the politics, the media has a huge effect on political participation. Mostly, the media affects the
way citizens look at a particular issue. One key reason being that the media is a huge part of
everyones life. Whether it is through television, social media, or even print sources, everyone
uses at least one of these types of media on a daily basis. Since these tools have become more
prevalent than ever, the effect the demand to control what people do with it has become in even
higher demand. In turn, this has increased the quality and the repetitiveness of media (in the case
of politics, this is mostly political ads).This means that whoever controls this media has the
power to persuade the people. Another type of outlet that uses the power of persuasion to
convince the opinions of the people is interest groups. These groups sole mission is to convince
people that their opinion on an issue is right. A major example of this is the NRA, which is one
of the oldest interest groups. This interest groups sole mission is to convince people to preserve
the Second Amendment. These groups are typically used and funded by one of the two major
political parties to send lobbyists over to Congress to help further their stance on the issue in
order to convince people the superiority of their stance. Besides the politically controlled media,
family plays a big part in how people vote. Most people tend to vote how the rest of the family
does, especially if the voter is younger, which plays a large part in the outcome of election. Also,
depending on what race, social background, and groups of friends people associate with, there is

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an extra added pressure to vote a certain way. To recap, why are the media, lobbyists, and family
so effective at determining the outcome of elections? The reason is the power of persuasion.
Without a convincing argument or at least the confidence that persuades a person to one side of
the spectrum, people wouldnt take as strong of a stance of some of the issues facing the public
today, or wouldnt be persuaded enough to identify as a member of one of the two major political
parties.