Week 4 Discussion

"Americans have many options for taking part in politics...Voting is the most prominent

form of political participation."

1.) What problems are some individuals in society encountering while participating in

politics?

In all states except Maine, Vermont, and Massachusetts, inmates serving time for

committing felonies lose their right to vote. At least ten states prohibit former felons from

voting even after they have served their time. Opinions are divided on this issue. Some people

believe that individuals who have committed a serious crime should be deprived of the privileges

enjoyed by law-abiding people. Others contend that the integrity of the democratic process is at

stake and that individuals should not be denied a fundamental right once they have served their

time. Page 278

Women candidates often face male incumbents, candidates already in office, who are

difficult to defeat. Motherhood becomes an issue for women who seek or hold public office. The

2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, faced scrutiny by the press and voters

because she was the mother of five children, including a four-month-old baby with Down

syndrome. Even as women won the legal right to vote, barriers to their participation remained.

States made registration difficult. Some women were discouraged from voting by their husbands

and friends Page 298.

Poll taxes, fees that had to be paid before a citizen could register to vote, disenfranchised

the poor, many of whom were black. Literacy tests, which required people to demonstrate their
ability to read, write, and interpret documents prior to voting, were applied unfairly to blacks.

Intimidation and violence by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan kept black voters from the polls.

Over 90 percent of black voters supported African American candidate Barack Obama

(McDonald). Page 298,299.

Latinos tend to participate in other forms of political activity with less frequency than

either white or black citizens. Language is one barrier to Latino participation. Candidates

recognize that Latinos constitute a large and growing voting bloc and have begun campaigning in

Spanish. Page 299,300.

In 2008, 48 percent of Asian Americans turned out to vote (Hess). Asian Americans who

have been victims of hate crimes or consider themselves to be part of a deprived group find their

way to the polls in greater numbers. Page 300

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2.) What obstacles, if any, are being placed in the path of various cultures and how can these

obstacles be removed? Use at least one example to support the response.

Black Community: Prejudicism

Intimidation and violence by groups such as the Ku Klux Klan kept black voters from the polls.

Page 298,299.

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 My Personal Opinion: I believe that the voting system is one big SCAM! The voting

machines have already been fixed to pick the new president or any politician that the world

leaders who run this world have assigned the position. Also, the republicans and democrats are

all the same to me. They all know each other at the golf course and private bars where they talk

about business and other things that have nothing to do with politics. So many ignorant people

who attack other people for something that they think actually works. America is part of a

broken system called, “Ancient Rome.” Rome never fell, it was divided and its political views

were taken to Great Britain and passed on to America. If it didn’t work for Rome it would never

work for America. This is my point of view about this corrupt voting system. Nothing personal.

Just keeping it real.