POLI 330N Week 1 Discussion Question 1 and 2 2023 | Politics in Our Daily Lives

POLI 330N Week 1 Discussion Question 1 and 2 2023 | Politics in Our Daily Lives. Politics is the influence over policies & actions of a governing body, or power over "who gets what." Local politics affect my everyday home life by controlling many things, from how much I pay in property taxes & how well my kids' schools are maintained, to whether my road gets resurfaced or how quickly it is plowed in the wintertime (I live in rural Ohio). Roskin, M.G., Cord, R.L., Medeiros, J.A., & Jones, W.S. (2014). Political science: an introduction (13th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Pearson. Webster's All-In-One Dictionary & Thesaurus. (2008). Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster. Collapse Mark as Unread Political Encounters Caitlynn Radlinger Email this Author 7/3/2016 3:08:04 PM Professor Branch & class, While I always knew politics impacted the passing laws & regulations that shape the way of life in America, I have only just recently put a lot of thought into how political decisions affect my personal life. Perhaps the first time I felt directly affected by politics was when my fiancé joined the Marines. At the time I was a sophomore in high school, so even though I would try to educate myself about the happenings in Afghanistan there was much I simply did not comprehend. This week in particular there has been a political controversy that has had a huge impact on my life & sparked my interest greatly. There has been a proposal to raise New Jersey’s gas tax—currently the second lowest in the country—by 23 cents per gallon to help replenish the diminishing budget used for road work & repair (Fitzsimmons, 2016). When I first heard of this I was immediately upset because just over the past couple of months gas prices have been creeping up, already putting a dent in my wallet. Also, my fiancé’s commute to work is an hour & a half & mine, while not as severe, is still forty minutes. On my Facebook, fellow New Jersey residents were also outraged & many shared posts suggesting to call State Senator Steve Sweeney & encourage him to block the proposal. As if a huge increase in gas prices is not enough to make New Jersey residents worry financially, governor Chris Christie announced he wants to shut down all road work that is funded by the dwindling state budget unless continuation is required to keep drivers safe (Fitzsimmons, 2016). If this request goes through, there will be many road workers suddenly out of work. I feel as though this is a classic example of political power as Christie is using this halt on roadwork to basically force people to accept the gas tax as horrid roads & the loss of jobs could outweigh the damage of the tax itself. Unfortunately, road workers will experience the consequences of this political decision far more than anyone else in New Jersey. Caitlynn Radlinger Reference: Fitzsimmons, E. G. (2016, July 1). With No Deal on New Jersey Gas Tax, Christie Orders Shutdown of Road Projects. Retrieved July 7, 2016, from Collapse Mark as Read RE: Political Encounters Hailey Paulson Email this Author 7/7/2016 12:31:08 PM We encounter politics everyday. I was reading another students post about it & she had mentioned that we encounter it through social media. I sat & thought about that & realized that she is completely right. If you think about how companies use social media such as Facebook to sell their products, it is a form of politics. They use everyone to share their posts & use everything they can for advertisement. I used to deal with politics on a daily basis with the war on oil. I lived in California & I was married to someone in the military & we were always put at a threat that he would deploy due to the economy & where our country stood. It is crazy to sit & look at things like that & realize how much control politics has over everything anymore. Collapse Mark as Read RE: Political Encounters Jane Forth Email this Author 7/7/2016 8:37:09 PM Hi Hailey, I agree with you politics affects everything anymore. If you look at any situation you are involved in daily has some sort of politics involved. Someone is always deciding who gets what, when ,where & how much. Jane Collapse Mark as Read RE:Political Encounters Carolina Amador Email this Author 7/8/2016 9:05:13 AM Good Morning Caitlynn, So I'm a fellow New Jerseyan & I completely underst& your pain! I can't believe Christie. It often seems that the politics he practices are not to benefit the New Jersey residents but rather to boost his own ego! The older I get the more interested I am in politics & the government. All decisions that are made will eventually affect me directly so why not become more informed? I truly hope Christie's twisted budget ideas don't become a reality. Carolina (an instructor response) Collapse Mark as Read RE:Political Encounters Professor Branch Email this Author 7/8/2016 7:16:54 PM In the event of a Trump win & if Christie is selected to be his Veep, how much do you think he will influence politics? VPs generally tend to not be very "powerful." Dr. Branch Collapse Mark as Unread Daily politics Tiara Cunningham Email this Author 7/3/2016 7:24:58 PM I honestly think everyday I check my Facebook or any other social media it is political. Facebook successfully completed a goal of reconnecting people but then it got out of h& when it was starting to get used for other reasons. The facebook creators embraced it so that they would not lose any subscribers & updated to where people are able to do way more than they could. Everyday life is always political because we as a species are constantly upgrading/improving the next big thing. Tiara Cunningham Collapse Mark as Read RE: Daily politics Rebekah Pedrie Email this Author 7/5/2016 3:05:52 PM Hello Tiara, Facebook is a great example, every time you log onto your account there is a debate about something going on. It is not uncommon to see debates going on for days about whatever topic is in the news at the moment. When that young boy climbed into the gorilla exhibit & the gorilla was killed people were debating for weeks on whether that was correct or not. Facebook brings the newest debate to your immediate attention. -Rebekah Pedrie Collapse Mark as Read RE: Daily politics Hailey Paulson Email this Author 7/6/2016 9:14:50 AM I never thought of Facebook as political. But, when you explain it in that manner, it makes sense. It almost seems that everyone now has a Facebook, whether they be young or old. People use Facebook as a way of broadcasting anymore. Companies use Facebook to sell products as well as even news channels use Facebook to get the word out about crime, weather, or anything else that is going on. We all use social media as a means to check the current situations in the world & it is politically run anymore as it seems. Collapse Mark as Read RE: Daily politics Amy S&man Email this Author 7/7/2016 7:10:14 AM Excellent answer, I believe Facebook can be very political place when connecting with others or choosing to remark on certain subjects or whether to get involved in any particular conversations. Depending on what you say or do, things can be construed differently making them even more political. Collapse Mark as Read RE: Daily politics Thomas Grodhaus Email this Author 7/7/2016 2:00:21 PM Facebook is a public, ongoing discussion about all manner of things, be they political, comical, personal, etc. Everyone you know is commenting on everything around you, & all that information & opinion can get overwhelming. What concerns me is that some people, as Hailey stated, get their current events, news, & information primarily from Facebook. No one should get their news from one source; multiple outlets should be pursued in order to fully underst& an issue. Among my Friends, many will instantly run to one side of an issue or the other, repeating what they've "heard" about it in outrage without researching any facts for themselves, such as what exactly happened, is the information from a credible source, etc. This ignorance is then perpetuated to their Friends, & so on. Facebook is fun & useful to keep in touch with people, but can spread misinformation at an alarming rate. Collapse Mark as Read RE: Daily politics Tiara Cunningham Email this Author 7/7/2016 2:09:51 PM You couldn't have said it any better. Some people do look on social media sites & that's the only place they will find their current news. Now when dealing with social media, things can be skewed & information can be wrong. An example would be multiple "memes" being made off of one picture or one comment when the actual person was not like what the meme portrayed at all. Misinformation is most definitely spread throughout the internet on a daily. You made an excellent point. Tiara Cunningham Collapse Mark as Read RE: Daily politics Amy S&man Email this Author 7/10/2016 8:25:14 PM Facebook is a a very political place..whether you wish to or not sometimes. Without any thought into a post it can become a forum with a political issues. It is difficult to have any warning sometimes. that is why one has to be careful to what you are posting. Collapse Mark as Read RE: Daily politics Kayla Parker Email this Author 7/7/2016 7:05:19 PM I believe that social media is a tool of liberation & empowerment. Social media is one of the most important global leaps forward in recent human history. It provides for self-expression & promotes mutual underst&ing. It enables rapid formation of networks & demonstrates our common humanity across cultural differences. It connects people, their ideas & values, like never before. Huffington Post states that, "the important work now is keeping these networks public & open. As some governments see both their power & potential, they are clamping down. In some scenarios, with exp&ing control & the use of government-employed contributors, social media could become yet another tool of oppression." Huffington Post (February, 2014) Social Media: Enemy of the State or Power to the People? Retrieved July 7, 2016 from Collapse Mark as Unread RE: Daily politics Dayany Jimenez Email this Author 7/10/2016 8:09:36 PM Hi Tiara The setting is in a bar wherein two friends have been in a debate regarding the refugee situation in the state. There is a clash of ideas & differences in opinions regarding the matter. However, the question is whether this debate is political. One consideration to point out is the setting. The pub is a recreational place where small talk & gossip basically prevail, thus making it unusual for anyone to engage in a r&om conversation regarding the refugee situation in the country. Nevertheless, the said element is a minor detail in considering whether the discussion is political or not. If the discussion is carried out in a place wherein policies & other form of political practice are normally done, it is easily recognizable as a political discussion. However, the content & the context in which the conversation possess essentially reveal how political their discussion was. It satisfies the fact that there was a Collapse Mark as Read RE: Daily politics &rea Decker Email this Author 7/12/2016 6:26:50 PM We just don't think of what information we are, actually, putting out about ourselves. Lives have been destroyed by unscrupulous people who are looking to take advantage of people on social media. Collapse Mark as Unread Politics in our daily lives Dana Rittenberg Email this Author 7/4/2016 6:03:52 AM Dr. Branch & Classmates – My personal definition of politics involves people, typically already in a position of influence, using systems in place to affect the change they want to see in their community. This can be either in their social sphere, their work place or their community as a whole. This is similar to a definition found in Roskin, Cord, Medeiros & Jones (2014) of “A gets B to do what A wants” (p.7). Even in the current heated election season, I feel the majority of the politics that I encounter on a daily basis is in my job situation at an Emergency Department (ED) in large metropolitan hospital in west Michigan. Often this entails what I would categorize as examples of the negative aspects of what Roskin et al (2014) calls the “politics of power” where there is a sense of coercion & inequality (p.7) since, for many who have advanced, the main criteria for advancement appears to be the willingness to delve into the political aspect of our job & not experience & skill. I have always been a resistant ‘player of the game’, as I have been known to say, to advance in the ED. That meant I didn’t spend time in the back office rubbing shoulders with the management team or working within the established parameters & guidelines to affect change. So I have watched many less experienced nurses pass me by as they move up the chain of comm&. I have finally realized working within the system can be mutually beneficial to everyone involved & it can be done without sacrificing one’s own st&ards & morals. This ability to use an organization’s politics to an individual’s (my) benefit is what Montalvo (2015) calls political skill. According to Montalvo (2015), this ability is one of the important skills of organizational leaders in the workplace & is positively related to job success, effectiveness & advancement (p.382). Political skill also protects employees from “emotional expenditure from political behaviors” (p.379). Education in the development of political skill would benefit all, the reluctant & the willing, no matter where we work or interact as we are surrounded by politics. & being able to effectively work within organizations & the politics intertwined within them is becoming a more essential skill than ever before. Dana Montalvo, W. (2015). Political Skill & Its Relevance to Nursing. Journal of Nursing Administration, 45(7/8), 377-383 7p. doi:10.1097/NNA. Roskin, M. G., Cord, R. L., Jones, J. S., & Medeiros, J. A. (2014). Political Science: An Introduction (13th ed.). Pearson. (an instructor response) Collapse Mark as Read RE: Politics in our daily lives Professor Branch Email this Author 7/4/2016 9:16:08 AM Thanks for getting our discussions off & running, Ladies. What about office politics or even politics in our homes, where there are no government players? Why do you think that politics is so competitive rather than cooperative?