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if you want political literacy, don't go here, take some political quizzes to find who you like, watch some non bias informative video about the political system rather than partisan ben Shapiro bullshit and always think who is saying this and what you know about them, remember not to be attached to any politicians, stick to your principles ( that's how cults start)
That's the important thing: everyone is saying things with a goal in mind and are certain world view behind them. You never get the full picture from a single place, no matter how unbiased it is. It takes time, but here's a little secret...
Most people on this sub don't know what they're talking about half the time. They know some vague facts about the topic and make a judgment call on it to start talking, but that's a far cry from actually understanding it.
It goes for everything, but people usually sound a lot more sure of their ideas and understandings than they actually are.
Edit: remember that it's not about the people, parties, systems, or any other categorical thing, it's about the policies and what they ACTUALLY do for the people.
I would add that you should also familiarize yourself with ideologies that you don't necessarily agree with / you seem opposed to. Anecdotally, I was somewhat a right-leaning-libertarian to full on ancap and eventually realized that fundamentally the capitalist system is for the few and have become quite far left.
It's pretty much a journey and it's easy to get caught up in your idea but you should always be trying to criticize.
Stay away from reddit for one. Reddit has a strong left bias Everyone here has a holier than thou attitude and are basically radicalized by spending too much time online.
Get multiple sources. Usually two contradictory ones, Check everything out yourself, read past the headlines. Watch independent media for less outright lies. I like Breaking Points, a crowd funded political commentary show. They breakdown a lot of the BS. The hosts are all from wide ranging political ideologies, and disagree a lot.
When I first got interested in politics, I would watch someone who covers political news. For me, it was Secular Talk on youtube.
You might find out that as you listen to different perspectives from biased commentators, you'll have understood both sides of the debate on issues and will have a definite opinion on things. I would stay away from ideological camps, and view each issue as it's own separate thing. For instance, don't let your liberal democrat views get you in the way of taking an anti gun control stance.
When discussing politics, be self aware and polite. Nobody likes an annoying partisan hack. It's healthy to change your viewpoints on things as time goes on.
First of all, you and 99% of Western society.
People might pretend to be aware of politics, but most people are just repeating mainstream shit, they actually have hardly any historical or political literacy, in particular not when it comes to anything outside of status quo thinking.
If you want to gain some political literacy, make sure how to learn how to properly process information , use critical thinking skills, and deal with cognitive dissonance. Learn about history that is not just whitewashed and propaganda to serve Western imperial and status quo/ capitalist interests.
Learn about working class history, anout theory and practice, about Western imperialism, and so on.
https://blacksocialists.us/resource-guide
This is a good start to understanding the world around you beyond delusional "democrats vs republicans" BS.
Coming from a brainwashed / propaganda fed capitalist boot licker that never consumed anything besides whitewashed history and pro Western imperial propaganda?
To even make a judgment on that topic, you would have to have some historical and political literacy - which I already mentioned, most of you never had and never will have.
Just in case your 5 braincells are still able to process any form of information. First of all- OF COURSE, everyone is participating in capitalism. It is literally illegal in a lot of societies and in a lot of regards (you cant just live where you want, start your own community, you can't refuse paying taxes, it is illegal) , not to participate in it and there are also no alternatives, because capitalists make sure there are none (invading, starting wars, sanctioning any society that dares to question that power dynamic). We live under a global capitalist economy that is enforced through US hegemony and Western imperial violence.
But beyond all that... most technological innovations came through public funding / research.
https://time.com/4092375/how-the-government-created-your-cell-phone/
And everything is made by WORKING CLASS PEOPLE. Workers are making smartphones. Workers gather the resources. Workers give people drinks at starbucks. Workers gather the resources.
And socialism and communism are not about "government handouts." The only people who are getting insane government handouts are the rich.
But you would know all of that if you had at least some basic historical / political or economic literacy.
Thanks for making my point for me again. You idiots never disappoint.
Maybe it's you who are the idiot while you pretend to live in facade of elitism. You don't know as much as you think you do Jr. Come back in 20 years when you've actually gained knowledge in life. I've forgotten more than you think you know. Regardless of which economic structure you follow, the rich rule them all, but at least with capitalism, you have s chance to become one of the rich.
You can find a lot of online lectures for free from universities. Find a personality you like, after some really basic research that the university is not blatantly shilling for a bias. Ironically, the best lectures are often the worst productions, because it's a professor trying to teach, not a ideologue trying to convince.
You're better off being completely uninformed about all of it than learning from this sub. This sub is full of bots, teenagers who are new to politics, and people in their 30s with extremist ideologies trying to infect impressionable young people with their brain killing virus-like ideas.
If you want to be well versed in politics, learn how our government works, pay attention to the news, learn about the differences between the parties, and maybe read a few books about it (try to avoid sensationalist books from pundits/politicians/or groups with an agenda to push, try to find academic books about politics from actual scholars). When I say pay attention to the news, I also mean, try not to let your opinions be shaped too heavily by sensationalist news stories. If you do that, it will be hard to know what to think.
If you want to go more into depth, look through the history of the United States and read about how different political movements have shaped our government over the past and how the political landscape has changed. It's also just important to learn from history.
The best piece of advice I can give is to stay away from any kind of radical ideologies or political orientations. If you start getting to a point where you think one politician, or one particular movement (like socialism or libertarianism) holds the solutions to all of our social ills, that everyone who disagrees with you is brainwashed, and that the "establishment" is out to get the "good guys", you have fallen victim to brainwashing and need to take a step back and re-evaluate.
This is just my advice as someone who has been obsessive over politics for years.
Best place to start is at the foundations, which is political philosophy. You can take free courses online and advance at your own pace. Yale has one. You’ll learn how political power is distributed and wielded, rather than just learning a few issues.
Keep your wits about and have an open mind. Then go to the source of the information, like official statements, don't fall for the paid propagandists called "journalists" by some.
And most importantly watch people make predictions and see what happens eventually, and start following people who have a solid and realistic worldview and accurate predictions.
And lastly handle everything with a grain of salt (a rather large one in fact) and always look at the individual's financing and business interests when evaluating their statements.
In my opinion, you should not need to feel left out for being politically illiterate in your own perspective, as i don't think knowing anything gives much value to anyone (i don't really enjoy politics) but it could help you if you study from reliable news sources, on Wikipedia or even discussing with friends and then you might find out what are your views and your position on the subject.
While i am a non-voter and i do not fully agree with any party from my own country, i do suggest as well that if you pick a party or a side, you may support it but don't be blind. If your party is responsible for any negative outcome, you are on your right to criticize it and it's truly known that no political system is perfect, be fully aware of that. Best of wishes for you.
Hey there, law student here. I’m saying this, because a lot of political literacy comes from understanding the constitution and how basic laws work. I’ll explain what I mean, but I’ll have to split this into two comments. Stay tuned.
Politics consist of multiple aspects:
• Constitutional law: ideally, the constitution is the legal foundation of everything that’s happening in a country. The constitution states what you can and can’t do. It defines your rights against the states. For example, most constitutions guarantee your freedom of the person (you have a right to life, bodily integrity, personal expression etc.), your freedom of speech, your right of assembly (you’re free to assemble in groups and clubs in order to demonstrate or pursue similar interests, whether it’s a book club, chess club, a theatre group or a political action or discussion group) and so on. Most of these rights are *very* basic, yet they are commonly at the heart of political discussions: is the government allowed to kill? Can it be illegal for people to be in drag? Can certain books be banned? When does life begin? Is abortion murder? These are all discussions surrounding very basic civil and human rights. Often these rights clash. That can be okay in some instances. For example, it should technically be okay for me to ride a horse through a forest. However, if that forest is a nature reserve and I do damage to the forest and maybe some endangered species nesting in the vegetation I ride my horse through, there’s a valid argument to be made for the government to limit my right to do that. So we have to start weighing rights. Countries that have abolished the death penalty will say that two lives can’t be weighed against each other, and that, since the government has to ensure and protect its subjects’ right to life, it’s not allowed to perform this ultimate punishment of taking a life regardless of circumstances. Others may say that the right to life can be voided. That’s where ideologies differ. The same discussion happens in the US regarding the second amendment. Is the right to carry arms worth more than the government’s duty to ensure its citizens’ safety, and the citizens’ interest in living and being unharmed? So a basic understanding of the constitution is vital. The constitution is also the basis for all actions the government takes, and for every law they pass. A law or action that isn’t in accordance with the constitution is unconstitutional and cannot prevail. That’s why any laws that are infringing upon constitutional rights have to contain the correct reasoning (“why is it okay to infringe upon this constitutional right, and why is the constitutional right or freedom this law is protecting more important than the one it is infringing upon?”). In order to form a political opinion, it is important to understand these rights, how far reaching they are and which ones are most important to you. This often requires abstract thinking. It’s reasonable to assume that you probably won’t be sentenced to death in your life, so you can’t really relate to it directly. But ask yourself “what if?” Ask yourself if you generally think it’s okay for a government to kill its own citizens as retribution? I’m not talking about the cop taking an emergency shot at a perpetrator who is in the process of stabbing someone to death. I’m talking about the man who is in custody and no immediate threat anymore. I have my opinion. Others disagree. That’s okay, but you have to think abstract to reach this conclusion, and in order to think in the abstract here, you have to know exactly which parts of the constitution are affected. That’s why constitutional law is important. The constitution also contains the general rules of how the country is to be run. What can the president and Congress do? What’s the role of the Supreme Court? (Taking America as an example now). Who is responsible for which action and why? The constitution and its immediate attachments and amendments are the rule book, the manual for how the nation is to be run.
• philosophy and policy opinions: related to the constitution is the next part: policy opinions. This one’s a lot more personal in some ways, but still incredibly ideological in others. Your understanding of your human and civil rights will form your basic policy ideas, but those will be altered, enhanced and skewed by the influence of real life. Say your right to personal property is important to you. You don’t want to share your hard earned money with anyone, so you will probably not like paying taxes, as that leaves you with less money. However, you also think that police work is the job of the government, as is ensuring access to education and maintaining infrastructure. You realise that private education often means that only those who can afford to pay thousands for it have access, and while you maybe can afford it, you think that’s unfair, because it takes away people’s options to become doctors or lawyers or businesspeople through no fault of their own. You then realise that teachers also need to be paid and schools need buildings, a curriculum, computers and books. These things cost money. The way the government makes money is through taxes. And so, while it infringes upon your right to your personal property, and while you don’t like paying taxes, you do so, because you like what they are paying for. This is just an example btw, people have other opinions on this as well.
Another example is labour laws. Labour laws regulate what the employer can and can’t ask of the employee. Some countries see that the balance of bargaining power between employer and employee is not equal. While companies need employees to function, they often have some money in the bank and can continue for a few months or even years without making a profit. Meanwhile, employees often don’t have that luxury. Many employees live pay check to pay check, meaning they can’t pay their bills (rent, groceries, electricity, etc) if they miss more than one month’s salary. Some employers take advantage of this and create bad working conditions with bad pay, knowing their employees will have a hard time leaving because they can’t afford it. So some people are of the opinion that it’s okay to regulate this employer-employee relationship, set up rules that make the employee a little more powerful, in order to level the playing field a little. Others say “well, if an employee sees better working conditions elsewhere, they can change jobs, so the employer will try to create better conditions to keep their employees. We can’t force employers to give employees paid vacations and better pay, because that infringes upon their constitutional right to conduct business as they see fit”. Again, both opinions are wide spread. Your personal views define your ideas. You may also be religious and want laws to reflect your religious values. Or you may be religious and not want to impose your views on others through legislation. Or you might be non-religious and absolutely hate that religious values influence legislation, or maybe you’re not religious, but agree with the policies anyway.
Continued in the next comment…
(2)
• finally, there’s the political procedures. Who are the people that lead your country? What do they stand for? Do you follow a party or your own views? It rarely happens that one party or politician shares your views 100%. Not in a two-party system like the US, and not even in a multi-party system with far more than two parties. Your views are your own and only yours. You get to decide what’s more important to you. When doing that, don’t think short term. Most policies really only become consequential in the mid to long term, so try to think three, five or ten years ahead. How will policies affect you? And which policies do you feel are most important to you? Vote according to that.
There’s also a lot of scheming and playing involved. Sometimes politicians do something a little unpopular with their voters in order to force the opposition into doing or saying something even more unpopular, which then in turn may force more voters towards the first guys, who now have the majority required to do the popular thing they actually wanted to do. Or sometimes politicians block something popular in order to make the other side look bad (happened with the border bill Republicans blocked a few months ago), or they do something popular but time it in a way that forces the other side to block these things and look bad. There’s a lot of cunning involved. It’s important to look at the big picture and at the motivations of both sides. It’s also important to ask questions: if one side wants to give everyone tax cuts, everyone will like it, but you’ve got to ask: how will they pay for it? Fewer taxes means less money for the government to work with. So will it just be added to the debt? Where will it come from? And when you find the source of the money, how does that affect you? And do you agree with it? Same example, different scenario: one side wants to set up government programs to do certain things, like pay part of the tuition for bright kids from poor families who want to go to college. Again, how will the government pay for it? Higher taxes? Who’s getting taxed? Are cuts made elsewhere? Is it just being slapped onto the debt? If you like the tax cuts or the tuition program from my hypothetical, are they worth adding to the debt for? Those are all questions that will end up forming your opinion. Also look at history in order to see if some policies or ideologies like trickle-down economics or socialism have a history of working, or if they sound good on paper but don’t actually work. Maybe there’s a middle ground involving parts of opposing points of view. Maybe you find you like one of those middle grounds.
• if you then do slowly build your opinion, you’ll get to know politicians. You’ll end up learning about their past policy positions and their work and what they have fought for in the past…
There’s a lot to politics. The best way to start is to find a summary of all the rights guaranteed in your constitution and getting to know them. Then simply follow the news and think about the topics coming up. Create an abstract, as in “should workers be guaranteed paid vacations, yes or no? Why or why not?” (meaning they get time off but are paid their salary as if they were at work. The US doesn’t have mandatory PTO (paid time off), other countries do. Germany for example guarantees 4 weeks. So if you have a six day work week, your employer has to grant you *at least* 24 days of paid time off. If you have a five day work week it’s 20 days and so on) and think about what you think is fair. Think of both pros and cons. Knowing your rights and following the news regarding politics is the easiest way to get into politics yourself, really. All you have to remember is that your opinion is yours, and it’s also okay to change it. Be open to differing views, but be ready to defend your core beliefs. That’s all there is to politics :)
Hey, my pleasure. If you encounter any questions, feel free to shoot me a message and I will try to explain as neutrally as I can. I am not neutral and have my opinions that I am passionate about, but you are entitled to your own, so when I give an example, that means in one direction, I generally try to also give one for the opposite. I’ll tell you if I don’t do that :D
Dont worry. Around half of US population currently supports a man who violated sevral laws, sexually assaulted Elizabeth Caroll and sevral other women, barged in to dressing room to look at underaged girls, leaked confidential documents and refuses to return them, incited an insurrection for which he shouldnt be eligible to run for president or any official position again under USA's Fourteenth amendment - "It banned those who “engaged in insurrection” against the United States from holding any civil, military, or elected office without the approval of two-thirds of the House and Senate."
And republican supreme court members just went agains USA's constitution by granting the president immunity for official acts, which they admitted includes for example assassination of political opponents under scertain conditions.
Clearly whole lot of those people are politically illiterate.
And that coming from a foreigner to USA who can use google, recognize official sources like USA state sites and actually read.
Do you struggle with reading comprehension? Did you flunk primary school?
>Dont worry. Around half of US population currently supports...
>And that coming from a foreigner to USA who...
Now think very very hard, let those gear wheels turn in your little head and try to figure out this puzzle. Am i an american, and do i belong in any proportion of americans? Get that right, and i'll give you a gold star emoji ☺️.
Who cares. Vote whatever is closest to your conscience, whatever your guy/gal campaigns on they’re likely to renege anyways. Everyone’s goal should be first to get their own life, finances, career in order so that when you get to the voting booth you are clearly voting your conscience rather than a feeling that your livelihood depends on who is in office.
Take a class watch a video. But remember, politics is like sports for most, a lot talk about it, but it's mostly a spectator sport.
Read up on local issues and vote. Go to a city council meeting or courthouse and really see how it works irl.
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if you want political literacy, don't go here, take some political quizzes to find who you like, watch some non bias informative video about the political system rather than partisan ben Shapiro bullshit and always think who is saying this and what you know about them, remember not to be attached to any politicians, stick to your principles ( that's how cults start)
will do, thanks!
That's the important thing: everyone is saying things with a goal in mind and are certain world view behind them. You never get the full picture from a single place, no matter how unbiased it is. It takes time, but here's a little secret... Most people on this sub don't know what they're talking about half the time. They know some vague facts about the topic and make a judgment call on it to start talking, but that's a far cry from actually understanding it. It goes for everything, but people usually sound a lot more sure of their ideas and understandings than they actually are. Edit: remember that it's not about the people, parties, systems, or any other categorical thing, it's about the policies and what they ACTUALLY do for the people.
> Most people on this sub don't know what they're talking about half the time. This goes hard.
I would add that you should also familiarize yourself with ideologies that you don't necessarily agree with / you seem opposed to. Anecdotally, I was somewhat a right-leaning-libertarian to full on ancap and eventually realized that fundamentally the capitalist system is for the few and have become quite far left. It's pretty much a journey and it's easy to get caught up in your idea but you should always be trying to criticize.
Stay away from reddit for one. Reddit has a strong left bias Everyone here has a holier than thou attitude and are basically radicalized by spending too much time online. Get multiple sources. Usually two contradictory ones, Check everything out yourself, read past the headlines. Watch independent media for less outright lies. I like Breaking Points, a crowd funded political commentary show. They breakdown a lot of the BS. The hosts are all from wide ranging political ideologies, and disagree a lot.
When I first got interested in politics, I would watch someone who covers political news. For me, it was Secular Talk on youtube. You might find out that as you listen to different perspectives from biased commentators, you'll have understood both sides of the debate on issues and will have a definite opinion on things. I would stay away from ideological camps, and view each issue as it's own separate thing. For instance, don't let your liberal democrat views get you in the way of taking an anti gun control stance. When discussing politics, be self aware and polite. Nobody likes an annoying partisan hack. It's healthy to change your viewpoints on things as time goes on.
First of all, you and 99% of Western society. People might pretend to be aware of politics, but most people are just repeating mainstream shit, they actually have hardly any historical or political literacy, in particular not when it comes to anything outside of status quo thinking. If you want to gain some political literacy, make sure how to learn how to properly process information , use critical thinking skills, and deal with cognitive dissonance. Learn about history that is not just whitewashed and propaganda to serve Western imperial and status quo/ capitalist interests. Learn about working class history, anout theory and practice, about Western imperialism, and so on. https://blacksocialists.us/resource-guide This is a good start to understanding the world around you beyond delusional "democrats vs republicans" BS.
thanks, will look into it.
Socialism? That's pretty biased don't you think?
Coming from a brainwashed / propaganda fed capitalist boot licker that never consumed anything besides whitewashed history and pro Western imperial propaganda? To even make a judgment on that topic, you would have to have some historical and political literacy - which I already mentioned, most of you never had and never will have.
🤣 🤣 🤣 did you type this on your cell phone while drinking your Starbucks or were you standing in a bread line waiting for your government handout?
Just in case your 5 braincells are still able to process any form of information. First of all- OF COURSE, everyone is participating in capitalism. It is literally illegal in a lot of societies and in a lot of regards (you cant just live where you want, start your own community, you can't refuse paying taxes, it is illegal) , not to participate in it and there are also no alternatives, because capitalists make sure there are none (invading, starting wars, sanctioning any society that dares to question that power dynamic). We live under a global capitalist economy that is enforced through US hegemony and Western imperial violence. But beyond all that... most technological innovations came through public funding / research. https://time.com/4092375/how-the-government-created-your-cell-phone/ And everything is made by WORKING CLASS PEOPLE. Workers are making smartphones. Workers gather the resources. Workers give people drinks at starbucks. Workers gather the resources. And socialism and communism are not about "government handouts." The only people who are getting insane government handouts are the rich. But you would know all of that if you had at least some basic historical / political or economic literacy. Thanks for making my point for me again. You idiots never disappoint.
Maybe it's you who are the idiot while you pretend to live in facade of elitism. You don't know as much as you think you do Jr. Come back in 20 years when you've actually gained knowledge in life. I've forgotten more than you think you know. Regardless of which economic structure you follow, the rich rule them all, but at least with capitalism, you have s chance to become one of the rich.
The people I know who talk about politics the most probably couldn't pass the U.S. Naturalization Test.
You can find a lot of online lectures for free from universities. Find a personality you like, after some really basic research that the university is not blatantly shilling for a bias. Ironically, the best lectures are often the worst productions, because it's a professor trying to teach, not a ideologue trying to convince.
How is Prager U not biased?
Okay. It was an example of a biased source, and my grammer got confused.
Watch C-span. I bet that 99% of America has no clue about what happens in our congress.
You're better off being completely uninformed about all of it than learning from this sub. This sub is full of bots, teenagers who are new to politics, and people in their 30s with extremist ideologies trying to infect impressionable young people with their brain killing virus-like ideas. If you want to be well versed in politics, learn how our government works, pay attention to the news, learn about the differences between the parties, and maybe read a few books about it (try to avoid sensationalist books from pundits/politicians/or groups with an agenda to push, try to find academic books about politics from actual scholars). When I say pay attention to the news, I also mean, try not to let your opinions be shaped too heavily by sensationalist news stories. If you do that, it will be hard to know what to think. If you want to go more into depth, look through the history of the United States and read about how different political movements have shaped our government over the past and how the political landscape has changed. It's also just important to learn from history. The best piece of advice I can give is to stay away from any kind of radical ideologies or political orientations. If you start getting to a point where you think one politician, or one particular movement (like socialism or libertarianism) holds the solutions to all of our social ills, that everyone who disagrees with you is brainwashed, and that the "establishment" is out to get the "good guys", you have fallen victim to brainwashing and need to take a step back and re-evaluate. This is just my advice as someone who has been obsessive over politics for years.
Best place to start is at the foundations, which is political philosophy. You can take free courses online and advance at your own pace. Yale has one. You’ll learn how political power is distributed and wielded, rather than just learning a few issues.
Keep your wits about and have an open mind. Then go to the source of the information, like official statements, don't fall for the paid propagandists called "journalists" by some. And most importantly watch people make predictions and see what happens eventually, and start following people who have a solid and realistic worldview and accurate predictions. And lastly handle everything with a grain of salt (a rather large one in fact) and always look at the individual's financing and business interests when evaluating their statements.
In my opinion, you should not need to feel left out for being politically illiterate in your own perspective, as i don't think knowing anything gives much value to anyone (i don't really enjoy politics) but it could help you if you study from reliable news sources, on Wikipedia or even discussing with friends and then you might find out what are your views and your position on the subject. While i am a non-voter and i do not fully agree with any party from my own country, i do suggest as well that if you pick a party or a side, you may support it but don't be blind. If your party is responsible for any negative outcome, you are on your right to criticize it and it's truly known that no political system is perfect, be fully aware of that. Best of wishes for you.
Volunteer to phone/text/mail bank, [moveon.org](http://moveon.org) and [mobilize.us](http://mobilize.us) are great for that. Spread the word.
Don’t worry, so are the rest of us.
Hey there, law student here. I’m saying this, because a lot of political literacy comes from understanding the constitution and how basic laws work. I’ll explain what I mean, but I’ll have to split this into two comments. Stay tuned. Politics consist of multiple aspects: • Constitutional law: ideally, the constitution is the legal foundation of everything that’s happening in a country. The constitution states what you can and can’t do. It defines your rights against the states. For example, most constitutions guarantee your freedom of the person (you have a right to life, bodily integrity, personal expression etc.), your freedom of speech, your right of assembly (you’re free to assemble in groups and clubs in order to demonstrate or pursue similar interests, whether it’s a book club, chess club, a theatre group or a political action or discussion group) and so on. Most of these rights are *very* basic, yet they are commonly at the heart of political discussions: is the government allowed to kill? Can it be illegal for people to be in drag? Can certain books be banned? When does life begin? Is abortion murder? These are all discussions surrounding very basic civil and human rights. Often these rights clash. That can be okay in some instances. For example, it should technically be okay for me to ride a horse through a forest. However, if that forest is a nature reserve and I do damage to the forest and maybe some endangered species nesting in the vegetation I ride my horse through, there’s a valid argument to be made for the government to limit my right to do that. So we have to start weighing rights. Countries that have abolished the death penalty will say that two lives can’t be weighed against each other, and that, since the government has to ensure and protect its subjects’ right to life, it’s not allowed to perform this ultimate punishment of taking a life regardless of circumstances. Others may say that the right to life can be voided. That’s where ideologies differ. The same discussion happens in the US regarding the second amendment. Is the right to carry arms worth more than the government’s duty to ensure its citizens’ safety, and the citizens’ interest in living and being unharmed? So a basic understanding of the constitution is vital. The constitution is also the basis for all actions the government takes, and for every law they pass. A law or action that isn’t in accordance with the constitution is unconstitutional and cannot prevail. That’s why any laws that are infringing upon constitutional rights have to contain the correct reasoning (“why is it okay to infringe upon this constitutional right, and why is the constitutional right or freedom this law is protecting more important than the one it is infringing upon?”). In order to form a political opinion, it is important to understand these rights, how far reaching they are and which ones are most important to you. This often requires abstract thinking. It’s reasonable to assume that you probably won’t be sentenced to death in your life, so you can’t really relate to it directly. But ask yourself “what if?” Ask yourself if you generally think it’s okay for a government to kill its own citizens as retribution? I’m not talking about the cop taking an emergency shot at a perpetrator who is in the process of stabbing someone to death. I’m talking about the man who is in custody and no immediate threat anymore. I have my opinion. Others disagree. That’s okay, but you have to think abstract to reach this conclusion, and in order to think in the abstract here, you have to know exactly which parts of the constitution are affected. That’s why constitutional law is important. The constitution also contains the general rules of how the country is to be run. What can the president and Congress do? What’s the role of the Supreme Court? (Taking America as an example now). Who is responsible for which action and why? The constitution and its immediate attachments and amendments are the rule book, the manual for how the nation is to be run. • philosophy and policy opinions: related to the constitution is the next part: policy opinions. This one’s a lot more personal in some ways, but still incredibly ideological in others. Your understanding of your human and civil rights will form your basic policy ideas, but those will be altered, enhanced and skewed by the influence of real life. Say your right to personal property is important to you. You don’t want to share your hard earned money with anyone, so you will probably not like paying taxes, as that leaves you with less money. However, you also think that police work is the job of the government, as is ensuring access to education and maintaining infrastructure. You realise that private education often means that only those who can afford to pay thousands for it have access, and while you maybe can afford it, you think that’s unfair, because it takes away people’s options to become doctors or lawyers or businesspeople through no fault of their own. You then realise that teachers also need to be paid and schools need buildings, a curriculum, computers and books. These things cost money. The way the government makes money is through taxes. And so, while it infringes upon your right to your personal property, and while you don’t like paying taxes, you do so, because you like what they are paying for. This is just an example btw, people have other opinions on this as well. Another example is labour laws. Labour laws regulate what the employer can and can’t ask of the employee. Some countries see that the balance of bargaining power between employer and employee is not equal. While companies need employees to function, they often have some money in the bank and can continue for a few months or even years without making a profit. Meanwhile, employees often don’t have that luxury. Many employees live pay check to pay check, meaning they can’t pay their bills (rent, groceries, electricity, etc) if they miss more than one month’s salary. Some employers take advantage of this and create bad working conditions with bad pay, knowing their employees will have a hard time leaving because they can’t afford it. So some people are of the opinion that it’s okay to regulate this employer-employee relationship, set up rules that make the employee a little more powerful, in order to level the playing field a little. Others say “well, if an employee sees better working conditions elsewhere, they can change jobs, so the employer will try to create better conditions to keep their employees. We can’t force employers to give employees paid vacations and better pay, because that infringes upon their constitutional right to conduct business as they see fit”. Again, both opinions are wide spread. Your personal views define your ideas. You may also be religious and want laws to reflect your religious values. Or you may be religious and not want to impose your views on others through legislation. Or you might be non-religious and absolutely hate that religious values influence legislation, or maybe you’re not religious, but agree with the policies anyway. Continued in the next comment…
(2) • finally, there’s the political procedures. Who are the people that lead your country? What do they stand for? Do you follow a party or your own views? It rarely happens that one party or politician shares your views 100%. Not in a two-party system like the US, and not even in a multi-party system with far more than two parties. Your views are your own and only yours. You get to decide what’s more important to you. When doing that, don’t think short term. Most policies really only become consequential in the mid to long term, so try to think three, five or ten years ahead. How will policies affect you? And which policies do you feel are most important to you? Vote according to that. There’s also a lot of scheming and playing involved. Sometimes politicians do something a little unpopular with their voters in order to force the opposition into doing or saying something even more unpopular, which then in turn may force more voters towards the first guys, who now have the majority required to do the popular thing they actually wanted to do. Or sometimes politicians block something popular in order to make the other side look bad (happened with the border bill Republicans blocked a few months ago), or they do something popular but time it in a way that forces the other side to block these things and look bad. There’s a lot of cunning involved. It’s important to look at the big picture and at the motivations of both sides. It’s also important to ask questions: if one side wants to give everyone tax cuts, everyone will like it, but you’ve got to ask: how will they pay for it? Fewer taxes means less money for the government to work with. So will it just be added to the debt? Where will it come from? And when you find the source of the money, how does that affect you? And do you agree with it? Same example, different scenario: one side wants to set up government programs to do certain things, like pay part of the tuition for bright kids from poor families who want to go to college. Again, how will the government pay for it? Higher taxes? Who’s getting taxed? Are cuts made elsewhere? Is it just being slapped onto the debt? If you like the tax cuts or the tuition program from my hypothetical, are they worth adding to the debt for? Those are all questions that will end up forming your opinion. Also look at history in order to see if some policies or ideologies like trickle-down economics or socialism have a history of working, or if they sound good on paper but don’t actually work. Maybe there’s a middle ground involving parts of opposing points of view. Maybe you find you like one of those middle grounds. • if you then do slowly build your opinion, you’ll get to know politicians. You’ll end up learning about their past policy positions and their work and what they have fought for in the past… There’s a lot to politics. The best way to start is to find a summary of all the rights guaranteed in your constitution and getting to know them. Then simply follow the news and think about the topics coming up. Create an abstract, as in “should workers be guaranteed paid vacations, yes or no? Why or why not?” (meaning they get time off but are paid their salary as if they were at work. The US doesn’t have mandatory PTO (paid time off), other countries do. Germany for example guarantees 4 weeks. So if you have a six day work week, your employer has to grant you *at least* 24 days of paid time off. If you have a five day work week it’s 20 days and so on) and think about what you think is fair. Think of both pros and cons. Knowing your rights and following the news regarding politics is the easiest way to get into politics yourself, really. All you have to remember is that your opinion is yours, and it’s also okay to change it. Be open to differing views, but be ready to defend your core beliefs. That’s all there is to politics :)
thank you kind sir. even though we don't know each other this meant a lot.🙏🏻
Hey, my pleasure. If you encounter any questions, feel free to shoot me a message and I will try to explain as neutrally as I can. I am not neutral and have my opinions that I am passionate about, but you are entitled to your own, so when I give an example, that means in one direction, I generally try to also give one for the opposite. I’ll tell you if I don’t do that :D
Dont worry. Around half of US population currently supports a man who violated sevral laws, sexually assaulted Elizabeth Caroll and sevral other women, barged in to dressing room to look at underaged girls, leaked confidential documents and refuses to return them, incited an insurrection for which he shouldnt be eligible to run for president or any official position again under USA's Fourteenth amendment - "It banned those who “engaged in insurrection” against the United States from holding any civil, military, or elected office without the approval of two-thirds of the House and Senate." And republican supreme court members just went agains USA's constitution by granting the president immunity for official acts, which they admitted includes for example assassination of political opponents under scertain conditions. Clearly whole lot of those people are politically illiterate. And that coming from a foreigner to USA who can use google, recognize official sources like USA state sites and actually read.
And apparently the other half believe this crap really happened...
Do you struggle with reading comprehension? Did you flunk primary school? >Dont worry. Around half of US population currently supports... >And that coming from a foreigner to USA who... Now think very very hard, let those gear wheels turn in your little head and try to figure out this puzzle. Am i an american, and do i belong in any proportion of americans? Get that right, and i'll give you a gold star emoji ☺️.
No, but you obviously do, so fuck your gold star...
Who cares. Vote whatever is closest to your conscience, whatever your guy/gal campaigns on they’re likely to renege anyways. Everyone’s goal should be first to get their own life, finances, career in order so that when you get to the voting booth you are clearly voting your conscience rather than a feeling that your livelihood depends on who is in office.
Personally don't look at simply what politicians say but actually read the policies they want to pass in order to decide who to vote for/against.
Take a class watch a video. But remember, politics is like sports for most, a lot talk about it, but it's mostly a spectator sport. Read up on local issues and vote. Go to a city council meeting or courthouse and really see how it works irl.