College of Political Knowledge
Subject: Political Theory/Government
Paper #37
As always one post leads to another…..I had one a few months back about the political obligation (go to search, if you are interested) of the individual to his/her society….after re-reading it I realized that there was another part of that issue and that is political socialization….I know…..I know…HUH?
Well my question was intended to create a dialog as to whether we, as Americans, have an obligation to participate in the political system (check it out)………if you think we do have an obligation, then where do we learn of this obligation?
Well, we learn it in Civics class or American government 101 or……….and that process of learning is known as “political socialization”…..
Political socialization is basically, the process by which political culture is transmitted from generation to generation.
Back in the day….the beginning of the country our political socialization was the domain of the family…the children would learn the where fores and whys around the dinner table and by listening to the conversations of the men folk….as the children grew he was to continue the process as did his father or brothers or uncles or……
Then as more and more children were being educated the schools became the second line of learning the process of political socialization…the indoctrination was through the study of civics and American history…
Now the more recent development….since most families have both parents working hard and spending less time with the children, their primary political education comes more from caregivers and the media…TV and the internet……and then the political socialization continues through out ones life….but today the teachers of this socialization are from religious leaders or interests groups or TV or …well you understand the concept…..all this leads to the participation in the political process and how one votes…….
Now the problem as I see it is that many people have NO ideology, with the exception of some emotional thing that has NO real bearing on governance…..so they become an independent, if you will, meaning that they will pick and choose among the lists of issues from one party or the other…..and mostly about what is best for them not what is best for the country……at times, there is a difference……and that they make their decisions based on what some talking head tells them is the issue of the campaign…I do not mind a staunch supporter of one party over another….just that they seldom hold to the principles that they say are important….but rather vote for some caricature that some entertainer paints for them….seldom checking for the accuracy of the idea……
For instance this past election, the 2010 election, people voted for lower taxes, to create economic growth and that they think that the TARP was a failure…….the sad part is……The facts: The Obama administration cut taxes for middle-class Americans, has overseen an economy that has grown for the past four quarters and expects to make a profit on the hundreds of billions of dollars spent to rescue Wall Street banks.
The American voter is sadly uninformed and politicians and the media are to blame…..but the final judgment is on the voter to check for the truthfulness of facts given to them by their leaders….something that they unwilling or incapable of doing……and the political system dies…..
Yes, I take your point, but I think you’re wrong about political ideology – in my opinion, it’s a very bad thing – in fact ALL ideologies are a bad thing, political or not.
The reason I say that is that ideologies by their very nature tend to preclude free thought and, perhaps even more importantly, will automatically make a person with the same ideology more believable to most folk than someone with a different or opposing ideology.
I think the REAL danger that is more and more prevalent, is the way powerful people use powerful forces to feed the preconceptions of the ignorant. To put it another way, we all might just as well elect Rupert Murdoch and be done with all this expensive voting nonsense, because the unintelligent and the ideologically committed will automatically join forces to produce a majority and if Murdoch swings to the right (or to the left), that is the way the country is likely to go.
Just remember this one fact… stability is the sworn enemy of the monied and the powerful – CHANGE, on the other hand (be it good or bad for most of us normal people), can be manipulated for their benefit, whilst stability is MUCH harder to profit from!
Oh, I see what you are saying and I may agree with you somewhat….but I feel if you stand for nothing you will fall for anything (thanx to ever said that) and I always agree with the ignorance part of your comment…..((wait of it….there it is….) but we as a country need a unified plan if we are to ever recover…..we cannot survive without compromise…..the last 10 years or so are illustrating that……I think I can be ideological and still find room for a compromise….
You may be right, but in answer to your last sentence – most can’t!
As to standing for something, we should all stand as far as is humanly possible for OUR OWN particular principles – not some other jerk’s, or some group’s…
“We cannot survive without compromise”… but surely ideology as it naturally occurs and particularly as it is manipulated by the group and by the media, usually results in a total failure to compromise or apply logic, unless that person is educated and has a reasonable intellect – sadly, that doesn’t sound like you average Joe to me (or any of us on a bad day).
Sadly, you are right in your comment….in there lies the prob (IMO) the media is the foremost hegemonic influence and they have an agenda…I wish it was not so….but sadly….