Checkpoint 3

Hello again, today I am tasked to write about Political Parties. Political parties are groups of people who share common beliefs and views. Each party tries to get people to vote for them to get elected into office so that they can implement their different points of view into public policy. Political parties link people to the government by people identifying with a party (democrat, republican, green party, etc.) and then voting for candidates from that party. This is an important linkage institution because since people can vote for candidates of a specific party, it gives them a way to be directly involved with the government and public policy.

I chose to look more in depth to the republican party. The Republican Party believes that America works best, and America prospers, when individuals and families can maintain their independence from government. The Republican Party believes that immigration reforms will strengthen the security of America. The Republican party also believes strongly in the second amendment. The republican party is basically the opposite of the Democratic party. I chose to investigate this party because I tend to hold mainly republican views.The issue I chose is the second amendment. The republican party is very pro-gun and will always try to stop anyone from passing legislation against guns. They believe that guns are essential to personal and national safety.

The politician I chose is Donald J Trump. Trump is affiliated with the republican party and holds basically the opposite views of Hillary Clinton. The basis of his campaign was to "Make America Great Again" #MAGA, the basic premise behind this is that the government is filled with corrupt people and giving our jobs away to illegals, and he will get them back. The artifact I chose is a Pro-Trump commercial, which shows him during his speech talking about how he is going to make America great again. This video depicts many images of Hillary Clinton when Trump says things like corrupt or deceitful. This artifact directly corresponds with Trump's ideals because it is a sound clip of him stating what he wants to happen.

Checkpoint 5

Hello, today I am tasked to write about elections and voting as a linkage institution, I specifically chose to write about the 2016 presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Voting is a major linkage institution because it literally links you to the government by saying what you want the government to do. Elections play a major role in shaping one's political beliefs because they make you choose what side you want to vote for.

The first candidate I chose is Hillary Clinton. Hilary is affiliated with the democratic party and holds very liberal stances on most issues. Some of the issues that were most addressed during her campaign were addiction and substance use, disability rights, decreasing gun violence and a fairer tax system. Being as the general populous voted for Hilary Clinton, it can be assumed that the average American shares some of the same stances as Hilary. The artifact that I chose to analyze is a Trump Hate Ad endorsed by the Hillary campaign. This artifact is taking short clips from many of Donald Trump's speeches and interviews, and questions his reasoning. The video is meant to depict Donald Trump as a bad person who is unfit for presidency, to advance her own agenda. This article relates directly to Hillary's campaign because it was made for it. This was made to make Hillary look like a good person. The artifact fails to mention any of the good things that Trump has done and only highlights the controversial.

The second candidate I chose is Donald J Trump. Trump is affiliated with the republican party and holds basically the opposite views of Hillary Clinton. The basis of his campaign was to "Make America Great Again" #MAGA, the basic premise behind this is that the government is filled with corrupt people and giving our jobs away to illegals, and he will get them back. The artifact I chose is a Pro-Trump commercial, which shows him during his speech talking about how he is going to make America great again. This video depicts many images of Hillary Clinton when Trump says things like corrupt or deceitful. This artifact directly corresponds with Trump's ideals because it is a sound clip of him stating what he wants to happen.

Checkpoint 2

Hello all, I am back for my 2nd checkpoint blog post. Today's post is about interest groups as a linkage institution and how they can differ. I chose to compare/contrast Veterans for Peace and Center for Security Policy on their stance about the military. The fist Interest Group, Veterans for Peace, is a very liberal interest group that wants to cut government spending and use it for other things such as education or healthcare. From what I've read, they have yet to accomplish anything but getting people to go to anti-military rallies.The article from them that I chose to use is ‘De-certifying’ the Iran Deal May Be Trump’s Most Reckless Decision Yet which is saying that trump is being reckless with his decisions. They are trying to tell people that Trump is going to start a new war because of his actions. This article directly relates to their purpose of stopping military funding. This article is biased because it is very anti-military because it outright says that we should stay away from war because it is only detrimental to us. On the other hand, the article I chose for Center for Security Policy is U.S. Strikes Kill Dozens at IS Training Camps. This article is about the recent bombings of Isis camps. This is an article that relates a lot to the purpose of the Center for Security Policy because it is glorifying military actions, in turn gaining more funds for themselves and the military. This article is also semi-biased because it is pro-military. Comparing the two groups, they are polar opposites, one wants the military to stop being funded and the other  wants more military funding. They don't seem to share any similar attributes besides both being focused on the military. The articles differ greatly because on is ridiculing the military and one is glorifying it. Thanks for reading.

Checkpoint 4

Hello, I'm back for my 4th Checkpoint blog post, today I will be talking about the media as a linkage institution and comparing the differences of two news sources, and one of their articles on the topic of Terrorism.

First off, some people may not realize that the media is a linkage institution. The definition of a linkage institution is "A structure within a society that connects the people to the government or centralized authority." , media falls directly under this definition because media directly connects users to the government of politics through articles/videos/surveys. Media is one of the largest linkage institutions because, nearly everyone in the United States has been exposed or uses media. The media plays a major role in elections/anything to do with voting. Media sources tend to be very politically biased, and they can use their platform to try and persuade users to think a certain way, and get them to vote for certain people/laws. The two news sources I chose to analyze are, CNN and Fox News. CNN is a very liberal news source which in turn means that its intended audience is primarily liberal. Fox News is a very conservative news source which in turn means that its intended audience is primarily conservative. The current event that I chose is the recent Texas Church shooting.

The first article I will go over is an article from CNN titled US leaders react to Texas church shooting. This article, as you might guess, is about the reactions of government officials to the mass shooting. In the article CNN quoted many officials statements about the shooting, and they also chose to quote mainly democrats who showed sympathy towards the victims and possibly added something in about how gun control could have helped and more legislation should be passed. This source is very biased when you read it carefully. There are many instances where the author adds things like “Trump said his ‘thoughts and prayers’ are with the victims and their families, but he did not suggest plans to take any legislative or other policy action to address the shooting”, which is basically them trying to say that trump doesn’t really care because he is not trying to change any laws. They also add statements from some house of representative members which are also pro-gun control. This article is written in a way that tries to convince people that guns are bad and that they should go out and try to get rid of guns. They fail to state that the shooter could not legally be in possession of a firearm due to the fact that he was dishonorably discharged from the armed forces, so more laws saying that he can’t have a gun wouldn’t have stopped him. They do cater to their normal readers who are primarily democrats. The majority of democrats are anti-gun and somehow believe that gun control would stop gun violence. There is a chance that this article could have influenced the readers to go out and protest guns, but if the readers get the facts or the case, there would be no reason to.

The next article I chose is from Fox News titled Texas church shooter Devin Patrick Kelley served in Air Force, was court-martialed for assaulting wife, child. The article describes information about his childhood, information on his abusive relationship with his wife and mother in law, and his time spent in the Air Force.  This article is also relevant to the issue I chose, since the purpose of the text is to educate the public on this current issue. I am also confident that the information given is both reliable and credible. Fox News is a large news outlet, and the majority of their evidence is from insiders and/or cited. Fox News tends to be pretty conservative, and it was easy to notice the conservative bias included within the information. The information presented itself is not bias, however, the way that the information is presented includes a little. The author tends to emphasize that the gunman has mental problems and could not legally be in possession of a firearm and tends to normally draw back to that point. The words they use to describe him have a very negative connotation, which draws me to my next point, rhetoric in the text. They use a very strong and critical tone when speaking of Kelley, which illustrates to readers how awful the act he committed was. This article is presented to Fox’s normal readers which are primarily conservative. You can tell this is meant to appeal to them because they do not try to convince them that more gun laws would have stopped this, but more that crazy people do crazy things. After both of these sources are read, it is good to realize that you should not only subject yourself to only one side of the story, it is best to take your time and get all of the story because media tends to be fairly biased and influential.

Checkpoint 1

Hello, my name is Carter, I am a Senior at Summit Public Schools: Shasta. This blog is for my AP Government Class, to share about my political typology and talk about American politics. I tend to have different views than most of the students at Shasta. My political typology is Steadfast Conservative, unlike the majority of California. Steadfast conservatives tend to view the government as too powerful, and at times unnecessary. I grew up in a conservative family that I share many of my views with. I am open to new ideas and civil conversations about controversial topics.