Page 84

    My family most influences my beliefs, morals, and my view on politics. Fortunately we don't all share the same beliefs allowing for debate and the questioning of each others thoughts. I believe this is beneficial because it allows us to form an individual view instead of, which is quite common, me just following after my parents without much thought. This variety of opinion has challenged me to look at issues and current events and conceive my own perspective. As I transition into adulthood and prepare to be more independent I'm allowing my own experiences to form my judgement.

    The issue I am most passionate about relates to the environment. With America having one of the biggest carbon  foot prints in the world you would think the U.S. would do all it can to intervene with the damage we are causing. With the economy in distress environmental issues have taken the backseat. Not nearly as much federal funding is directed to our planet, our home. I believe we take a lot of the earth for granted especially as other issues arise(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fy2010_spending_by_category.jpg). It is our responsibility to take proper care of our earth.

Voting Age

 I strongly believe that the voting age should never be raised to any age over 18. Although many who are around the age of 18 aren't some of our most mature citizens and many make decisions based off of their peers or the influences in the media, other factors outweigh this belief that they are not ready for the responsibility. First of all no citizen should not be allowed to die for their country, but not be eligible to vote. Also many young people these days, since the 2008 presidential election, have been more interested in politics and raising the voting age would effect interest in politics in our youth. In many aspects decisions are being made about our future and our youth should be able to be apart of those decisions.