American Government and Politics
Political belief is not an easy issue to discuss for me. People fight and die for those things they believe in. In such perspective, political views go along with religious or cultural ones. I cannot define myself as a Democrat or Republican. I cannot define myself as a liberal or conservative. I believe that each direction has its own pros and cons. We can judge our Democratic president, but at the same time we can find lots of failures in the Republican views. Liberalism allows creativity and novelty, those things that society accepts. However, I believe that some issues should be treated through the conservative view. Therefore, if I was asked what political beliefs I have, I would respond that I share ideas of all the above mentioned directions, but to certain degree.
Another question is who or what influences our political orientation. A few decades ago the answer was “political leaders.” Charismatic, inspired by the idea, they could easily persuade masses to follow them by heated discussions, passionate speeches and risky deeds. Now I am likely to say that mass media has the greatest influence on the public political orientation. Journalists and reporters have the power to dispense information the way they want or the way they are told to do. Society has impact on political ideology as well. Family and friends, with whom you exchange your opinions, are likely to contribute to your awareness in politics and influence your mind.
I believe that political ideology is very important. This does not necessarily means that political ideology can have impact only to the extent politics is present in our everyday life. Indeed, it influences everything. Being a supporter of one of the political party or defining oneself as a liberal or conservative provides a framework of how an individual sees life. I am sure that political ideology influences decision-making in every aspect of life.
There are a lot of different methods and test to determine your political ideology, or at least to find out what direction you support the most. However, I do not believe that such kind of things can really provide a grounded assessment. Political ideology is far more complicated issue to be determined by a few answers of some tests.
