Blog Number 5

I am and am not surprised by where if fit on the chart. I knew that when I was taking this that i would be on the left somewhere. I am also not surprised that I am not as far left as some people one, because i didn't know what some of the questions in the test were asking and two because i do hold some right side views. I am surprised at the fact that i was closer to the authoritarian side of things than the libertarian. I just think of my self as a let the people do what they want kind of person... but after learning stuff through the course i have realized that I do prefer a little more control through the government, and accept more of the restrictions that before i was either uneducated on or just indifferent. Because of the results of this test I would identify more with a Democrat, one that is able to see both sides of the argument, sides with the left more, but is definitely not glued to the party. Like i said before i hold some right side views.

Also, resulting from this test, i am somewhere between Nelson Mandela on the left, Jose Zapatero on the upper right, and Pope Benedict XVI on the upper left. Its kind of hard to compare myself to these people one because they are very influential people and two because i don't know who Jose Zapatero is. I prefer being a democrat because they have more liberal views than the republicans. I believe that there should be health care for all people, that we should find a way to get out of the war (or at least stop sending people in), i believe that the government is responsible for helping our economy. whereas the republicans stand on the fact that some of this should be done by the people within the states. whereas i say that the states don't have the power to accomplish the things that our nation needs.

When looking at both the democrat and republican web sites i had a few different reactions. The republicans site was ridiculous and was waaayyyyy harsh and uncalled for, "the democrats are advancing their agenda...your life is now under their scrutiny." From that all i can say is WOW! The picture of the huge democrat about to squish a civilians head. I can almost not even get past that to look at the issues they stand for, or move through the website... just a little uncalled for in my opinion. They are stuck right now with a democratic president, they should embrace it and do with it whatever they can, not bash basically Americans. The democrats website on the other hand is an ode to Obama. I think my favorite part of the site was the Sonya Sotomayor picture at the top. Its an achievement and the first large thing that the Obama administration has done, and i liked to see it as a poster of achievement right there on the front of the website. One thing that i liked about both sites is if you scroll down they both have their social networking links to youtube, facebook, etc... which i think is neat.