What Made Me If I Have My Own Ideology?

I have not had much interest in politics until recently. Before last year, I did not care for anything related to politics; I thought that it was all boring and had little to no affect on me on a personal level. I am more interested in politics nowadays. I know better now that it does affect me and I should care about it. I had learned about the concepts of political socialization, party identification, political tolerance, political trust, political efficacy in government class and how they affect my political beliefs. My personal political belief has been shaped into what it is today and is still being shaped because of those six concepts.

Finding myself on the political spectrum was rather easy. I would classify myself a centrist or moderate. My views do not completely align with either major ideology and on major issues I'm split between the liberal and conservative sides. One thing that both liberal and conservative ideologies believe in is Democracy. I believe that we must protect democracy at all costs. The rights that democracy affords us a citizens of the United States are unique and require the upmost respect. I hold the liberal view that the government should protect the public safety. I believe the government is responsible to protect its people and act in the publics best interests. Therefore, I also hold the views that gun control and protection of the environment must be enacted and legislated to protect the public. I believe in equal opportunity and access because if you aren't playing on the same starting field how are you expected to move up and succeed. I hold the conservative

There are three political ideologies that are addressed by Cullen and Gilbert (2012). The first one is the conservative ideology. Conservatives place their main emphasis on traditional values, and tend to have issues when someone tries to change tradition. According to conservatives, maintaining social order is an important way to protect society as a whole. Individuals are on their own when it comes to the ideology of conservatives. They have the assumption that individuals are responsible for their own actions, good or bad. Conservatives will protect innocent citizens, but will focus on the punishment of guilty one rather than rehabilitation.

A lot of things have played a role in my personal political socialization. Political ideology is the places where you have informed your beliefs from. The first example of where I get my personal political socialization is from my family. Second I have influence from my location in the U.S.A. Finally I get influence from Narragansett High School which is the school I currently attend. That is where I received my personal political socialization from.

A person’s ideology is influenced by their socialisation, mine was heavily influenced by my family.

It is part of the human condition to have a tendency of going through drastic measures to obtain an ideology that has been accepted as a “natural fact.” Through Anthem, Ayn Rand warned of the dangers of blindly and unquestionably following an ideology; the dangers to society that loyalty to a belief system pose are strict limitations on personal comforts, lack of individualism, and the formation of an irrational government.

In my life I have never had any political enforcement or strict religious influence. My parents were very lenient when it came too political preaching. I was taught to be a caring and respectful individual. My political understanding and beliefs have been molded from my early political memories and socialization experiences. As a young adult I have always strived to become knowledgeable about political ideals mainly because I was never really taught to believe in something specific. I eventually was drawn towards many different social and political perspectives, which is how I came to a logical conclusion of how I view the world politically

Out of the five categories on the political spectrum line I place myself as a Republican. In my opinion being a Republican means to me that there should be a smaller government, the government should not be a big role in business and that we would prefer spending our tax money on infrastructure and the military . I believe that I am a Republican because I do not always want things in the government to change every day. I think that change is good but if something is working out good we should keep it and just build off of it, that is why I believe that I am a conservative. The three reasons/issues why I placed my self where I did was because I do not think that we should be spending a large amount of our tax money on social programs, I think that we need more security on our border and should be somewhat concentrating on legal and not illegal immigration, I do not think that we should punish success by taxing it , and lastly I believe that people should acknowledge that the police work hard and that I support the police and law but also think that they need to respect everyone's individual rights of people.

Then my junior year of high school is when my beliefs and opinions started to take shape. I became extremely fascinated with politics and landed my first internship with republican State Senator Guy Reschenthaler. I have realized that younger generations follow in the footsteps of their parents in political views but I was different, my parents are both democrats and I am a republican.

A population’s views on political issues may change as different circumstances occur each day. The environment around us has a powerful influence on the decisions that we produce and the views that we as American citizens choose to hold. After a semester in political science class my views and my political ideology have altered. Today I will explain how political science class has influenced my political ideology.

Different ideologies tend to appeal to different demographic characteristics such as gender, class, race, etc. because a person’s background will affect which system of ideas they most closely align with. Liberalism and conservatism, for example, are ideologies that regularly contradict each other, because they appeal to different demographics based upon many factors such as class, race, gender, religion, etc. The general worldview of liberalism is that people have individual rights and liberty, while promoting progress. On the other hand, conservatism places greater importance of keeping tradition and strict regulation of rules. In determining the extent of appeal to different demographics, one must assess the ways in which both ideologies

Ideologies refer to a set of ideas and values that provides a base for organised political action. They justify and influence the different theories of society and human nature. Ideologies have a big impact on policy making, as the government of the day will base their policies around these political ideologies. The two major political parties in New Zealand, National and Labour, each have different beliefs and values which lead to different ideologies. Looking at both parties previous and current policies, we can observe the impact of the ideologies they have adopted on their policy making. The National party in the last 20 years has driven policies from a

Ideology is defined as “a set of opinions or beliefs of a group or an individual.” (Vocabulary.com). Generally, ideology is connected with politics and one’s political beliefs. To determine where I stood on the political compass, I took the test provided at politicalcompass.org. This test is used to organize and label where one stands on their economic and social views among four different political types: Right Libertarian, Left Libertarian, Right Authoritarian, and Left Authoritarian. Upon taking this test, I learned that I was considered to be Libertarian Left. I was a somewhat surprised with my results and with the politicians that held the same label as I did.

     Upon taking the “Worlds smallest Political quiz” online, the website told me that I was a Centrist. A Centrist is a person who favors selective political involvement and practical solutions to modern problems. A Centrist tends to keep an open mind on new issues and prefers capitalism to work out economic problems if at all possible. Although I was a centrist I was on the boarder line of being a right wing conservative who would like to see a capitalistic society and little government intervention. The next quiz was an ideology quiz. This quiz told me that I also tended towards the conservative side. I apparently also would like to see order in society instead of equality. These two tests showed similar results in that both said I was more closely related to a conservative than a liberal. The “Worlds smallest Political Quiz” showed the national results and percentages of those who have previously taken the test. The majority of people who take the quiz, 37.7% are liberals. The second most popular grouping is Centrist at 29 %. The ideology quiz stated that the average of all those who take this quiz are liberal as well.

Growing up in a very conservative household within an increasingly liberal society, I've had difficulty identifying my own political beliefs. I’ve been taught to pick a side: the left or right. That mindset has always left me torn and confused, but I have discovered that I don’t want to choose. I am a moderate. For me, politics is about my own values and my own ideologies, not whether my values are specifically conservative or liberal. I have a more liberal view on issues such as same-sex marriage, the death penalty, and abortion. And I have more conservative views on taxes, the free market system, and welfare. What I believe should not be swayed by trying to affiliate myself with a particular political party. I don’t fit perfectly into the