Michael+Pfau

=﻿Mike Pfau's Political Profile = I would classify my political tolerance as about average. I am tolerant of other religions, beliefs, and practices, whether I agree with them or not is entirely different. However, we need to remember to respect eachother's rights to personal freedom and have good taste. I know I would be uncomfortable if a terrorist was yelling out the reasons why he hates America in City Hall. Respecting eachother's boundaries is very important to me. I feel most people tolerate other beliefs and practices, but would feel down right uncomfortable if they were practicing ridiculous offensive things in public. a.) I have a strong trust for the institutional government, whether it be Congress or the Supreme Court. I feel they are truely trying their best in governing out country, but like everything else in this world, the system does have flaws. One major flaw being political parties. I also feel the true decline of Political Parties, and I feel my trust in them is somewhat decreasing. b.) Trusting politicians is a huge hit and miss, there are some I trust and feel they truely care about America and bettering it. Others, I feel they are in it to quench their power thirst. For example, I strongly trust Sarah Palin and Ron Paul. I have had the honor of meeting both of them and they both stopped to take time and talk to me, also they were so down to earth. They truely cared about me, being a concerned American.However, some people only want to get into politics for the power. I do not believe Nancy Pelosi cares about what the American people as a whole think and want, she only caters to the Democrats. She is a true actress. Growing up in a diverse household with one parent being an Independent and the other strongly Republican, I have heard the issues from both sides. My first political memory is of course the Gore/Bush presidential election, I remember people criticizing the electoral college, and how angry they were at George W, Bush, I don't remember how my parents felt about it. I truely gained a lot of political insight during my 2 week stay in DC this summer. When I met kids from across the country with different ideologies, it really did raise my understanding of my political thinking. I went from a hardcore conservative, but when I returned, my ideas started to slowly shift to the left (socially), and went further to the right economically. It is never stressed enough how important your region is in shaping your political viewpoints. Coming from North Dakota, I only knew the conservative persepective, going to DC, however, broadened my views.
 * POLITICAL TOLERANCE**
 * POLITICAL TRUST**
 * POLITICAL SOCIALIZATION**

I truely would consider myself a Libertarian. I don't like to listen to quizzes, because I know what I am truely thinking, and the quizzes often don't include my sometimes radical ideas. My big issues in my ideologies are the economy and defense. The government needs to step out of the economy, have some patience (I know it's hard), and let the free market take off. Also, I believe in completely abolishing the IRS and repealing the 16th amendment, which would get rid of the income tax. Instead, I support a nationwide 23% (give or take) sales tax, a.k.a. the Fair Tax System, letting Americans keep their paychecks and get taxed on what they spend, not what they earn. I believe in a strong national defense, the government is here to keep order and protect us, let's go back to the basics. The social issues are of no importance to me, and it shouldn't be important to the government. Personal beliefs should not dictate policies affecting everyone else. Who cares if Sarah Palin doesn't support abortion, that shouldn't mean another woman shouldn't have one; people should do what they want, whether a gay couple wants to get married or a scientist wants to research stem cells. Their business is not my business.
 * IDEOLOGY**

I have a strong internal efficacy. I believe I understand the government and am pretty set on my beliefs, which I find to be just plain old common sense. I also have a strong external efficacy, the government does respond to its citizens. One thing people need to remember is the policies take time to go in effect. Healthcare for instance will take a very long time before it is set in stone. The people need to be patient with the government and the government needs to be patient with the people.
 * POLITICAL EFFICACY**