Hayleigh+Bruns

**Political Tolerance:** ﻿Political tolerance to me would be the willingness I let someone of opposing views express them. I would say that I have average tolerance. I agree that everyone should be able to voice their opinions and let them be heard. Just because you are listening to a speaker who you don't agree with, doesn't mean you can't give them the time of day to say why. Also, when you are listening to these people, you know what you agree with and you know what you don't. It's unlikely they will change your beliefs if you feel strongly about them. And then again, depending on the situation I would probably end up saying something defending myself and my beliefs.

**Political Trust:**


 * A**) I have some trust in all the institutions. First off, with the Supreme Court I will always have a great deal of trust. When making decisions, they use the Constitution as a base and former "stare decisis" cases. With this, rulings will rarely change. They will vote how they voted in previous cases. Since the Constitution doesn't change (unless amended) their decisions will also be farely similar. I can't say I trust our presidents, but I also can't say that I don't trust them either. I believe that once they are in they do a lot of things for personal gain. At the same time, I think for the most part they are trying their best for our country.


 * B)** I think my trust with the political actors depends on who is in office at the time. I don't like nor do I trust Barack Obama. I feel as though when he campaigned he said one thing and now when he's in office he is doing another. But, I also think it's "our job" not to always trust/like the people in power. If they are doing something we don't like, we automatically critcize them for it. I don't trust Nancy Pelosi at all. If she wants something to get done that will benefit her, she will get it done no matter. It doesn't matter how she does it, she doesn't care, she just wants the power.

My first political memory would be in the 6th grade when we voted for who we wanted to be president. I remember that I voted for Bush, but I don't think I knew why. I would say that I get some of my views from my parents, but my mother is more a liberatarian also with my father. When they vote, I believe they do vote Republican. I am a Lutheran and religion plays a role in my life especially on the social issues. Since I live in the MidWest I think it has an influence to be more conservative Republican, although we did vote for democratic congressmen. More caucasians tend to lean towards the Repulican party. The 2008 election had an impact on me because I started to understand then who I really was. I actually paid attention to that election and listen to each of the candidates and what they had to say. At that point, I knew my parents were "Republicans" but, I had no idea what that actually meant until after the elections. I got a further understanding after taking government last year also.
 * Political Socialization: **


 * Ideology: **

I am a strong conservative. On the scale, I am far more to the right than I am my parents. Some issues would be for abortion, I am pro-life. I believe that life begins at conception. On the issue of health care I support a free market system and privatized. If government runs health care, I think that the treatment will be poor quality and some people may be denied if the problem isn't "serious" enough. I think the national government should do something about illegal immigration, and if they continue to ignore the problem the states have the right to go forth and make their own laws to protect their borders. Marriage is between a man and a woman and it is against my religious views to approve of same-sex marriages. I really have no problem of same-sex relationships, but they don't need to get married and make a big deal about how the government isn't allowing them to. I believe that people take advantage of welfare and it should be used just to help people get back on their feet. If people are living off of welfare and not trying to get a job, they become more dependent on the goverment and less on themselves.


 * Political Efficacy: **

I have a good level of internal efficacy. I do understand and want to understand the government and what is going on. If something doesn't make sense to me, I go read about it and try to learn about it. My external political efficacy has decreased in the past year, but I don't know what it was a few years ago. Like I said before, once people get into office I think they forget about the people and do what they want to do. Most of the time they think it is for the better of the public even if the public doesn't want it.