"YOU GUYS MADE ME [Discuss Political Parties]"

Hello everyone and welcome to blog 2! Today we will be discussing political parties and going in depth into a specific one (go ahead and guess which one!).

I'll give you a little hint, we won't be talking about democrats and republicans today...

Most people, when hearing "political parties" will probably instantly think of democrats and republicans, yet many do not know any third parties. I myself will admit I only knew about the Libertarian party before this project. But many of us will be surprised to hear there are a lot more third parties than we think.

Aside from the political parties, everyone knows (democrats and republicans) we also have many third independent parties. The most popular being The Libertarian Party, The Green Party, and The Constitution Party. There have been little instances that third parties win any elections, but it has happened before. Besides being small independent parties, they have stuck around for some time.

Here is also a quick video about third parties in the US:

Political Parties have always played an important role in bringing together the government with its citizens.  The main goal for political parties is to get their candidates elected into office. Political Parties are able to bring in groups of people, with the same ideals, and strive for power within the government. We can see these in elections, propositions, and laws. Political Parties is an important linkage institution. What is a linkage institution you ask? Linkage institutions are ways that people can connect to the government.

There are a few types of linkage institution. As mentioned before Political Parties
is an example of a very influential linkage institution, but there are many more
examples, the media being another very influential example.

You're probably getting bored reading about political parties, so let's move on to the juicier part of this blog (or as juicy as politics can really get). If you didn't skim through the first few paragraphs you'll probably remember I mentioned that I'd talk about one specific political party, and that's gonna be... *drum roll* The Green Party! Woah! 

The Green Party is one of the more well known independent parties. Their website (http://www.gp.org/) says their mission is: "We are grassroots activists, environmentalists, advocates for social justice, nonviolent resisters and regular citizens who’ve had enough of corporate-dominated politics. The government must be part of the solution, but when it’s controlled by the 1%, it’s part of the problem. The longer we wait for change, the harder it gets. Don’t stay home on election day. Vote Green."

Here is a quick little introduction to the Green Party:

The Green Party share values with The Democratic Party, but have the main focus on creating a better earth and living environment. They claim their main values are: Democracy, Social Justice, Ecology, and Peace. Looking at their mission statements and beliefs, one can easily associate them with The Democratic Party, but The Green Party has an even more liberal view on politics. This party peaked my interest because, besides never having heard of them before, I realized I resonated with many of their values.

This screenshot from The Green Party's website that was taken from their main page will be an artifact from the Green Party that I will talk about today.

The screenshot above shows The Green Parties' main values, I have also mentioned them in the previous paragraph. This screenshot displays "Peace, Ecology, Social Justice and Democracy" and their reasoning for having those values. This shows The Green Party's liberal viewpoint. The Green Party chose to include these values and reasons to reach across to people who resonate with their values. This draws in their main audience to go more in depth and learn about what The Green Party is really about. It implies they fight for equality, a diverse government, and a healthy environment. In fact, The Green Party advocates strongly for those topics. This exemplifies The Green Party's point of view on how the government should be run. This can influence the general public's opinions on government, some may find themselves agreeing with these values, or discovering they oppose it. Those who oppose it may find themselves resonating with conservative values and/or political parties.

Now taking a sharp turn, I will talk about a politician that stands out to me. Who isn't in The Green Party, although I did want to study a politician from The Green Party, this specific politician has always stood out to me.

And that is...

Bernie Sanders!

Bernie Sanders is a politician from The Democratic Party, you may recognize him as he was a main contender during the 2016 elections.

Bernie Sanders is an Independent Senator from Vermont. After 16 years of being Vermont’s congressman, he was elected into the U.S Senate. In 1981 he had been elected as mayor of Burlington and transformed it into an exciting and livable city. During his time as mayor, he brought affordable housing, progressive taxation, environmental protection, childcare, women’s rights, youth programs, and the arts. While in Congress Bernie fought for hard-working families and pushed to close the gap between economic classes. He has passed the most amendments in Congress. He had many ideas for his presidency such as:

Here is a chart of Bernie's plans if he were to be president. 

Here is a video that I will be talking about:

Really, please watch this. Not only does he talk about his political background but he talks about his beliefs and values. It also shows examples of the types of people who support him.

Sanders includes his beliefs and ideologies in this video. It gives examples of people supporting his ideas and thanking him for what he has done. He shares his background his politics and what he has done while in Congress and Senate. The point of view in the video is that Sanders advocates strongly for democratic values. He believes in creating quality education for all citizens so it will continue to improve our economy and country. His main bias is to give more to the young people of America. He believes they are the countries future, therefore they should be supported to help ready them to have their voice heard. He is a democracy so he is more biased towards democratic values. Equality and the planet is important to him. His limitation is that, he does not talk about, what the effects of his laws would be. He advocates for free college tuition, which would lead to higher taxes and possibly an even more rigorous college acceptance. Sanders also talks about having a healthier plant which can lead to strict business regulations. Throughout Sander's video, he uses a lot of pathos and ethos. Include clips of his supporters boosts his credibility, due to the fact people can see he has a lot of support from citizens. He also targets main issues in today's society and includes photos that may hit some viewers emotions on certain topics.

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you reading my next blog as well.