Briana Chavez is a senior who plans to study Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University. She is motivated to vote because she wants to elect candidates who will help make the nation safe and full of opportunities. While she understands concerns about illegal immigration, she does not think a border wall is the best solution and believes there are better ways to handle the issue. Briana also likes how social media allows younger generations to stay updated on political issues. The course surprised her by teaching her about the Supreme Court case Wickard v. Filburn, which she now understands well after writing a reflection on it. She thinks abortion is an important political issue today because it involves debates over women's rights and protecting life.

1. Participation in
politics
By Briana Chavez

2. hello!
I am Briana Chavez
I am currently a senior but I plan on majoring in
Biomedical Sciences at Texas A&M University in College
Station next fall!
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3. What Motivates You In Politics?
What makes you want
to vote?
I want to make sure I
vote for the person that
knows what they are
getting themselves into
and I like to believe that
they will help us make
our nation become a
safe place full of
opportunities for a
better future. I want to
make my opinion heard
along with the other
citizens in our country.
What things do you want to
change?
I am not comfortable with the idea
of building a wall on the border with
Mexico. I understand there are
illegal immigrants crossing it but I
believe there are better ways in
handling this issue. I also think that
not all immigrants are dangerous
and are just migrating for better life
opportunities. If our government
can just make this process of having
the necessary paperwork, there
would be less illegal immigrants and
more legal immigrants.
What things do you want to
stay the same?
I agree with the idea that social
media lets us be in contact with the
people involved in higher positions
in our government. I like it because
since social media is so popular
among younger generations, it
allows us to stay in touch with the
issues that are going on in politics
with just the click of a button. That
way we are always getting updated
with what is going on around us.
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4. what surprised you about the federal government?
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Before I started this class, I had very little knowledge about some of the Supreme Court cases. I did
expect to learn about some court cases, but I did not expect myself to write a reflection on one. At
first I knew nothing about the court case that I chose, Wickard v. Filburn. Whenever I first read about it,
I was not interested at all about it. However, I chose to keep digging further about it and ultimately
found the court case very captivating. Once I started writing about the case I was very well intrigued
in writing about it and what happened. I know that court case would never cross my mind if I didn’t
choose to write about it and I was not expecting to learn about a farmer that grew too much crops
for the market and himself. Now I know very well what happened during that case and what the
Supreme Court ruled, and since I wrote my reflection over it, I know it quite well.
I do want to learn more about the different kinds of executive orders that the presidents have
passed. I know we wrote about one for a discussion, but I want to know the other controversial orders
that have been issued.

5. Abortion
I think abortion today is a very important
issue in politics. Back when Roe v. Wade was
discussed, the court decided to make abortion
legal because it part of women’s privacy to
make that decision for her body. However
today, people opposed to that right want to
make it illegal in order to protect an innocent
life. I think this issue is important for our future
because whether it is legal or not, our opinions
will never be just one and if it does become
illegal, I can’t help but think that women who
still want to abort will find other, more
dangerous ways to do so.
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6. First Amendment
The First Amendment is the most important to me. Whether you express your thoughts
on social media or through a paper, the first amendment protects our rights to do that.
Our world is advancing and so many issues are happening that we cannot resist to
input our opinion too. Without it, the government would not know what its people are
concerned about. Our nation does not have one specific religion either so I think we are
lucky enough to practice whatever we believe in. America is so diverse which is why I
think a lot a people love it, there are different cultures everywhere and everyone has
the right to express themselves however they want to.
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7. What I Learned From This Course!
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I took this class only having a brief knowledge of how our federal government works, however I know
that this class has opened up that case and I feel like I know so much more about how everything has
led to the government we have today. I am the kind of person that is scared to talk to others about
my opinions just because I am afraid of being wrong. However, the discussions really helped me say
what I think first, and then reply to other opinions that were spread in the discussions. I noticed that I
did have a similar opinion to other classmates posts which is why I really enjoyed doing the
discussions in this class. This course really excites me because I cannot wait to vote and it
encourages me to stay engaged with the politics around our world. I know a lot about Wickard v.
Filburn and our textbook really taught me what our founding fathers went through to get us where
we are today.