McKenzie Phelps is a dental assisting major who discusses several political topics in the document. For her biggest motivator to be politically active, she wants to share her opinions with others who have similar beliefs so her issues can be heard. She also thinks it's important for young Americans to get in the habit of voting. Something she learned this semester was about George W. Bush's plans for military intervention after 9/11 and how public opinion was divided on the issue. She was surprised to learn about the important role the electoral college plays in elections. Her most important political issue is abortion rights. The 13th amendment, which abolished slavery, is the most important amendment to her. This class has taught her the importance of

1. McKenzie Phelps
Major: Dental Assisting

2. What motivates me to be an active participant
in our political system?
I believe my biggest motivator to be an active participant is to share my
own opinions with others who share similar beliefs so my issues and
agreements with government can be heard. Also I believe it is very
important to get into the habit of being an active participant in America by
voting because so many young Americans do not value voting which can be
a very powerful tool when enough people can join together and vote. Many
times I feel the opinions of the young adult demographic and the elderly
class of people share such different beliefs for obvious life differences so
unless us young adults speak up and vote we cannot be heard in politics.
With that being said if I could change something it would be young adults
being more active in voting and speaking up for their beliefs. Something I
would like to keep the same that makes an active participant in our political
system is the way that people can connect with others online to share
beliefs. I believe a big motivator for many can be finding a group of people
who share similar beliefs with yourself so you can feel more confident in
your opinions and to help spread what you believe in.

3. What did I learn this semester and what surprised
me about the Federal government process?
One subject I learned a lot more about this semester came from our
“Assessment Paper”, assignment.In this assignment I thought at first glance I
would only we learning about 9/11 but I learned so much more about
George W. Bush plans for military intervention and about how the public
opinion of the people was divided on if military intervention was right or
wrong. Also about how Saddam Hussein had violated 16 U.N orders, what a
rule-defying leader. Furthermore, something that surprises me about the
Federal government process is how important the election college plays a
role into election and how it can change outcomes. When I had gotten into
politics and found this out it just surprises me because I feel like it has always
been so engraved in my brain that the people choose who becomes
president no if’s or but’s. In reality a candidate can win the electoral vote
and not the popular vote but still be elected.

4. What political issue is important to me?
My most important political issue right now is abortion rights. I understand that living
in Texas many do not share the same opinion as me but I do not think anyone else
besides myself should be able to decide what I want to do with my body. I also feel
many people who banned abortion in Texas believe that way because of their religious
background and that there has to be separation of church and state and that any
religious beliefs should not be forced on anyone. I see people fighting to ban abortions
that claim they want to save babies and give them life but only when it comes to
abortions. If you really want to save babies you cannot just ban abortions there are
other ways to help that people do not even consider such as; increase funding to help
young mothers give everything a baby needs, more people fostering children/babies,
giving proper sex education to prevent unwanted pregnancies, easily affordile
contraception to prevent abortions, offering to help parents in seek of help in your
community, etc. Also banning abortions will not ban all abortions, just the safe ones.
Woman will continue to do unsafe abortions and cause long-term, inreversible
damage.

5. What do I consider the most important
amendment?
Without question the most important amendment in my opinion is the 13th
amendment. This is the amendment that abolished slavery and gave African
Americans their life and many rights back ( I say many rights because they were
no longer slaves but still lacked many rights such as voting). I believe this is the
most important amendment because this really set off the start of African
Americans becoming equals rather than property. I do not praise this
amendment as being the end all solving amendment because it was the bare
minimum our government could do but it is a big improvement than people
being treated as non-human. I know many people will say our right to speech is
most important but what does that matter when we have millions of people
that are being suppressed and cannot even have the right to free will?

6. What have I learned and will take with me in
the future from this class?
This class has helped me realize how important it is to fight for your beliefs
whenever you believe in a change or agreement in politics. So many people that
helped make laws or create change in politics all started with just an idea and
turned it into something bigger and I believe if I ever face an issue in the future
where I believe it is important for my voice to be heard then I will make sure I
join amongst others and spread my opinion to fight for what I believe in.
Another thing I learned in just how big a role social media plays into elections.
This is something that did not exist even 50 years ago and with new times it is
important that we address and regulate how social media will address
campaigns and elections.