Brianna Thompson Public Feed

Reflection

Posted by Brianna Thompson in American Government - Laufenberg on
https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1KHhIC2DgYTBz1HsKeXs6M_lSsQ81PrwxXh1UaOHNyo8

Coming up with ideas to include in my project was probably the most difficult part of the assignment, a lot of my ideas came from the ones we were tossing around in class however I did manage to think of a few that were more compatible for different aspects of my life that may not be applicable for others. It was also hard to decide whether I wanted to discuss the topic as a negative or positive part in my life since everything has its pros and cons. Besides those two things I found this to be a pretty laid back assignment. I think that after reflecting on a lot of our conversations on current events that the government will definitely have a bigger impact on my life. In fact I believe that as soon as you're born the gov. has a bigger impact on your life than you realize. It's what protects you and your rights even as a small child. This class has given me a lot of insight on how the government functions and I've actually become more interested in staying updated with current events in the world. 



Blog Post 5 lobbying

Posted by Brianna Thompson in American Government - Laufenberg on
So for the remainder of this assignment I'd like to see if we could come up with better questions and maybe try calling different welfare offices who actually work one on one with the recipients and see what they think. We could also attempt writing a letter to someone else (although I'm not sure who just yet) about our ideas to change the way things are​ currently being handled like giving welfare recipients an incentive to go out and do better for themselves instead of using the government checks as crutch to support them for the rest of their lives. I know this isn't much but it's where we're starting from at this point. Since our first attempt wasn't as successful as we'd hoped 

Blog post 4 lobbying

Posted by Brianna Thompson in American Government - Laufenberg on
My method of communication was telephone. Ashley and I spoke with some of the representatives in the welfare offices for our city and then we were directed to their main office. We weren't really able to get a lot of feed back from them the way we'd anticipated i.e. finding out what they thought were some of their glitches with their method of doing things. The reason the feedback wasn't helpful is because the reps have sort of a biased opinion since the ones I spoke to didn't think there was anyway around their system which is clearly not true since I know people personally who find ways around doing things correctly where welfare is concerned. I think that had we had time to sit down and think of more thoughtful questions since we didn't have a lot of them, we would have definitely gotten a better response. I'd also like to see what thoughts the mayor or someone from his office had about our topic and what they'd like to see change. 

Gay marriage

Posted by Brianna Thompson in American Government - Laufenberg on

Ashley and I chose to work with the gay marriage process and doing the research for our topic was probably the most perplexing part because while there were several articles about the legislation that had been passed on the issue, there wasn't a lot of information that provided us with the steps needed to go through with the actual process. However once we found the information we needed we found that the process was the same as if you were to get married as man and wife. The paper work and steps were identical, the only difference is that in order for gay marriage to be legal, it can only be done in 5 states and it probably wont be recognized in any of the other ones. We also weren't able to get a lot of the documentation because you had to pay money simply to obtain quite a few of them. However most of them wanted to simple things i.e. social security numbers, name birthdate etc. and things of that nature. Overall our bureaucracy project wasn't too much hassle besides getting the information we needed. 

Lobbying Assignment #3

Posted by Brianna Thompson in American Government - Laufenberg on

2.     Who is essential to the outcome?

People from the republican part are our key components in this assignment since most of them probably share the same views about how much of the money is being used on welfare and how its being used by it’s recipients as well. I’m not really sure on specific people at the moment since I don’t actually know if there is an open legislature on this topic.

3.     Who else is working on this? Can you coordinate?

I wasn’t actually quite sure what this question meant i.e. who else in school is working on this or who else of actual congress is working on this or other sources outside of school.

4.     Who can you influence?

I can influence my own household (full of people who can vote) as well as my peers who can spread the word to their families to educate them on the situation. I truly believe that the biggest obstacle will be getting people from the working class to be on board with this since welfare probably benefits them a lot more than republicans . 

First Time Voter

Posted by Brianna Thompson in American Government - Laufenberg on
Q: What motivated you to come out and vote?
A: I was excited because it was my first time being able to vote and make a difference and being active in my government. 

Q: Do you know why we're voting today? 
A: I'm voting to support Obama and the changes he's trying to enforce. 

Q: Where have you encountered the highest amount of ad campaigning? Radio, Tv, Print, internet or other? 
A: I'm in college and I came across the most campaigning in school and it was mostly flyers and stuff everywhere. 

Q: Did you learn about voting in school? If yes, did that impact your willingness to vote today? 
A: Yes I learned about voting in school, but I also learned at home from my mom and grandmom and that's what had the biggest impact on me, 
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