Death Penalty

The death penalty has been very controversial for a long time. 1136 people have been executed from 1997 to 2008. Most of these executions have been from lethal injection. Lethal injection is when they give you a shot that kills you. Most of the people that have to face the death penalty are murderers, treason, espionage, and other crimes. 72% of the public support the death penalty, 25% say that they oppose it, and 5% have no say on the topic. People who oppose the death penalty say that it doesn't stop crime at all, wrongly gives the government the power to take life, and they say that it creates social injustices by targeting colored people and people who can't afford attorneys more than other people. The people who support the death penalty support it because they say that it is a great tool for preserving law and order, that it helps stop crime, and it costs less than having people going to prison for life. They also try to say that it is alright because of the "eye for an eye" saying. That means if you were able to take a life that you should have your own life taken in return. Another argument for having the death penalty is that it helps families who have lost a loved one to come to some kind of closure and that if someone killed someone and they have to face the death penalty it ensures that they will never do it again. I think that the death penalty is not alright. The majority of America support the death penalty but there has been a slight decline since there was a peak in 1994. I think it is not good because I think that everyone deserves a second chance. You can always change someone, even if they have done something really bad. I also think it is bad because I can't think of any crime that you should be killed over. Another reason I think it is not good because I think that a prisoner would prefer to have the death penalty than spend the rest of his life in prison so why give him the satisfaction. The public opinion is that if they had to choose between life in prison with no possibility of parole or have the death penalty, 52% prefer the death penalty and 43% prefer the life imprisonment.

Sources:
http://deathpenalty.procon.org/
http://www.gallup.com/poll/9913/Death-Penalty.aspx#3

Reflection Assignment

Republicans are rising to power and are winning the battle against the new healthcare law. In Wisconsin there was a major change in their political ideology. They went from being highly democratic with liberal views and being a front runner in wanting to carry out the new federal health care law and using it to regulate and change the medical delivery system, to being very republican and conservative by electing in a new republican governor and having all of the progress they made in getting the new health care law to pass to a halt. The new governor's name is Scott Walker. He said that on the first day of his term he will put all the progress of getting the new law to pass to a halt and he will have Wisconsin join the multistate lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of the new law. Since this happened, the public opinion of Wisconsin's people has changed to oppose the bill rather than supporting it. The public opinion of the United States is really unknown because most people have litttle knowledge on what the new law will do.They have become a state of no enthusiasm or with somewhat of a moderate view of things. I don't think that the are many political cleavages in this event because it treats all people the same way. The bill is trying to give all people the same health care so there is really no differences in it. The political elite who oppose this new law are having million dollar campaigns that are national, to try to oppose this law. An example of someone doing this would be Rick Scott, the governor of Florida, who used to be a hospital chain executive who spent 5 million dollars on a national campaign against this new democratic health care law. Mr. Walker, the governor of Wisconsin, said that he thinks that when the government gets too involved it messes up the marketplace and just makes the costs go up, which is an example of political socialization because i think he probably said this because of something he witnessed during his life. "Now on you are going to see a very cautious Wisconsin", said State Senator Alberta Darling. All the progress they made at getting this new law established has gone down the drain and has had the breaks put on. I really do not know what to think on this because I don' t pay for my health care but my parents do and I have listened to what they have said. This is political sociology by the way. They have had questions like " what happens to people who get health care from their employers" and " who's going to pay for it" and that made me think that I really don't like this new law because there is so much uncertainty involved. I predict that the new law will not be passed and will not go through because 82% of people rate their healthcare as excellent or good, which I think means that if people think that their healthcare is good enough and they are satisfied they will not want change. Another reason I don't think that the new law will pass because 61% of people prefer a private healthcare and only 34% want a government run system for healthcare.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_socialization
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/19/us/politics/19wisconsin.html?_r=2&ref=politics
http://www.youtube.com/
http://www.gallup.com/poll/144869/Americans-Ratings-Own-Healthcare-Quality-Remain-High.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/144839/Split-Whether-Gov-Ensure-Healthcare.aspx

Video Games and Violence

Over the past years the big video game companies have started to come out with games that are violent and do things that you are not supposed to do in the real world but of course what happens in theses games is fake and is not telling you to go out and do this. In 1993 congress had to hold hearings on violent video games when Mortal Combat and Night Trap came out because the person said that violent video games have " a desensitizing impact on young, impressionable minds". So in response to this the video game industry voluntarily made a rating system called the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) on September 1, 1994. Some people think that playing violent video games has led kids that play them to do violent things. The people that support this blame things like school shootings, increases in bullying, and more violence toward women. They also say that when these kids play these violent games so much they come to see violence as not that bad of a thing because in the game they award you for being violent and show the kids that violence is a good way to resolve things. The people that oppose this and think that it is crazy, like me, think this because there has never been any clear relationship between violence and these games and that the research is not that well done. They also say that playing these violent games is a way to stop violence because it an outlet for kids who need to let off some steam in a safe and not harmful way. My thoughts on this topic are that playing video games has absolutely no affect on why kids do violent things. The games are just for fun and aren't telling you to go out and do whatever you are doing. I think it is stupid that people say that. When parents say that I think that it is just because they don't like the fact that their child is not outside playing or doing something else but if that is fun to them they should be allowed to play. I also think video games have no affect on violence because I have played video games and have never had any thought of doing something I did in a game to someone, that is insane. The video game companies put what rating the game is on the back of the box so you know what you are getting into and you know whats in the game. If the games the companies made were not violent and did not have anything fun in them no one would play the games and they would go out of business. I just think that there is no way playing a GAME could result in actual violence because it's just a game.




 Sources:
http://videogames.procon.org/#Background
http://videogames.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=003953