POSC 100 The American Political System

I really enjoyed this class. Dr. Cole and I had some very interesting conversations. I for one, am not a fan of politics, but this class has shown me how important it is for our country to run. I grew from reading the hard truth in the textbooks he assigned my class. With the truth, I will be doing my best to help and vote in all ways I can. The most challenging thing I had to do was the two book reports, and the final comparing them. I never had to do book reports on this scope before. I developed a new technique to record information I gathered from my reading and implement them in my writing. I have never been prouder of a paper than my book report on Crammer’s The Politics of Resentment.

The Hard Truth

Dr. Cole had his students read three hard books. They are hard on two levels: first, you need to have a foundation of politics to understand what the authors are saying; if not, these books will be some of the hardest books people have read. If you can understand them, the second level of hardness is coming to terms with the author’s messages, or the “truth.” I was able to understand what the authors meant, but it was hard to agree with their accusations of the government. It was frustrating to read these books because they challenged all of my beliefs of politics. After finishing the books and taking a critical look at politics, I now see that most of the accusations made by these authors are true. Another level of hardness is thinking of a ways to fix our broken system of government. Something we can all do is exercise our right to vote to effect change. One of the hard truths I learned is how the only people with the power to change the government for better are already a part of it, and some enjoy their status too much to change it. Books like, The Sovereign People teach people the truth. I hope people can continue to stand up for what they have believe in to change our governmental system for the better.