The Republican Race for President

Journal 2-3

 In my last journal I asked what the "nine shift" meant. It is a phrase used to describe the great changes taking place in our life right now. The term derived from belief that nine hours of our day will be spent completely differently in 2020 then they were spent in 2000. There are 24 hours in each day and about 12 of those hours are spent eating, sleeping and other necessary tasks crucial to our existence. The way the other 12 hours are spent varies by person, but they are used mostly for work, play, and family time. About 75% of those 12 hours, or 9 hours, will be spent differently in a few years than they are now. That means 75% of life is in the process of changing. The nine shifts are described in a book called "The Nine Shift: Work, Life and Education in the 21st Century" by Julie Coates and William Draves.

Last week in class we have discussed the many Republican candidates for president. In groups of two we were assigned a candidate and did research on them. We found out information about their childhood, education, career, campaign funds, and their stance on major issues. I was assigned Rick Santorum, and found out I agreed with about zero of his views. After we had gathered information, we exchanged it with our classmates and copied all the information they had about their candidates. We also watched a GOP debate between the candidates. Through this we learned who was and was not apt at debating and formed our opinions of th canididates apart from what we thought about what was written down on our sheets. We also had a discussion about each candidate after their stance on the issues had been presented to the class. We discussed whether or not a persons GPA or personal life has anything to do with their ability to run the country.

I thought watching the debate was interesting. We were able to judge a person character apart from what we knew about them on paper. What they said told us a lot about them and helped us to establish how we felt about them. For example Rick Perry seemed the most friendly and personable, but sounded kind of ignorant when he used Tim Tebow as a metaphor to describe himself in the presidential race. Rick Santorum seemed extremely uppity and like he knew better than everyone else. For younger voters, I feel like the Republican candidate and the presidential election itself is kind of a popularity contest. Who looks like they could be president, who sounds like they could be president. Most kids my age don't really know or care much about the actual qualifications of a candidate. It was also interesting to research a specific candidate.We learned a lot about them and became a pseudo expert about them.

 We also assessed our own political views by taking a couple of online tests. We read a series of biased  statements and had to decided whether we agreed or not. The statements ranged all across the left-right spectrum and covered a number of issues including privatization, gay rights, education, and immigration. I had already taken a similar test in AP US History, and already suspected my results. I have moderate views but lean more to the left and I am more libertarian than authoritarian.  This is were I stand on the Politcal Compass. My results were similar in the other political quiz.

 They way I feel about younger Americans and voters when it comes to elections remind me of 5th grade class elections at my elementary school. It was never about who was qualified to pass out papers or organize our "Friday Folders" or be line leaders (all of these equated to secretary, vice president, and president respectively). It was about who we liked the most and who we were friends with. The "weird" kids or loners would never win, even though they would probably be more qualified than the cutest boy and bossiest girl in the class. I remember the latter won the position of president and vice president in my class, and I also remember they did horrible jobs. The whole class regretted voting for them. Since we so young we were unable to see beyond our own superficiality and look at the actual qualification of each candidate.

I wonder who will be the frontrunner by the time I write my next journal, and how their campaign techniques or platforms contributed to their position in the race.

 Works Cited:

1. Book Contents. (2007). nineshift.com. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://http://www.nineshift.com/contents.htm

2. Nine Shift. (n.d.). www.amazon.com. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://www.amazon.com/Nine-Shift-William-Draves/dp/1577220307http://

3. my presidential campaign. (2010, February 12). http://ronrik.wordpress.com. Retrieved January 10, 2012, from http://ronrik.wordpress.com/page/2