An Election To Remember: Reaching Headlines Everywhere
With majority of Senate, State and Local Representatives are up for grab for the midterm election in November, it is certainly bringing the nation together. But 2018 midterm election will be remembered differently reaching national and international headlines everywhere. What makes this election “special” you may ask? Millennials are taking a stand about social issues that are near and dear to their hearts, from more gun control to a more earth friendly environment, these group of young citizens are fighting till their last breathe.
Growing up I never really fell into a category of which party I identifired towards but as I grew up and started to be aware of what is going around in the world around me I started to develop views that leaned towards left. I started to identified as myself as a as liberal, not essentially democrat. But honestly speaking, I didn’t get into politics, well into my junior year of high school when my English class did an assignment about the election that happened the following year. I was actually surprised by my results, never in a million years I would considered myself as 85% green, it is not like I didn’t care about the environmental issues that our planet is facing, it was something that was in the back of my head. It wasn’t until Hawaii that I was fully exposed to several environmental issues like the dangers of plastics in our oceans. I learned that if we don’t start taking action now sooner or later we will have more plastic that fish in our oceans which is detrimental to our marine life and the human population as humans get 85% of oxygen from our oceans. The United Nations Environment Programme says there could be as many 51 trillion microplastic particles in our seas. Many of them have accumulated in five enormous swirling ocean convergences known as gyres. Marcus Eriksen, a co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute, an organization dedicated to reducing plastic pollution, describes marine microplastics as a “plastic smog throughout the world’s oceans. U. S Senators represent the entire state Texas’ current U. S Senators are Senator John Cornyn and Senator Ted Cruz along with Congressional District - Congressman Kenny Marchant represent me on a national level. On a state level I am represented by Senator Don Huffines, Representative Matt Rinaldi, and State Board of Education (SBE Member) Ms. Patricia Hardy. The only politician I knew of was Ted Cruz since he has been all over the political spectrum regarding the upcoming election.
One of the political platform that has taken center stage again is sex education and abortion which is believed to go hand and hand. 25% of Texas public school districts offered no sex education at all during the 2015-2016 school year, according to a new study that was released by the Texas Freedom Network. Nearly 60 percent of districts used abstinence-only education programs over the same period. When it comes to political platforms I would most likely to follow up on is sex education/abortion and gun control. One of the political platform that has taken center stage again is sex education and abortion which is believed to go hand and hand. 25% of Texas public school districts offered no sex education at all during the 2015-2016 school year, according to a new study that was released by the Texas Freedom Network in February 2017. Nearly 60 percent of districts used abstinence-only education programs over the same period. “Our state has become the poster-child for child abstinence-only-until-marriage sex education” said Kathy Miller, president of Texas Freedom Network at a Capital press conference (Miller). Senators Cruz and Cornyn, Congressional District - Congressman Kenny Marchant, all have the same views when regarding abortion but have different regarding their stance on abortion. Regarding on my views on abortion, I simply do not have the position to tell a women what do to with her body, abortion or not, it is a highly personal and tough position to be in and I strongly believe that I should never get into someone’s personal life. Another political platform that has brought the youth of the nation together than ever before is gun control. Gun control is one of the most divisive issues in American politics.
With each mass shooting-defined as four more victims having been killed indiscriminately - antagonism grows both sides of the gun control argument. Since most of my representatives fall under the Republican party, they have very pro-gun views and will always bring up the Second Amendment. While Second Amendment is important and a constitutional right, I strongly believe that we should have strict gun laws such as background checks and whether a person has criminal record or convicted a felon. Millions of lives are at risk because of the hands of gun abuse. Since the Parkland Shooting back in Valentine’s Day, there has been 50 new gun laws and a March for Our Lives the following month which swept the nation reaching every headline and social media platform. For Texas, you may register to vote any time after you have reached the age of 17 years and 10 months so that your registration can be processed in time for an election falling on or after you turn 18 years old, Other voter eligibility requirements include: You must be a citizen of the United States. Other requirements include you must not convicted a felon who is currently incarcerated, on parole, or probation and you must not have been declared mentally incompetent in a court of law, once you have completed your period of incarceration parole, and/or probation your voting rights are restored. You may need to re-register to vote. Elections to the United States Senate will be held November 6, 2018 with 33 of the 100 seats in the Senate being contested in regular elections and two seats being contested in special elections.
The winners will serve six-year terms from January 3, 2019 to January 3, 2025. Yes, as of July 2017, I am registered to vote, I want to use my voice and be vocal about social issues and injustices that are near and dear to my heart. I am incredibly thankful to live in a society to use my voice and take part of what is considered a civic duty. Within this assignment alone I had the chance to put many things into perspective. I am grateful to live in a society that gave me a right to vote and have a chance to be vocal and fight for what is right. Like I mentioned before I never realized that so many environmental issues could be detrimental to our society now that I am fully aware of. what is going on in the world, I could make a contribution by voting leaders who are genuinely going to make a change. (come back) After researching my representatives extensively, I realized that their views aren’t exactly aligned to mine which I am not against, everyone is going to have their views but after extensive research I don’t want someone or multiple people in office who wants to turn back the clock instead of moving forward and doing the good of mankind just because their extreme views got in the way. All though I have a longs way to go but I know the information I have from this election alone is a start and I know I will be making my vote with the coming election.
