When I first read this assignment, I was not sure what to think. Do politicians really blog? Well, after coming across Hillary Clinton's Blog for Hope regarding issues surrounded by the American Cancer Society, my question was answered. I guess that when I think about blogging I think about MySpace and other websites where kids leave comments about meaningless humdrum. I did not even take into consideration that blogging has its perks when it comes to a society surrounded by technology and the internet.
The blog's title is BLOG FOR HOPE by New York Senator Hillary Clinton. It was started on Sunday, August 14, 2005 at 6:49pm. When I first started reading this blog, I was inspired by Hillary Clinton because her points made sense; she came across as a caring citizen of the United States of America and appeared to strongly believe in strong health issues. The more I read on her issues, the more I was persuaded to support her in her efforts to better t
he health care system. When I came across comments left on this blog I was not surprised that most of them were written in a professional and respectful manner. Most of the people who commented on Hillary's issues were in support of her and people actually added their input and ideas of how her proposals could actually improve. Some, like os21llc, just left comments like "Woot woot, Hillary! I respect your opinion and you have my vote in 2008!"
Hillary stands strongly on health issues such as early detection for breast cancer. She touches on how people do not get yearly checkups because of the cost of healthcare and that these checkups are essential to cancer detection. She also talks about reducing administrative costs of healthcare which with dramatically lower the cost of healthcare and make it more affordable for the common American people.
I believe that any way you look at a blog regarding politics, it is effecting politics in a good way. Blogs raise awareness on current issues surrounding people and political based blogs are no different. If there was a blog for example surrounding Hillary Clinton and her issues and the entire blog was bashing her as a political figure, I believe that I would see that as a good thing believe it or not. Even when people do not know where political figures stand on certain issues, they may have preconceived notions about the politician. Publicity is publicity any way you look at it and if people are writing bad things regarding politics, maybe they will be curious about the issues at hand and actually research them before commenting on the blog. Blogging has revolutionized the political world; anywhere you go on the internet, you see websites where political figures let you know where they stand on certain issues so sooner or later you are bound to come across some political knowledge. Alinta Thornton (2002) states that, "Increasingly, the media has become central to political life." Blogs are no exception. Politicians need to stay afloat in the media to highly raise awareness about their standings on certain issues and I believe this is where many past candidates have fallen.
So with the daily increase in the use of the internet, will online voting become a thing of the future? With the average worker in the United States spending at least some time at a computer everyday, isn't it likely that if voting were just a click away, more people would do it? I believe that this is true and if security were not an issue, online voting would not be a thing of the future but a thing of the present. "This is seen as a way to avoid the confusion of badly designed poll papers" (Thornton, 2002). Who can forget the Florida mishap in 2000? I believe that if the government were to in the future convert to online voting, they should stick with their decision strongly and work to every year improve on the security and advertisement of the convenience. Once people are convinced that 'holy crap, this does really work and I like it', online voting will be as popular as watching videos on YouTube.
References
Clinton, H. (2005). Blog For Hope. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://blogs.health.yahoo.com/blog-for-hope/clinton/;_ylt=Ap.h4Chl4r7PqETfF8szNExCsckF
Stross, Randall (2006, September, 24). The Big Gamble on Electronic Voting . The New York Times, Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/business/yourmoney/24digi.html?ei=5088&en=9bfe345825b02bea&ex=1316750400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
Thornton, Alinta (2002). Does Internet Create Democracy. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://www.zip.com.au/~athornto/thesis_2002_alinta_thornton.doc
The blog's title is BLOG FOR HOPE by New York Senator Hillary Clinton. It was started on Sunday, August 14, 2005 at 6:49pm. When I first started reading this blog, I was inspired by Hillary Clinton because her points made sense; she came across as a caring citizen of the United States of America and appeared to strongly believe in strong health issues. The more I read on her issues, the more I was persuaded to support her in her efforts to better t
he health care system. When I came across comments left on this blog I was not surprised that most of them were written in a professional and respectful manner. Most of the people who commented on Hillary's issues were in support of her and people actually added their input and ideas of how her proposals could actually improve. Some, like os21llc, just left comments like "Woot woot, Hillary! I respect your opinion and you have my vote in 2008!"Hillary stands strongly on health issues such as early detection for breast cancer. She touches on how people do not get yearly checkups because of the cost of healthcare and that these checkups are essential to cancer detection. She also talks about reducing administrative costs of healthcare which with dramatically lower the cost of healthcare and make it more affordable for the common American people.
I believe that any way you look at a blog regarding politics, it is effecting politics in a good way. Blogs raise awareness on current issues surrounding people and political based blogs are no different. If there was a blog for example surrounding Hillary Clinton and her issues and the entire blog was bashing her as a political figure, I believe that I would see that as a good thing believe it or not. Even when people do not know where political figures stand on certain issues, they may have preconceived notions about the politician. Publicity is publicity any way you look at it and if people are writing bad things regarding politics, maybe they will be curious about the issues at hand and actually research them before commenting on the blog. Blogging has revolutionized the political world; anywhere you go on the internet, you see websites where political figures let you know where they stand on certain issues so sooner or later you are bound to come across some political knowledge. Alinta Thornton (2002) states that, "Increasingly, the media has become central to political life." Blogs are no exception. Politicians need to stay afloat in the media to highly raise awareness about their standings on certain issues and I believe this is where many past candidates have fallen.
So with the daily increase in the use of the internet, will online voting become a thing of the future? With the average worker in the United States spending at least some time at a computer everyday, isn't it likely that if voting were just a click away, more people would do it? I believe that this is true and if security were not an issue, online voting would not be a thing of the future but a thing of the present. "This is seen as a way to avoid the confusion of badly designed poll papers" (Thornton, 2002). Who can forget the Florida mishap in 2000? I believe that if the government were to in the future convert to online voting, they should stick with their decision strongly and work to every year improve on the security and advertisement of the convenience. Once people are convinced that 'holy crap, this does really work and I like it', online voting will be as popular as watching videos on YouTube.
References
Clinton, H. (2005). Blog For Hope. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://blogs.health.yahoo.com/blog-for-hope/clinton/;_ylt=Ap.h4Chl4r7PqETfF8szNExCsckF
Stross, Randall (2006, September, 24). The Big Gamble on Electronic Voting . The New York Times, Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/24/business/yourmoney/24digi.html?ei=5088&en=9bfe345825b02bea&ex=1316750400&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=print
Thornton, Alinta (2002). Does Internet Create Democracy. Retrieved March 26, 2007, from http://www.zip.com.au/~athornto/thesis_2002_alinta_thornton.doc
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