Popular Sovereignty is the first and most important value to me because if you didn’t have this it would be no different than living in a communist society. I don’t want someone else to tell me who the elected officials should be. I think that if these people are going to making our life or death decisions than I want to make sure it is someone that I can agree with or at least understand why they are doing what they are doing. The reason I feel the strongest about this is that I live in Virginia and the legislature here appoints judges and I feel as though you shouldn’t have your life held in that judges hands if you disagree with them. If you are ok with the crime control model for example you would be thrilled with a republican judge, but if you are more liberal than you would feel more comfortable with a judge that would want to rehabilitate you rather than just toss you in jail as would most conservative judges.
The second highest rated American value to me is the Equality of Opportunity and it is probably the one that needs some help. I believe that no matter your social, economic, ethnic, or even age you should be on equal footing to receive an education or to get a job. Unfortunately this is not the case and I think everyone knows it but most people are afraid to admit that this problem still exists in America, and you can’t fix a problem that you don’t acknowledge. If a 20 year old man in good health and an 80 year old woman in good health both apply for a job it is very likely the 20 year old will get the job. I believe this happens for many reasons and many people may not even know they do this. Also people who don’t have money aren’t treated as someone who has a lot of money, I have been on both ends of the spectrum and I know this for a fact. It is unfair but it is the way it is, granted it is better than it was 40 or 50 years ago but it is far from perfect.
The third most important thing in the American values to me is Individual Liberty and this is important to me because I like having the First Amendment backing up the fact that I can legally worship God, I can speak my mind about any issue that I want without fear of being jailed, people may not agree with either but they can’t do anything about it and this is what makes individual liberty so wonderful to me I love living in a free society. I have been overseas where it is communist rule and you can’t carry a bible, and you can’t speak about the government (you can but only once before you are jailed). I know that there are many countries that this is the way of life but it isn’t for me. I don’t agree with the level 2 part of individual liberty of homosexual’s right to marry because the last time I checked it was illegal in most states, I do however believe that people who want this can voice their opinion just like I voice mine against it.
I don’t know if I can classify myself so easily into liberal or conservative, I defiantly lean more towards being a conservative but I am moderate as far as labeling myself. When it comes down to it I will vote on the issues and occasionally if stuck I will vote on the party but it will usually be Republican. Dr. Daniel Elazar’s model of political concepts would also be hard for me to find the exact spot I belong in because each of the concepts can take away something I can agree with but again if pushed to label I would have to say Traditionalistic is what I agree with. I like to keep the “status quo”, but that being said I disagree with having to label one’s self into a category.
