Enduring Questions

When you looked at my picture on the homepage of this website (the picture on the right), you saw a white American boy positioned in front of an Italian flag. Could you have guessed from looking at that single image of me that I am the descendant of two Italian immigrants? Chances are that you assumed I was affiliated with Italian culture in some way, but because I am as pale as a ghost, you assumed I was simply an American who is partially Italian or just someone who is fond of Italians. Anyway, my upbringing from two Italian immigrants has played a fundamental shaping in my association with the structure of United States Government and Politics. Both of my parents are unregistered voters who do not feel confident in their ability to make informed decisions for the United States - a land they each were not born in. The latter sentiment is something that has haunted me from a young age because it often made me uncomfortable to hear my parents talking about how they feel like they cannot make a difference in a country they were not born in - a country that constantly reminds them that they do not belong. In my youth, my parents picked up that I was different from the typical child. While my peers were watching SpongeBob after school, I would watch Judge Judy and then presume to be reading books on the government - I have always been fueled by a desire to learn as much about the government as possible because I wanted to teach my parents about it too in order to make them feel a sense of belonging. Something I noticed about my reading inquiries then that I still find existing in my current readings today is that every book I read begins with a section on voting and then continues with the three branches of government. As a Politics major at Fairfield University, my Introduction to Politics class began with a chapter on voting - but it was not until I began this Case Study Analysis that I came to a realization as to why Political Education begins with the topic of voting. Voting is what best represents the will of the people - voting is a testament to what the people want because each individual citizen has the right to vote. Being someone who is very informed on Politics and the policy-making process, I am ecstatic that I am finally eligible to vote because I recently turned eighteen. I have learned from my stacks of books, my educators, and my immigrant parents who have never voted that voting is a privilege; therefore, I have always made a conscientious effort at becoming informed in order to vote on something that I believe will best benefit people like you and I. However, my commitment is not an accurate reflection of every voter because many other voters vote for someone based on certain characteristics like the candidates’ hair color or political party - these types of voters typically do not even think twice about who they are going to cast their vote for, yet it is so easy for them to vote because they are eighteen years of age and are United States citizens. I have recently come to an awareness that voting was not so easy for African Americans in the 1890s despite the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment just twenty years prior. I have always looked up to leaders like Martin Luther King and Ida B. Wells - not only did they advocate for equal civil rights for African Americans, but they also fought for equal civil rights for all people. As the descendant of two immigrants, I believe that my parents are victims of the persecution all immigrants were subjected to back in the day - especially considering how scared they still are to cast their votes. Voting was always a theoretical idea to me because I felt as though it was something you start doing once you turn eighteen years old, but I now realize that voting has, and will always, equal power.