In Betsy Carbajal Rivera's blog post "Voter Turnout," I loved what she had to say. Voting rates in our country are very disappointing and frankly quite embarrassing. This is a problem that should really be solved. Rivera's idea of rewarding the people that do vote really could work! People tend to respond to rewards rather than criticism about not voting at all. This has not shown to be effective. Rivera's blog post is something the government ought to consider! Maybe the states should even show some sort of reward to the young college students who vote! The youth in our community has an awful lot to say about current political issues, so maybe they need the motivation to make their voice heard!

One issue our national government struggle with is staying out of our business. I believe that the government is getting way too close to the state and local governments. In particular, I believe that the government needs to stay out of marriage. At first this belief does not make any sense but stay with me here. Since the legalization of gay marriages, religions have been attacked by the government and social groups for not engaging with same sex weddings. I live by a “If what you are doing does not affect me, I do not care” type of mindset. This is what all of my political views are based on. Therefore, same sex marriages are not something I oppose. However, I do have a problem with religious affiliation being attacked for standing up for what they believe in. I very much care about everyone’s right to have their freedom of beliefs and speech. Therefore, the government should stay out of legal marriages in general. I would like to keep the federal government as far away from the people as possible. In this day and age, the government is becoming too powerful and these officials are becoming too involved in the everyday lives of US citizens. The government is here to simply lay down laws and enforce them. Not controlling every aspect of our personal decisions. Our founding fathers intended to keep the federal government far away from us, and with as close as it is getting, it is becoming harder to say we live in the land of the free.