Reflection

Over the course of this semester the blog posts have encouraged me to pay closer attention to the happenings of Congress and form greater opinions about the institution and the legislation they bring about. As we learned about the branch of government in class, it was great to apply the textbook knowledge to real world scenarios. I always tried to be informed with what was occurring in the government, but could never get too involved in the issues. By analyzing the news, I was forced to look deeper into the matters and procedures of Congress.

                Many important things happened in Congress this semester that I feel I would have overlooked if I did not need to form my own opinions, and look to the opinions of my colleagues. An event that I found myself very interested with was the papal visit. As I did more research regarding his stay in America, I was able to gain a better knowledge of where I stand in relation to matters involving the separation of church and state. Not only did these blog posts open my eyes to the inner workings of Congress, but it helped me grow as a political scientist and encouraged me to be more engaged in the information I obtain and the opinions I create. The blog posts not only taught me about the legislative branch of government but they taught me about myself and the positions I take regarding certain matters.

In addition to finding out more about myself and where I stand in the political spectrum, I also learned how to look at things from both sides of the party line. Instead of looking at just one news source, I researched multiple sources to ensure that the information I was looking at was not biased towards one party or another. I used politico and rollcall in order to find most of the topics I discussed, but then would look at many other news sources such as CNN and the Washington Post to see how the events were discussed elsewhere.

I am pleased with the progress that I have made as the semester progressed. I started the semester with very little knowledge on Congress and congressional matters. However blog post after blog post, I found myself engaging in more political conversations with friends and family and actually being confident in the matters I was discussing outside of the blog and of the classroom. Overall I found these posts to be very beneficial, and I hope that even though it will no longer count for a grade, I will continue to be actively aware of the happenings of the people’s branch of government.