Grading

I was very happy at the beginning of the semester when Tofias introduced blogging in the place of class papers. Even thought i must confess i do enjoy writing the occasional paper, I believed it was a very interesting idea to use the new channel known al blogging. Its really not that hard to set up and blog every week at all. It just comes down to whether or not the blogger is disciplined enough to remember when to blog and what to blog about as well as commenting on others blogs. I think we would have gotten a bit more interaction if somehow the blogs were introduced in class. Say maybe for 5 minutes at the beginning, Tofias read some exerts and the class got to interact and talk about their own blogs. It's just a thought, maybe then people would blog more or comment on others more if it was directly tied to in class discussions. Overall i believe it was a wonderful idea and the time for this kind of implementation is here and now. I give it an A- for an overall grade. It's a great idea, but maybe more could have been done. As for my own personal participation, I'll good ahead and throw myself a generous C-. I forgot to blog a lot because i would save it till Sunday nights and on Sunday nights i had soccer games every week. Additionally, i would always forget to read others blogs and comment on them. To be blunt the main reason was the fact that i am a business major, and i took this class for enjoyment and to further my knowledge on the subject. Therefore, Poli Sci 421 came last on my list of things to do for school. I however, place the blame solely on my own self and do henceforth apologize for not getting completely involved in this venture with 100% of my ability.

Sorting

According to our reading, "Those who affiliate with a party today are more likely to affiliate with the ideologically correct party than they were in earlier periods." This is known as sorting. We have previously discussed polarization which involved the electorate shifting toward either ends of the political spectrum. In the past we also saw that people would actually vote for the party that did not have the same ideological preferences as they did. Presently, the electorate is one or increasingly more informed and politically educated voters. Thanks to advancements in media, one can get any information they would like at their fingertips in seconds. Voters in recent years are beginning to change their votes to better match the ideology of the correct party. Due to these factors we can see the process of sorting take place. The voters with democratic ideals that were voting incorrectly conservative, and vice versa, will now vote correctly and are therefore "sorted" into the correct voting category. It is due to this that we see more ideologically unified parties in recent years.