Whether we like it or not, young people are the future.

If you’re a young person reading this, sometimes you’re going to be the one making the calls in your life.

You will want the best things for yourself, for your family, friends and country. But the only way to start is by knowing the systems around you and being an active volunteer.

Parents, if you’re reading this and have kids that are still not at the age to participate fully, then there are a few things you can do to start their political education.

No, this does not have to be a carrot and stick style approach, you can actually make them enjoy politics, which we will return to later.

But before that, let’s explore the basics first.

Why is politics important?

Simply by having a thorough understanding of politics, you get to learn about the world and what’s going on around you. Once you have a good knowledge of this, you have the free will to talk about politics and become involved in conversations surrounding it. Also, knowing politics allows you to understand your boundaries within and outside the law. It can also help you make informed decisions and choices.

Why is it important for young people?

A youth poll was conducted by Harvard Kennedy School, which looked at young people’s view of the USA towards the future. They found that in 2021 56% of young Americans have high hopes for their future in America.

While 56% is a significant amount, it’s still not enough, and there’s a lot of people lacking from this. If you’re in the other half who’s not hopeful, it’s important you know politics and are involved in it so you can play your part to turn it into a reality. But to do this, you really need to know why it’s so important for you to do so. Being involved in politics allows you to:

1. Know what’s important to you

Have you been raised in a far left, right or liberal family? Whatever political stance you’ve grown up around, it’s ok to stray away from others around you. Sometimes people only stick to certain views or parties because it’s what they know from childhood. Being active in politics allows you to understand the bigger picture and helps you to make informed choices that are beneficial to you.

2. It allows adults to respect the younger generation

Sometimes in political elections or in big events, there’s usually a generational divide between adults and children. Sometimes there are adults who have fixated views on certain aspects of politics and are not open to listening to those from the younger ones.

Whereas the younger ones are open to understanding but want to share their views with grown ups as well. However, if more young people are actively involved in politics then it’s more likely adults will have to listen to their views and stop pigeon holing them. After all, there’s more of the younger generation on the planet that exist than the older ones!

3. It can help bring about a more democratic society

If young people are involved in politics, they will more than likely be able to contribute to a more just society. The reason being is if you’re a young person who’s involved in politics, you’re more than likely going to influence other young people around you to do so. The more young people who know their rights can overturn the heads of politicians and help them pass bills that benefit young people. As a result, this can lead to a more democratic country and it can cut out a lot of authoritarian policies. This is a key thing to do to stop the USA becoming more polarised.

How can young people become involved in politics?

If you’re a young person and not too sure of where to begin, you can start learning by doing the following:

• Stay updated

It’s up to you to update yourself with the know-how of global events that are going on around you. Read multiple news sources, learn about what’s happening in your community and have meaningful discussions with others around you.

• Sign petitions

If you’re not at the age to vote, it does not mean you can’t do anything. You can actively play your part in trying to get bills to be passed by signing petitions and showcasing your voice. There are many websites that do this, like change.org and We the people which are good for you signing your name and address to help put your voice forward.

• Be a poll worker

Being an active volunteer like being a poll worker will help you understand the voting system. It also helps those in politics around you. Typically the role of a poll worker allows you to learn how to check people in for registration, distribute ballots and help keep the center organized.

• Dedicate your time to a cause you stand up for

There are so many organizations and voluntary groups in the USA that do amazing work to fight towards a cause and values. Irrespective of where you stand politically, there are so many great initiatives that can teach you valuable tools and allow you to grow your network to make a change! Similarly, you can start learning the basics of what matters to you. Plus, you could even host events or fundraisers to start getting those in the community involved to help make a change around you.

• Get in touch with your representative

One of the best ways to be heard is by contacting your local representative. While your voice may not have been heard from the existing representative, you can still make them listen to you. It’s really simple to voice your concerns – you can write a letter, send an email, make a call, tweet or make a petition to get them to hear you. But make sure that you choose one that is the most important to you.

Many people are easily caught up by influencers on social media, gossip, and adverts they see on the TV in today’s world.

The amount of the time you invest doing this could be spent investing in politics.

What we mean by this is that learning, knowing, and practicing politics could give you great power to change your life and the life of others around you.

Why is politics beneficial?

The truth is there are many more advantages than those listed above when it comes to politics. Choose to be invested in politics because:

• It allows you to know your rights
• Politics can create a stable and practical attitude
• It helps you undergo critical thinking
• You get to fully understand what’s going on around you

These are just a few benefits of why politics is so useful to understand. But, the surprising thing is that many Americans are not reaping these benefits; a lot of the nation knows little about politics.

A survey was conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania found that only a quarter of Americans could name all three branches of government. Plus, only 37% could not manage to recall one right protected by the First Amendment.

Shocking, right?

Most of the time, many people just don’t know where to start and give up trying to learn more about politics. But, like many others, you can understand it and have the power to change that by utilizing some helpful resources.

Top resources to help your knowledge about American Politics

Just like any new industry, you have to start somewhere before your knowledge gets better. No one is an expert overnight, but with time you can be. To help you know more about what’s going on in our country, check out these resources:

• Edx

One of the best ways to boost your political knowledge of the USA is to check out Edx. This is a global nonprofit website that has lots of free online courses on politics. Yes, they’re free!

Some you do have to pay for, but for a large majority, you don’t need to unless you’re looking to buy a certificate. Their courses consist of many pre-recorded videos and weekly modules that you can work through at your own pace.

A lot of their courses contain supplemental readings, student discussion forums, and homework assignments. Plus, you get to learn firsthand from some of the world’s top institutions like Harvard, MIT, Boston, Berkeley, and more.

• Start reading news

Ok, so this one is pretty much a no-brainer, but we will say it anyway! Learning about politics will require you to be frequently updated on the events currently happening in the USA and the world around you. That means you have to follow the news!

No, this is not going on short Tik Tok snippet style videos; you have to read and watch it when you can. But remember, not all journalistic outlets are reliable either; some are biased and may not work in your favor! The best and most reliable journalism websites and channels to follow are the following:

• The New York Times

This is one of America’s most popular newspapers and sites. While a lot of it tends to be leaning towards the left, it’s a great place to go to keep updated on what’s happening in the country. This is because each journalist has ethics, and the paper itself abides by ethical standards when it comes to reporting politics and business.

• The Wall Street Journal

You should definitely get copies of the largest circulated newspaper in all of the USA. Its editorials and columns have won Pulitzer Prizes for their remarkable journalism. It tends to lean more towards the business side.

• Bloomberg

This resource delivers news on politics, provides market analysis and news on the rest of the world.

These are just a few reliable sources where you can stay up to date on existing news related to politics in the USA. However, make sure you don’t stick to one source, vary your reading and look at multiple sources.

It’s also important to do this as some news sources lean towards the left, some to the right, and some are liberal, which will help you make your mind up on politics providing you with a balanced view.

• Ask questions

Ok, so this isn’t a resource, but if you use your initiative and are not afraid of being in the dark with knowledge, you can ask questions to help extend your understanding of politics. One of the best ways to do this is by contacting members of your local political community or government via email and asking them questions to enrich your knowledge.

Just think about it; a lot of the time, they get bad emails or complaints, your email might be refreshing to them. You never know what their response could hold; they could send you useful reading materials or invite you to meet them yourself.

• Political history books and textbooks

To be on top of where politics is at in the USA today, it might be beneficial for you to go back in time and build a baseline of knowledge from there. You could easily google search American politics for beginners and get book recommendations from there, or you could contact your local bookseller to gain greater insight and learn the basics easily and quickly.

• Dive into the national archives

If you have got the time and like reading, try diving into the National Archives. This will help you read reports, records and will have any information you need to know on American Politics in the country’s history. Be warned, though; you could slide down a dark hole and lose hours with all these documents, photos and records you can find!

In today’s world, we’re more exposed to news than ever before.

Our smartphones, smartwatches, and tablets are constantly pinging with the latest updates of what’s going on around us.

Instead of quickly turning on the television or going to different websites, we often have news presented to us on a platter on various social media outlets.

But the real question is, how reliable is this news?

News on social media

According to Pew Research, around a third of Americans gather their news from Facebook. This is kind of scary considering the algorithms Facebook uses, and it also seems to be the worst in comparison to Twitter, Google, and Tik Tok! There was a study conducted by a team of researchers at Princeton University monitored the internet use of 3000 Americans towards the 2016 presidential election.

The study’s outcome found that Facebook was a popular referrer site to biased and untrustworthy news sources around 15% of the time, and they referred to reliable sources only 6%.

Also, the Knight Foundation discovered that running up to that same election, Twitter had more than 10 million tweets and 700,000 accounts that linked to over 600 fake and conspiracy news sites.

So, when you’re reading political information, try to avoid social media.

Ways to verify political information

In addition to avoiding reading news from social media, there are a lot of other things you can do to verify the information you read, which are:

Be analytical

Sometimes you may never know when you’re going to be sprung with fake news, and that can even happen on major news outlets. Fake news is designed to get you talking, sharing the news, and help spread it.

If you read the news, it’s always important to have a critical mindset and be judgemental of what you read. Don’t let your emotions take control of you, and try to think and listen rationally.

Look at the source

It’s important to always check the news source that you’re reading the political information from. Especially if you’ve come across a story for the first time that you haven’t seen before, keep doing research. One way is to look at the web address and conduct research on the domain. You should avoid weird extensions such as “.offer” and “.infonet” as opposed to .com.

Similarly, you should look for any spelling errors or typos on the website. Take your time also to look at the author of the article; you will want to conduct research on them. Try to see if they’re respected in their industry and have enough professional experience to write or speak on the matter.

You should be cautioned about fake news, as many people dedicate their time to doctoring fake new sites, web pages, and images to make them look real. If you see a post that looks like it comes about from a credible source, visit that website directly to verify.

Look at other sources

When reading about politics or news in general, you should look at other websites to see if they’re talking about it. Try not to believe that news reported by the mainstream news is fake. It’s always good to check news against credible sources with strict editing guidelines and highly trained reporters and journalists like CNN, Reuters, and the BBC.

Read past the headline

Sometimes people who write fake news do it to get people to their website. That means they will look for ways to strategically rank on search engines or social media platforms so you can go to their website. But also, don’t believe the headline; once you read past the headline, you may realize it’s totally inaccurate of what the story provides.

Review the images

It’s important not to believe the images you see on the news articles. It’s so easy nowadays for people to use editing software like Photoshop to create fake images that look realistic.

You can look out for and detect things like peculiar shadows on the image or jagged edges. Also, look to see if the images fit the context of the story and the headline. You might want to check if they’re using stock photos (i.e., free photos) to promote their article. There are ways you can also check how original images are by conducting a Google Reverse Search.

Look how the article is supported

If the news article is stating specific information, look at what sources they’re linking it to. It’s essential to see that the claims that they make are backed scientifically or appropriately. Make sure the links are relevant.

Look at the core message

Political information that is reported honestly will have different points of view. Whereas biased or fake news will tend to promote a single viewpoint. Try to read the whole article and see how the author portrays it.

Review the date

It’s also important that you look at the publishing date of the article also. Some companies tend to repost old stories and churn them out again just to get views.

Final thoughts

Nowadays, we tend to read the news more online than on the radio, TV, or newspapers. The quick digital access we have at our fingertips is questionable how reliable it always is. To know you’re getting the right news source, it’s always good to verify the political information you read.

Always check multiple publications to see if it’s posted elsewhere, review the author, look at the core message, see if the headline and images are relevant to the story, and more. Most importantly, don’t always fall victim to the news; keep an analytical mind as fake news spreads quickly.

Hi everyone, thanks for visiting our website. We are a group of passionate and professional individuals who care about politics!

While politics is a serious matter, you will less likely find strategic agendas or views towards one type of politics here. You might find us referencing some US politicians, organizations, or constitutions, but by no means do we agree with everything; we only aim to provide you with a wide resource of political information.

Expect to find insightful posts to help you learn more about the political system, learn about resources that will help you broaden your understanding of US politics, and just enjoy broadening your mind about the fascinating topic of politics!

Who is this blog for?

You don’t have to be a politician or someone with a PhD to read or engage in this blog; we craft our content to all abilities and backgrounds. Therefore if you’re young or just trying to know more about politics, then we are a great introduction to other resources around you.

On the contrary, if you have multiple politics related degrees and take up politics for a living, then this blog also relies on you to help us stay on track and write relevant news.

This blog is for everyone who wants to learn and deepen their political knowledge of the USA.

We strive all the time to stay away from biased content by having a range of writers on our team and also regular guest posts from others interested in these topics. After all, politics is vast; it can’t be narrated or analyzed from one point of view. Plus, we would hate it if you came to our site and ended up viewing our content and not finding it useful.

It’s our duty to serve your interests and create engaging content that’s valuable and helpful to your life. It’s for this reason if you don’t see anything of value on our blog or looks slightly biased, then reach out to us in the contact section.

We will happily devote our time to researching, citing, and composing credible content related to politics. This is a community-based blog, which means we won’t be able to exist if it isn’t for you. After all, politics helps shape our future.

Politics is not perfection

Politics is an essential part of our daily life; it connects us to others, communities, societies, nationalities, and countries around us. For as long as humans are alive, politics is an essential topic to be aware of. More people are being born into this world which means more people need to know their views and rights to help contribute.

We can’t let politics die out, which is why we regularly publish content to keep you engaged and help retain its greatness. But just cause we write about it does not mean we’re perfect at it. We all have our unique interpretations, experiences, and behaviors of politics that are entirely different from others.

This is why it needs to be shared so we can all reap a wealth of knowledge from the politics in the USA. It’s for this reason we’re all for collaboration as opposed to competition.

You can comment and share your insights around each topic on our blog, allowing us to grow more. We don’t endorse criticism, but we’re open to interpretation to craft content that interests you.

How can you better this blog?

This blog wouldn’t be around if it wasn’t for you, and it won’t exist if you aren’t there to help us. We want your opinions, insights, guides, tutorials, videos, and more. We encourage you to put your spin on the politics in the USA and help write content for us.

Most importantly, we’re here to write content that’s engaging and biased. We’re proud of our diverse team of writers from different backgrounds, cultures, professions, and qualifications ready to serve you content that enriches your knowledge.