Politics and Me, and You

Written by: Gregor B on Jun 3, 2009 9:39 AM EDT

As you come to the end of your collegiate career, you find yourself asking, why did I study what I studied?  What drew me to this major, and what does it say about me?  I studied politics in one form or another all throughout college, as well as the environment.  Outside of class I was deeply interested in History and the development of human societies.  I find that it is important to look behind the external nature of all human action and ask, why has evolution made this so?  What is the biological significance of this behavior?  Why are there political systems, and why do I like to study them?

Homo Sapiens Sapiens, we are social creatures.  Politics is the manifestation of this primal organizational instinct.  All human groups, at all levels of development, have some form of social organization.  Whether it is in kinship groups, chiefdoms, fiefdoms, monarchies, and democracies, etc.  These organizational hierarchies hold sway over the course of civil society, they restrict, enlighten, enrich, and impoverish their citizens; at the same time.  Ultimately the role of government is to provide the most benefit for the greatest amount of people.  It is the responsibility of the people under a system of government to ensure that it protects them.

This is why I am interested in politics.  I want to make sure that the government abides the contract that it has with the people.  I do not feel I could achieve this goal by being a politician.  I feel it is better that I support them by helping their constituents find a voice.  That is why I study policy, and that is why I Intern at Democracy for America.  Now I've written a highly philosophical and ultimately silly blog.

-Gregor

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