Interesting Facts About Evansville, IN

After doing some research on the Evansville location I was shocked at some of the statistics that I discovered. I used the websites provided by Dr. Micer and found them very useful and easy to follow. Listed are the results that I found and thought were important.
 Total Population: 117,232
 Average Income: $43,000
o National Income: $60,000
 Estimate Poverty of All Ages: 23,179
 Average Household Size: 2.19
 Foreign Born: 2,464 or 2.2%
o National Foreign Born: 12.5%
 People in Labor Force: 56,416 or 62.6%
o United States: 64.7%
 White Citizens: 95,929 or 84.4%
o United States: 74.1%
 Black Citizens: 13,019 or 11.5%
o United States: 12.4%
 American Indian Citizens: 213 or 0.2%
o United States: 0.8%
 Asian Citizens: 1,194 or 1.1%
o United States: 4.3%
 Male Population: 57,170 or 47%
 Female Population: 64,412 or 53%
 As a whole, Evansville is more moderate conservative with the rural areas being more conservative
 There are more people dying than being born in Evansville
 Evansville is decreasing (3%) since last census
o There are more people moving to other states than moving in

Taking a Stand Against Abortion

A great example of a time that I participated in public discourse would be my junior year in high school when my religion teacher had the entire class write a letter to our congressman about adopting a law in Indiana that would make abortion illegal. We had been studying abortion and were amazed at the number of people who have one every year. As Catholics, we are taught that abortion is wrong because you are taking the life of an innocent person. We were all very excited to write letters on this topic and we were able to persuade some other students from other classes to join us as well. We knew that with more participation we could make a bigger impact. We were all very thrilled and felt that we really could make a difference. We did receive a letter back from Congressman Hostettler that supported what we were doing and said that he would see what could be done.
Looking back on this today, I believe that what we did was a great way to express how we felt and a great way to get involved with our government. Asking for a law to be passed on abortion is a lot to ask for and probably out of the question because it deals a lot with our freedoms. Many people would not support this and it would cause a lot of uproar in our state. What many people do not understand is that this is a form of murder. How can people get in trouble for killing a person on the streets but not for killing a person inside of them? We must remember that we were high school kids asking for something huge to happen. It was going to take more than a hundred people to make a difference. We were not experts on abortion and we probably did not have all of our facts straight. However, it was something great to get many of the students involved with and excited to make a difference.
I still hold a very strong opinion about abortion and how I believe that it is not right, but there are always situations that question my belief. An instance when a girl is raped by a family member and becomes pregnant, I believe it would be best for the whole family and especially the child if an abortion took place. This child would have to live with the fact that his mother and father are related. This would be very hard for the child to grow up knowing. It seems to me that abortions are way too easy to have done. I do not believe that women are informed well enough of how an abortion can hurt your body and even prevent you from becoming pregnant ever again. With more knowledge about what they are really doing to themselves, I believe that the abortion rates would be reduced.
I now understand how important it is to get involved with the government. You cannot sit back and let everything go that you do not agree with because they will never get better. People must make a stand for what they believe in to make a difference. I have always been taught that a person who does not participate in government issues, such as voting, has no room to complain about what takes place. I can now say that I tried to put an end to abortion. Being under the age of eighteen, my boundaries were pretty limited. I did not have the opportunity to vote for leaders who were against abortion. This was very important for me to participate in because the congressman is now aware of how the younger generation of citizens feels about this topic. I am very glad that I had this opportunity to not only learn about my government but to make a difference in my community.

Political Compass

After completing this test, I was surprised to see the wide variety of different political figures and contemporary politicians and their standing on the scale. The results of these political figures did not surprise me all that much. There seemed to be more that were towards the authoritarian/neo-liberalism side of the graph, which makes since because they are all part of the government. They value leadership and authority.
I found myself to fall directly in the middle of the scale with a little more towards the liberal side. I found this to be pretty interesting because it makes me seem like a well rounded individual. The only aspect that I lean more towards would be freedom. I understand and except the guidelines that we must follow in order to be a civilized country. Sometimes I believe that the government has such strict guidelines that it infringes on our freedoms. Some of the values that we were asked on the test are issues that I do not know what side I take. For example, the question dealing with abortion is a tough one for me to answer because I have different opinions about this topic depending on the situation. My faith teaches me that abortion is always wrong because it is taking the life of an innocent individual.
I do not believe that I would make a good political leader because of my value of freedom. I do not believe in telling people how they must live their lives. Our politicians and political figures are more interested in doing what is best for the country/state than what is better for the individuals. That is why we have more people without jobs than we have had in the past. Citizens must be able to make money in order to spend it and get the economy in a better situation. I often find myself not agreeing with what our political leaders do, which explains why I found my scores to be in the opposite direction of most of the big names in history.