”Getting Involved: Join the Party “, and “State Senator Kip Averitt” Reaction Paper

”Getting Involved: Join the Party “, and “State Senator Kip Averitt”

In the video “Getting Involved: Join the Party”, the video discussed how normal everyday people got involved in joining a party and going to conventions for their party. Each individual joined for different reasons, and have different tactics and ideas to bring to the parties they want to influence. The narrator also ask the individuals how they liked going to the conventions and talking to others about the changes that can be made. Some individuals said that they were happy to meet so many likeminded individuals, others that everyone was nice. The narrator did this to show that not all politicians are cynical, and that many everyday people are involved and are enthusiastic about the work they do.

The video fits in with our notes and discussions over Chapter 4 Role of Political Parties in Texas Politics in our book Governing Texas. This video shows how people have run for office (though there was not much competition), helping others campaign, talking to people about issues (going door to door), and getting the word out about the vote, and people in office.

The chapter was more about the statewide candidates and political parties, while the video was showing more grassroots individuals who got the word out in the communities and individuals who just wanted to get more involved in political work.

Does the state pay for the conventions these people are going too, in the video it seems like there in a big auditorium or something, and one man said that the cocktail hours and hotels were great. It seems like a ‘party’ vacation, rather than a ‘party’ conference.

I think the clip helped me along with my fellow students that it is not just the big candidates on TV that everyone remembers, that there are many citizens behind the scenes on the lower levels of government who want to make a difference in their communities, state, and country.

In the video “State Senator Kip Averitt Discusses the role of...