fairly free rein, my parents encouraged individuality and self reliance, so I really learned to think about things on my own and figure out how I felt about them. Another interesting factor in my upbringing is that I grew up without television, so when I wanted to know what was going on I read the newspaper. The school that I went to was fairly progressive and the teacher that I had for Social Studies taught us a lot about both our local and federal governments. I was able to spend a day at the Vermont State house, and have been to a few town meetings, all of which have helped me form my political views. I am a very open-minded person and this carries over heavily into how I view politics, I tend to focus on the single issues at hand and not on which party is proposing them. I feel strongly on many issues, abortion, education, foreign/domestic policy, welfare and most recently civil unions, however I try to understand both sides, not agree but understand. I do think that I could be far more educated in the realm of politics, but I think that I am off to a good start, and can hold my own in conversations concerning many of the issues that are currently in the limelight. ...
