'Governor's' brother in real world of politics now
While his younger brother, David, was elected governor of Minnesota Boys State, Jonathan Liedl, 20, is navigating the real world of politics in Washington, D.C.
Liedl, a junior at the University of Notre Dame, is interning this summer at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy research institute.
Jonathan Liedl
Liedl is working at the Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies and has been doing research and writing that focuses on U.S. public policy and U.S. foreign relations.
He started June 1 and the 10-week internship ends Aug. 7.
"It's been just a really great experience so far," said Liedl, who is majoring in political science and Arabic studies. "Both in terms of how to work in an office and work in D.C. and the issues itself. You get exposed to a lot of information, opinions and viewpoints."
Some issues that Liedl has been focusing on include the post-election demonstrations in Iran and President Barack Obama's use of Web technology and social networking sites. Analysts then turn around and write policy papers about the work that Liedl has done.
Liedl's father, Mark, worked at the Heritage Foundation in the 1980s and so he decided to look into internship possibilities there.