Austin Iovanna

Civics L3/A2
6 April 2015
Chapter One: American Political Culture
Although our nations governing document introduced with the
phrase We the People, the founding fathers (rich, white, protestant
land owners) were not expressing equality to every citizen of America.
This document did not express the same freedom and rights to black
slaves, women and non-property owning white men as it did to white
men who owned homes and land. Our government, much like the noninclusive document that is the Constitution, grows with each
generation instead of constantly redevising the government. We need
to build on the past because our civilization is constantly evolving. For
example, the Internet didnt exist when the founding fathers did. So,
news laws and regulations must be formed in correlation with these
societal introductions. The government of the United States us unique
we have ideals that are based on our national identity, whereas
countries around the world have common ancestral backgrounds.
However, in America, our citizens are derivative of many countries
around the world. We are truly a melting pot, offering religious
freedom, economic prosperity, general opportunity, etc. The founding
fathers were smart to observe and research the governments of other
countries to learn the successes and failures of each of them, forming

a patchwork of ideals to be applied to the American government. We

also borrowed the idea of democracy from the Greeks who primarily
devised it in our worlds history. Another unique facet of the system
America runs on is class mobility. In other countries citizens are born
into classes or caste-like systems that decide their economic and
political power since birth. In the United States, those born into a lower
class family can work hard and persevere in order to eventually join a
high class.
Everyone has beliefs and ideals that they uphold and practice. In
politics, the characteristic and deep-rooted beliefs of particular people
is called political culture. The beliefs of our nation are deeply tied to
the European heritage of the first settlers of America. Because they
arrived during the Enlightenment period they were longing for better
lives on earth, trying to make sense of religion and create a perfect
society where religion was significant. These goals were influenced by
Europes aristocratic rule. Once the settlers grew comfortable on the
new land, they had ideas and rules and a European government
system that not every one agreed with. After all, they escaped Europe
in the first place. Because of this, the American Revolution occurred as
a successful large-scale rebelliondriven by a different form of
government. We often see in history that rebels have defeated the
greatest forces on earth. Since the birth of a unified government,
American ideals start with the idea that government exists to serve the

citizen, and that the individual is the prioritynot the government. In

short, the government works for you. This is why the right to bare arms
came into existencecitizens were given the opportunity to overthrow
the government if they ever abused their powers or worked in favor
against the American citizens. With this comes the notion of liberty, the
principle that people should be free to think and act as they choose as
long as they dont invade the rights or freedoms of others. It is often
difficult to know where to draw the line for this. Another value that was
bred in Frontier America is Rugged Individualism which is the thought
that individuals should be self-sufficient and should be able to
accumulate the necessary materials and advantages in order to
maintain a steady well being. Equality existed as the notion that all
individuals are equal in terms of moral worth and because of this they
are entitled to equal treatment under law. This was an issue in colonial
America and stands today as controversial issue in terms of race,
religion, gender, sexuality, education, marriage, and more. Earlier I
mentioned that the government is the force that works for the
individual. Self-government is the principle that individuals are the
almighty source of governing authority. Government is based off of
majority rule and federal & state governments work off of the will of
people.
Today, politics are competitive in the constant struggle for power
and advantage by politicians. In this competitive nature, we see rich

individuals giving financial support to both political candidates in an

election. This activity results in the rich receiving favors from these
candidates once either of them are in power. These rich political
manipulators will often attend dinners with prospective political leaders
while they are campaigning in order to share their opinion, which
translates in politicians acting on these opinions once in office.
Because not everyone agrees politically, there is clearly going to be
conflict. Within this conflict, there are two general sources of it: the
first being scarcity which is the lack of wealth needed to satisfy
everyones desires over the resource distribution, the second being
differences in values and when people see issues in different ways as a
result of differing backgrounds, ideals, etc.
As America was gaining maturity and evolving its views and
opinions, there has been a plethora of insightful individuals who
brought their radical ideas to the nation. Thomas Hobbes believed that
humans were inevitably a part of nature and since the world is a brutal
place, the government should be providing endless protection for the
people of the country. About forty years later, John Locke said that we
have natural rights like property, liberty, and etc. but he also thought
that the government needs organization and the protection of rights so
citizens dont overthrow them. Then in the mid 1700s, Jean-Jacques
Rouseau believed that only a government that works in constant favor
of the individual would be effective. With these outlooks on

government and law, many Americans were forming their own opinion
mixtures of these ideas. However, with a social contract, citizens must
agree to form a government, which will act within the confines of that
agreement. So, although many may be in favor under contract, there
are certain freedoms that people must sacrifice. In the USA we have
a democracy, a Greek concept we have adopted and (we think)
improved in which the people of the country govern either directly
(true democracy) or through elected officials (representative
democracy, the kind our country practices). In order to keep political
abuse out of the question, there is an intricate set of checks and
balances, which keep an eye on the actual power being upheld by the
government itself. In our government, we have three branches of
government: executive (presidential), legislative (congress), and
judicial (the supreme court). In democracy, the will of the majority
should always prevail over minority. But still Americans obtain rights
and freedoms that cannot be taken away by the majority. Going with
the idea that the citizens carries power in the majority,
constitutionalism is the idea that there are clear and set limits on the
power of the government over citizens and that the constitution places
limits on the power of the national government. Another type of
government, capitalism is an economic system based on a free market
and believes that the government should not interfere with economic
transactions. This prospective consumer society often fails because

of free markets and self-reliance. In the United States government, we

have public policy which is a decision made by the government to
perform an action. This includes things like taxes, healthcare, trade
barriers, war, etc. Although as citizens we cannot alter the powers of
public policy, we do have authoritythe right to exercise power as an
individual, group or organization.
In government, we must look at who really governs our country
and their theories of power. We have Majoritarianism, which means
majorities are who determines policy issues. There is Pluralism, which
means policies are decided by power that comes from special interests
that dominate policy areas. Then there is Elitism which holds that well
positioned, wealthy, strongly connected individuals control policy. And
lastly, Bureaucratic rule which holds that well-placed administrators
within government bureaucracy control policy. With a diverse America,
typically different interests must work together to exercise power
having to accommodate the interests of others. It is clear that the
structure of the US society assists in promoting American success. In
our country, we have inputs: public opinion, voting/participation,
political parties, campaigns, etc. which strike the creation of outputs:
laws, programs, social/foreign/defense policy. Clearly our government
is extremely intricate, with many flaws and advantages. We are
learning everyday as a nation, what works and what doesnt. With this
growing knowledge, we continue to mold into an ideal America.