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Ricky Funes Government I S17 Dr. Garrison 02/14/12

America, the Free, the Just, the Very Political

Since the beginning of the United Stated, with the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution, America has always been the land created by free men. Colonist who rebelled against tyranny, declared their independence and developed and established a governmental system founded on their own values and ideologies. But the question is: what values and ideologies are infused in our systems of government and how can we determine if they are just or not? How do we know if the laws and rules made are truly the right laws that govern us?

To understand these questions further we must first look at the system of government itself, in terms of the core ideologies and core values. The core Ideologies and values that drives a governmental system comes from the thoughts, ideas, and beliefs of the people who hold the power to rule. In the Democratic Republic of the United States, the people have the power to rule because the power originates from them. The citizens give legitimacy to the government to have the right to use force, and also agree and enter into a social contract to allow themselves to be regulated and taxed in exchange for this protection of their lives and their property (Dye 6-7). And whoever rules a society, politically, develops and infuses a political ideology into their country with their own set of values and beliefs about public policy. And the United States became the first practical political system to result from the ideas of liberalism in 1789( Sim1). Because of this, America is referred to as the exception from this rule of the elite, or by one, and is known as the American Exceptionalism.

America is theoretically different from other countries in their ideologies and values because

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America emerged from the revolution as the first new nation; a nation for the people and by the people. The Founders expressed that: people agreed to establish government, obey laws, and pay taxes in exchange for protection of their natural rights. This social contract gave government its legitimacy (Dye 63). This was something the world had never seen before, prior to Americas formation. Because of this reason, America has developed its own unique ideology, based on the beliefs on liberty, equality, constitutionalism, and the well-being of the common people that came out of the Revolutionary War. The founders of the constitution instilled fundamental ideas for what America stood for; known as the American Creed. The Creed believed in: liberty (Individul freedom from a government for fundamental rights), egalitarianism (all citizens should have equality of opportunity and political equality), individualism (Independence of individual resources) , populism (the right of average citizens in their struggle with the privileged elite) , and laissez- faire (belief in free markets with supply and demand as main determinants, without government interference) (Sim1). All four of these elements are what make America unique and prosperous, but also carry great obstacles in the past and in current issues.

These five elements hold problems and controversy because we each have a different perception of each in determining the truth behind government administration and the ideologies that run it. These perceptions carry a lot of contradictory ideas and are referred to as the American dilemma because a gap exists between different viewpoints (Dye 26). One of the big questions asked in each element is the question of freedom vs. order. How much of our freedom are we willing to sacrifice for order in our society, and vice versa. To determine that we must look at the factors that affects our political standings.

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American values/ beliefs and the political culture are the three major factors that affect our political standing. Political culture is the commonly shared attitudes, beliefs, and core values on how a government should operate on a daily basis in terms of who should govern, for what ends, by what means? (Dye 25). Values and beliefs determine what is right, what is wrong, and what is true. As a example of political standing, Ill use myself. My core values are in my belief in Catholicism and economic beliefs in how government shouldnt intervene in economic issues, which has led to my specific development of my ideological perspective in politics. In determining what politics works best, it is first important to determine ones own perspective by asking if Am I a Idealist or am I a pragmatist?

An Idealist is influenced by ideals that often conflict with practical considerations and a pragmatist puts theory linked with the success of a previous practical application or experience. pragmatism and liberal ideology are an incompatible together and cannot function together however ( A.E.). For example the Articles of Confederations was a failure in keeping with providing for the common defense, commerce, and national common laws by the states which was initially idealized by colonist a and the founders, as a means of having all the power in the states rather than central government. The decision was made to scrap the Articles of Confederation altogether, write a new constitution, and form a new national government( Dye 63 ).Pragmatism in this case proved to be more effective where theory was extracted from this experience (Central government is essential) and applied to future problems. The hard part is, determining the ideologies that work vs. the ones that dont, in our personal lives and for our nation.

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This political argument about what works and what doesnt, and what values and beliefs should be incorporated into our government, has enviably divided America into a two major party political system. This divide, or Gap, is between Republicans (Conservatives) and Democrats (Liberals) and is characterized by the split political personalities in each of their own unique principles and administrations. The two other influential parties are the Libertarians (small or no governmental power over social and in economic issues) and the Tea party ( equality amongst all people in social and economic status).

Republicans are known to be the Capitalist and Conservatives of society because they stand for economic freedom and social order .Capitalism believe in free market and economically support a less active government, oppose programs to redistribute income, and believe the private sector should be given more freedom (Sim2). And in terms of Social Ideologies, conservatives tend to favor preserving traditional cultural, family, and religious values,removing all gun ownership restrictions and often favor a large role for the government on issues such as policing and national defense (Sim2). Republicans are on the right wing of the governmental spectrum and its candidates for the upcoming 2012 election is Rick Perry (Governor of the conservative state of Texas), Mitt Romney , Ron Paul,Rick Santorum , Newt Gingrich.

Democrats on the other hand believe in a different set of values where they believe in economic security and the belief of social independence. In relation to economics liberals believe that the federal government should take strong positive action to solve the nation's problems (like healthcare and poverty) and provide a social safety net for all [Keynesianism] (Sim2). And

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in terms of Social reforms, liberals favor a government that promotes individual freedoms, like the right to have an abortion, or formalized unions for gay and lesbian couples (Sim2). Democrats are on the left wing of the governmental spectrum and the declared 2012 democratic presidential candidate and current president of the United States is Barack Obama.

With the elections coming in near sight of us, we must take into account the ideologies that we value when voting on our next representatives. They will be the ones who represent us when handling the issues that we face on a daily basis and also for what our nation faces. Outside factors such as political ideology, including religion, race, gender, and even age do influence us when it comes to voting but we must look also at the seeking of what is the right thing to do. According to a comprehensive new survey of the American electorate, by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center, it found out that Americans are fundamentally opposed to compromise on almost every issue (Rutten). In order to better ourselves as a nation we must sometimes set aside what we think is fundamentally correct in our eyes, in order to come together and compromise an alternative solution to the problems we face in life. An endless argument with no end nor solution will leave the nation stagnant and in bitter unrest, instead we must move forward together, in unity.

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Fundamental Conservative and Liberal Principles Conservative Principles: Economically, conservatives believe in the private sector should be granted more freedom from government. They believe in the free market ideology are supportive for a less active government in the economy. They support independent businesses and Companies and oppose programs that to redistribute wealth. Conservatives try to restrain government by pushing for low taxes. The conservative position is that by keeping taxes as low as possible businesses can return more capital into the economy and can grow increasingly better than by government taxpayers that do not spend tax revenues wisely. Socially, conservatives tend to favor preserving traditional cultural, family, and religious values, including keeping marriage between a man and a woman and opposing abortion rights. Conservatives strongly support removing all gun ownership restrictions and often favor a large role for the government on issues such as policing and national defense. The Republican Party platform includes support for fiscal responsibility, less government spending, lower taxes, a stronger defense, a constitutional amendment that would make abortion illegal, and opposition to same sex marriage. Liberal Principles: In terms of economics, liberals tend to believe and think that the federal government should have a strong involvement in the nation's problems (like healthcare, poverty, social services) and provide a social safety net for all. This economic model is often called Keynesianism and applies to the demand-side economics. Liberals generally support economic programs that promote racial and class equality. That is why they fall on the governmental spectrum side of socialism because they shrink the fiscal earnings gap between the rich and the poor. Income tax ratio: where the more you make in money, the more you get taxed. Socially, liberals favor a government that promotes individual freedoms (social freedoms), like the right to have an abortion, or formalized unions for gay and lesbian couples. Liberals also favor the individuals right over the companies rights, where they support workers rights to form unions, sue employers, and petition for better work environments. The Democratic Party platform includes support for more government spending, higher taxes on higher income earners, renewable energy investment, abortion rights, and same-sex legal unions (not marriage).

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Works Cited Page

Tim Rutten, "Snapshot of a split America," Los Angeles Times, May 7, 2011. Web. (Sim1)MyLabsPlus Chapter 2 Simulation : What are American civic values?. Pearson Education Company, 2011. Web. (Sim2)MyLabsPlus chapter 2 Video: Who Are Liberals and Conservatives? What's the Difference? Politics in America. Pearson Education Company, 2011. Web. Thomas R. Dye, Tucker Gibson, Clay Robison .Politics in America. Pearson Education company, 2011. Print. A.E., Barack Obama's ideology: Can he be both pragmatic and visionary? The Economist, Apr 11th 2011.