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George Escobedo

Mr.Woodson

HUMA 1301 F005

19 Oct. 2016

American Society

From its inception, America has been a country that has always taken great pride in its

beliefs and ideals. America has taken these traits and put them on a pedestal, telling the rest of

the world that this is what it means to be an American. Hard working, patriotic, family oriented,

generosity are just a few of the traits that this country would like the rest of the world to define it

by. However, in the current age, the age of information, America truly defines itself through it’s

political structure and actions. For the rest of the world, this means foreign policy since that sets

the standard for how America interact with the other nations of the world. American citizens,

however, get a different view of the machine, being that they are on the inside. For those of us

on the inside, the political system is the way that we, as Americans, interact with each other on a

grand scale, and understanding human interactions is one of the ways we discover what it means

to be human. Being that this is a humanities class and it is our goal to define what it means to be

a human, we decided on the field of American politics for our second project.

One of the most defining characteristics of the American political system is that it is a

two party system. On one side stands the democratic party and on the other side stands the

republican party. Both of these parties have a long history and both are defined by their beliefs

on the role and purpose of the government.

The Republican Party, or Grand ol’ Party, according to The Kite Flyers, is all about

government taking a smaller role in the lives of its citizens. They believe that government should
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take a back seat to business and should not seek to regulate or restrict business practices. This

means that they are usually against labor unions and collective bargaining, as well as minimum

wage requirements and any government actions that would punish businesses for outsourcing

labor to foreign countries. They also believe that it is not the responsibility of the government to

help its citizens in times of financial crisis. Believing that this should instead fall to individuals,

charities and religious organizations. In general, Republicans are against taxes being raised and

take the stance that all citizens should pay one flat tax rate, despite their income. These are just a

few of their economic stances.

The other side of that coin is the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party is the older of

the two parties and in its current iteration, has become the party of the middle to lower class

citizens. The economic stances of this party veer more towards an increased government

presence. They believe that government should regulate business practices and are usually pro

labor unions. They support increased minimum wage and believe that entities with more money

should pay more taxes. They support government aid programs like welfare and are usually in

support of universal health care.

Social issues usually fall under the umbrella of either conservative or liberal. According

to the research team, conservative beliefs are usually associated with the republican party. They

are against abortion but support the death penalty. They are usually against gay marriage,

supporting what they call “traditional family values.” They are strong supporters of the right to

bear arms. The liberals are pro-choice and anti-death penalty. They support equal rights

regardless of sexuality or race and usually support stronger regulations on gun ownership. The

liberals are most often associated with the democratic party.

The American political system is all about juxtaposition. Left or right, black or white.
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This look at American politics has shown me that our political structure needs to catch up to the

rest of our society and adapt to modern time. The current system is too polarizing and does not

allow for healthy competition. Not all democrats are liberals nor republicans conservative and

vice versa. The system needs to change to reflect that.