Causes Behind the Change in American Political Culture

Chapter one of The American Political Tradition by Richard Hofstadter is centered on the Founding Fathers. The very beginning of the chapter says that the Constitutional Convention was trying to create a government that would pay debts and avoid currency inflation. The Democratic ideas that the Founding Fathers were so against appealed mostly to less privileged classes, and not at all to the higher classes. This chapter says that the Founding Fathers thought that if no constitutional balance were achieved, one specific class or would take over others. Three advantages of a good constitutional government were listed in this chapter as well. One: keep order against majority rule. Two: a representative government. Three: aristocracy and democracy

The First Party System refers to a period between 1792 and the 1820’s when the American political system was divided into two parties. Both parties, the Federalist Party, and the Democratic-Republican Party, wanted control of the Congress, the presidency, and the states. The parties were the result of the differences between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson on how to solve various national problems such as the economic crisis that was threatening the nation at the time (Dickerson, 2004). However, the roots of these political parties and concerns emerged during the constitution ratification process. On one hand, the Federalists supported the constitution while, on the other hand, the Antifederalists (Democratic-Republican) did not support it due to key issues that had not been considered in the new constitution (rAndon HersHey & Beck, 2015).

The idea of political culture is found within the state’s history. The history of the state is impacted by the people settled in the region, religious backgrounds, and geography. The history of the state influences the attitudes and beliefs that people hold regarding their political system. Daniel Elazar theorized a connection between the states’ history and attitude towards government by explaining differences in government between states. Every state is different with some common ground. Elazar’s theory divides states into three types: moralistic, traditionalistic and individualistic. The state’s constitution defines the powers of government with political culture bias. Because of the state constitution, the political culture

Because culture conflicts sells, journalism in our country has taken to publicizing exaggerated culture differences. Extreme voices have come to dominate American political discourse which has only fed into the concept of a divided country, even making it look like one half of our country hates the other half. The culture divide is based on party differences between republicans and democrats. In reality the cultural differences between democrats and republicans are far less dramatic than I would have guessed. Party affiliation is based on factors like age, Youth are generally more likely to vote liberal and the older generation more likely to vote conservative. Religion, protestants usually vote republican and catholics usually vote democrat. Economic status, historically this has meant wealthy individuals vote republican.The fact that about 2/3rd of voters vote for the party of their parent seems to be the most definite determiner of party affiliation . (Hewson, Jacqueline) Real differences in political opinion is very subtle accross party lines. For example in many ways red and blue states have similar opinions. In blue states 36% of voters identify as democrat while in red states 26% are self proclaimed democrats. In blue states 32% of voters believe government is always wasteful and inefficient while in red states 44% hold this opinion. Solid majorities in both red and blue states support protecting the environment whatever it may

It is 2014 and since the beginning of the millennium there has been a major shift in America’s political ideology and demographics, more so than in any set period of time. America which has historically been very conservative, has started to become more liberally made evident by the results of the last two elections. Although America’s government is based on a less centralized system and free market, Americans have seemed to start embracing things like big government and a stricter market. Americans are also starting to think different on social issues such as homosexuality and drug usage. America has also experienced a change in its demographics as minorities like Asians and Hispanics continue to grow while whites are, percentage wise, starting to make up a smaller part of Americas population. Along with a shift in ideology and change in demographics, technology and communication has advanced greatly making the world a much more connected place. Because of this connectivity people are also beginning to be influenced by foreign ideas that are not familiar to most Americans such as universal healthcare. Overall, because of factors such as foreign influences due to technology and changing demographics, America has become less conservative and more liberal.

Political ideas, beliefs, institutions, party systems, and alignments have developed and changed during the American

In the book, Culture War?, by Morris Fiorina, the myth of a polarized America is exposed. Fiorina covers issues such as why Americans believe that America is polarized, that Red and Blue State people aren’t as different as they are made out to be, and that the United States is not polarized along traditional cleavage lines. This book even covers perspectives on abortion, homosexuality, and whether or not electoral cleavages have shifted. A large point of Fiorina’s is his take on the 2004 election. He ends the book with, how did our great nation get to this position of proclaimed polarization, and how do we improve from here?

President Obama came into office in the aftermath of the disastrous foreign policy record of the Bush administration. The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had served as a “switchman,” leading to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Bush administration exercised unilateral use of force and reluctance to engage the international community. As a result global elites and publics viewed the US unfavorably. The US economy was negatively affected by the costs of the wars coupled with the financial crisis of 2007. It was this environment that defined the contours of the election campaign of 2008. Obama campaigned on the idea of change, which represented a regeneration of America through domestic public policy reform and a return to multilateralism in foreign policy. Both domestic and international publics and elites were galvanized by Obama’s message.

For many individuals in the United States, the late 1970s were a troubled and disturbing time. The Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War, ambiguity in the Middle East and the economic crisis in the Nation had weakened the confidence of Americans in their government and in their fellow residents as well. Many Americans supported a new conservatism in social, economic and political life during the 1980s, distinguished by policies of President Ronald Reagan. Politically, the United States experienced numerous changes during the 1970’s. There were liberal Democratic administrations for most of the 1960’s followed by a conservative

The political approach that America took during the Progressive Era was to bring a new change into politics by eliminating lobbies and monopolists, which essentially would eliminate the political corruption that ran rampant before because the people would not question the government as much. Document 5 supports this claim, as within document 5, Woodrow Wilson states that with his presidency, he would keep the original American morals, but would eliminate the corruption created by the selfishness of the corrupt political leaders from previous years.

The changes between the parties have become more distinctive throughout the years. Some of these changes include preferences, behavior, increasing homogeneous districts, and increasing alignment between ideology and partisanship among voters.

America was not always the successful country that it is today and some Americans were once not actually from the United States. Instead, the states stemmed off from different cultures around Europe, the land being split between many big contenders like Britain, Spain, and even France. The thirteen colonies were the start of the US and would eventually become rebellious enough to break away from the system that they had once lived under. The states undergone construction to build a new government and a new way of life for the generations that would come. After two hundred and thirty nine years of practicing and figuring out our way of life, America has both succeeded and dropped in many areas. The definition of America has certainly changed throughout the years, but one thing

What is progressivism and how didn’t it change American politics and society in the early twentieth century? I will covering this particular essay on the progressivism and the changes that came along with it. What is progressivism you might ask? Progressivism is about several answers to the economic and social problems introduced to America. The progressivism era is around 1901 and 1920.

Obama and the U.S military tracked down and killed Osama Bin Laden. Obama also pushed through several major policies during his first term in office, including helping the appeal “don’t ask, Don’t Tell”, also passing health care laws known as Obama care, doing this all with no Republican help. Obama also began his first term of presidency in the worst economic crisis since The Great Depression, desire bailouts from the banking and the auto industries. The financial crisis on Wall Street lead to a record housing foreclosures. The national debt passed 16 trillion dollars, and unemployment remained high. In Obama’s second run in office Republicans nominee Mitt Romney for Massachusetts governor to run against Obama in the 2012 presidential election, winning his second term in office. Barack Obama was re-elected on November 6,

1.Analyze the evolution of the American political system. Be sure to include one individual or document that influenced the Constitution and one change in the federal system.