The United States Essay

The United States of America has always been considered a “melting pot”, a place where people of all backgrounds can coalesce and share ideas and cultures and succeed together as one. From afar, America as seen as a place of white picket fences and limitless prosperity, where anyone can achieve opulence regardless of their social class or the circumstances of their birth. . Countless immigrants come to America each year, holding onto this fading idea of the American Dream. Some seek opportunity, better lives for themselves or their children. Others seek asylum, fleeing countries and territories to escape deadly regimes and gang violence. Many of them come illegally; as many as eleven million illegal immigrants currently reside within the United States, according to a study published by the Center of Latin American Studies at the University of California at Berkley. Reception of the immigrants has varied over the past thirty years. As the number of immigrants who travel across the border increases, so do the tensions. Many Americans are calling for immigration reform from both sides, half asking lawmakers to grant immigrants amnesty, the other asking to strengthen our borders. With this change in the political climate, it is important to assess the pros and cons of illegal immigration. The question isn’t if reform is needed. It is what direction it is needed in.

The physical side is at one time they did love each other because kids were born. The shared activities are the fact they have children and they still do things as a family.

Back in the 19th century, there was a common belief that God had destined The United States to expand entirely across the North American continent, and eventually across the entire Western Hemisphere. They believed that what they were doing was justifiable, because they believed that God was telling them to do this. It had a huge impact on who America is today as a country and if the expansion had not occurred, it is easy to believe that America would not be the thriving and successful country that it is now. There were many positive sides to Manifest Destiny such as; America was successful in expanding its land from the east to the west coast, which is a positive, because it allowed many people to come to America who otherwise would not have had the chance because there would have been no room for any more people. Another positive side is that it gave America a lot more culture than it had before. But if there is a positive side, that means there has to be a negative side. One of the negative sides to Manifest Destiny and territorial expansion was that they did whatever they could possibly do to get that land and they did not care who it hurt, killed, or negatively affected in the process. This is the reason why so many people debate whether or not manifest destiny was a good or a bad thing, because there are valid reasons for both sides.

“Everything is just starting for you. Your life hasn’t even begun yet.” – Adisa Trebinčević (221) When citizens in war-torn homelands aspire for better lives, they commonly have to look outward and travel across the world to follow their dream. For Kenan Trebinčević and Amal Abulheja, their dream wasn’t necessarily to depart their country, but with recurring violence and trauma, once opportunities arose, both fled to the United States. Respectively, you can say their lives hadn’t started until they arrived in America. Coming to the United States remarkably changed their lives forever. For the purpose of this essay, I will be sharing the similarities and differences of the initial experience of Kenan and Amal becoming “American.”

When hurricanes tear through a state and wreak havoc on all of the cities and towns, more people than just the ones residing there are affected. As soon as the warning is sent out about a hurricane, the phones begin to ring. Parents worried about children, brothers checking on sisters, and friends looking out for friends. No matter the relation, everyone seems to be asking the same question: “Are you okay?” Almost everyone can say that they’ve made a call or sent a text down to someone in Florida or Texas in the last month, myself included. When I heard the devastating news about hurricane Irma the first word out of my mouth were, “Is grandma Great okay?” Harriett Keyser, my 105 year old great grandma, lives on Anna Maria Island in

Many states across the US look at California as the place where dreams are made. The Promised Land with a temperate climate and opportunities abound. Hundreds of thousands have migrated to the state over the past 100 years looking for jobs and taking advantage of all the state has to offer. This includes the apparent abundance of natural resources that are used by all residents across the sunshine state. This exodus has not been without effect. Currently, California is entering its 6th consecutive year of drought. This seems an unlikely situation considering the number of lakes and reservoirs across the state and that the Pacific Ocean solely makes up the west border. The lack of water impacts not only residents, but also the businesses that rely on the resource to produce. One such industry that is heavily reliant on water is agriculture. 2016 Agricultural reports indicate that California farmers, supply over ½ of the nation’s vegetables and over 2/3 of the nation’s fruits and nuts. As the severity of the drought increases with each year of declining rain and snowpack, opinions have been debated over the ethical use of water across the numerous communities within the state. Each city is making their claim to the groundwater that is underneath them. Every city, and sector within the city, provides some level of justification of their need for use of just a little more than their neighbor or counterpart. What is a ‘responsible’ amount and what are the just purposes of use?

The government in the United States supposedly revolves around American ideals such as equality and diversity; however, this is simply not the case as perpetuated by class inequalities. The meaning of democracy has been skewed in the United States to represent something entirely different than it did in 1776. Today, American democracy behaves more like an aristocracy, where the upper class exercises power within the government and state, influencing discourse and therefore the laws and resources in our country, which are purportedly “for the people”. Democracy is presumed to provide everyone with equal political power, but the government in today’s America, although seemingly following this ideal model, does not. Instead, the elite upper class has a monopoly over the political influence and are the sole benefactors from public policies due to their influence over the policy making process. The upper class has an overall benefit from class inequality, as it greatly impacts American ‘democracy’ through the significant power gained through money and status, leadership roles that impact government, and the influence in the policymaking process that creates upper class advantages.

During the early 1900’s, The United States government was ruled by white men that have captivated the American patriotism. The patriotism of the American society was greatly enchanted by the white superiors wanting to establish a strong American values and culture. The era of the time gave little hopes and dreams of living in a land that its purpose was to give the opportunities to all newcomers. However it was a different scenario among the Mexican American community. The Mexican communities within the United States are force to adapt to a new tradition due to the defeat of Mexican-American War. The Mexican government efforts to persuade its people to leave the United States were no effect because of their disloyalties to its government. From here on the Mexican-American community in the United States will decide its own self recognition of identity.

Politics has always been a contentious and controversial issue in the United States; immigrants are constantly discriminated from exercising their civic duty such as the right to vote and to be voted for. Politics in American is divided based on ideological difference and approach on key issues, which has led to the two major political parties the Republican Party (conservative) often referred as the GOP and the Democratic Party (liberal). Both parties hasn’t yet come forward to fully discuss this discriminatory act against the immigrants. These are people with the same equal rights as the citizens, yet little is done to quench the situation.

Over the last sixty years or so, the true principles of a democratic government within the United States have been stripped away piece by piece, resulting in the government we now have within America today. It is a government that at the surface prides itself on its so-called freedom and equality, when in reality what we now have is a failed liberal democratic government at the helm of the nation. This can be attributed to a number of reasons, some of them being: the usage of an inept electoral system, the profound influence money has on the election process, the existence of special interest groups and lobbying firms, the existence of laws that limit voter turnout, and a rigged political system that prevents the success of third-party groups. So in short, in the united states liberal democracy has become obsolete because true democracy is dead.

Currently, the United States is ranked 14th in its educational standard, 17th in educational performance and 24th in literacy (Mark). Compared to the rest of the world, we are behind countries like Poland, China, Finland and New Zealand. For a country that prides itself on its successful western society, what is stopping us from having an education system to match the standards we have put on the rest of our amenities. However, a solution is closer than it seems. According to Rasmussen College, there are 6.7 million students currently enrolled in online courses, therefore with an increasing number of students attending these classes, it is not a question on whether or not these classes will become normal, but when and how these classes will revolutionize our education system (Bird). Online courses offer students the ability to create an education based around their schedule, and allow students who may struggle or may not be able to attend a traditional school environment the chance to have an equal education. Not only can the students benefit from an online education environment, but both schools and professors can gain from an online system. Moreover, such courses can help create a global education system that allows anyone to have the same access to an education anywhere in the world as long as they have a connection to the internet.

The place you have landed is the United States of America, or as we call it U.S.A. We are one of the few countries where our citizens have free rights, and they can do as they chose. Those rights are stated in the constitution, and are enforced by the government. The Constitution is the document that lists every right each person living in America has. Those rights are called Amendments. Some of these are: free speech, right to bare arms, right to vote, and even income tax. Along with our government, there are political parties that separate the views of government officials. Our government has been around for a long time and is functioning just as well as it was a long time ago, when it began in the year 1776. The country isn't just

“Homeland, the country that I love, forever reign supreme; And when time stands still, my homeland, may heaven hold your dream” (Spring-Rice). Gustav Holsts’ song “Homeland” is all about people who are patriotic towards their own country. America has been built upon a certain set of rules in which makes it unique from their countries. Americans have excessive pride in their country which shows greatly in their interactions with others. Americans also have other traits which reflect their culture. White America views itself in three ways: appearance, narcissism, and social status.

Today, in the 21st century, English has become one of the most used languages around the world. It is so widely used that linguists have considered it to be the new ‘lingua franca’. Along with its language the United States is one of the most influential countries around the globe. There is no denying its presence in everything from international politics to entertainment. In fact, it is thought to be the only country that rivals the world 's once-great empires in terms of its global impact. In an article written by Mclean, she proclaims, “the U.S dominates world politics by providing the language, ideas, and institutional frameworks around which much of the world turns” (2). However, the United States did not just become an imperial power over night. From the middle of the 19th century till present time the U.S has been intervening in foreign lands. One country that has been immensely influenced by English colonization, to present day, is the Island of the Philippines. Whether it was consciously or not, the control of the Philippines by U.S after the Spanish-American War was a small step towards world power. A brief look into Philippines’ history shows how much different the island would’ve been without English rule. Although the Philippines were not pleased with the transfer of power over to America in the Treaty of Paris, the short 50 year rule proves to have had a major impact on Philippine culture, customs, and politics today.

The United States of America being the third largest country in the world with more than 315 million inhabitants, consists of multicultural societies with ethnically diverse population. Since there are a lot of foreigners, the US culture has evolved in such a way accepting and tolerating other foreign cultures. US is very much influenced by protestant work ethics according to which people believe in themselves and their efforts to attain the goal of self-actualization and success. The rich diversity in the culture brought by foreigners, prevailing values of protestant ethics, hard work etc. have helped US to emerge as a superpower in the past years. Nearly every religion had its impact on US culture in one way or the other. The