United States Political Culture

Political culture is a set of values, beliefs, and feelings that are related to the government, politics and the people. According to political scientist Daniel Elazar, Texas’s political culture is a combination of traditionalistic and individualistic elements, Elazar stated, “The traditionalistic aspects of state politics are exemplified by the long history of one-party dominance in state politics, the low level of voter turnout, and social and economic conservatism. The individualistic nature of state politics can be seen in the support for private business, opposition to big government, and faith in individual initiative”. Living in Texas, the regions are very different from the west, east, north and south regions of Texas. Each region

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

Richard Hofstadter examines the political beliefs of the founding fathers in the first chapter of the American Political Tradition. Ideas thought about by most Americans to be the center of our organization, our founders viewed liberty, democracy, and property, as evil. The composition can be depicted to be vicious as well, because liberty, democracy, and property are linked to the United States Constitution.

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

This great accomplishment brought America one step closer to equality, though there is still work to be done today in the Western World. Though this resolution leaves the future bright for all places in the

The United States has made great innovations in the past century to ensure that all people have the same chances to better themselves. While steps have been taken to bring about equality from Roe v. Wade to legalizing same sex-marriage in every state still more can be done—especially in the field of racial inequality.

American beliefs and opinions give a great understanding of what an American values. The want and need for freedom is described in many different ways based on origin or social beliefs. The main backbone of America today is freedom. Through the building of an American empire everyone can’t come to an understanding of what it is to be equally free. By comparing and contrasting the perspectives of Patrick Henry’s speech to the “Virginia Convention,” to take up arms and fight for our freedom. Frederick Douglass’ “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” who feels it’s time to end slavery. It is clear that the struggles of the American story are still prevalent and America has not yet found a way for freedom for all.

The Texas Political Culture was influences by The Old South and the frontier experience. The old south had agriculture in some parts of Texas we still have agriculture when you drive between Odessa and Lubbock you will see some agriculture.

A culture can be defined as a way of life of a group of people- their behaviors, beliefs, values that are passed along by communication and imitation from one generation to the next. It also includes the customs, arts, literature, morals/values and traditions of a particular society or group (Virginia Encyclopedia). Culture can also be considered as a way of thinking, behaving, or working that exists in places or organizations. This topic is of huge importance to our society mainly in the state of

USA and Texas political culture can be described fully by understanding in detail of classical liberalism, social conservatism and populism.

America the land of the free wasn’t always free for everyone, it was a place of slavery, racism, sexism and more. Since our beginning we have solved many of these problems, however, they haven’t disappeared completely. While civil liberties issues have been mostly resolved for race and gender, in the U.S there still exists issues with basic liberties in other aspects of life. This is proven through the use of logos and pathos within Susan B Anthony’s speech, “What to the American Slave is Your 4th of July” by Frederick Douglas, and the photograph Susan B Anthony’s grave.

Foner emphasizes on the diverse interpretations of freedom, and based on people’s lived experiences within American society, it can represent different things. Since it has no fixed definition within the article, Foner views freedom as a concept and states “by its very nature is the subject of disagreement” (xiv). People’s worldview can help shape what freedom means to them and it may limit what freedom means to others. Although the Declaration of Independence promotes all humans having unalienable rights given by the creator, which are life , liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not all americans are able to enjoy those rights in American society. As American societal norms constantly change (eventually),

“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is one of the most well-known phrases in the United States Declaration of Independence. These three words are the unalienable rights of man in the United States of America. If the government violates these rights, it is the American’s duty to overthrow the government. The ideas of these rights has slowly evolved over the time period since the Declaration of Independence was written. In the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, the concept of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” is drastically different in contrast to the modern version of the ideas.

Canadian Political Culture, in a nation- state context, can be break down as beliefs and attitudes that Canadian have of political objects( Jackson, Politics in Canada.1994).

Many ideas are important within the American culture, but to the American sense of patriotism, freedom is most fundamental. The idea of freedom is central to the American politics – which is at times referred to as liberty. Since the birth of the nation, freedom has been the vocabulary of the American language and its importance cannot be underestimated. The Declaration of Independence, for instance, ranks liberty as an inalienable right. On the other hand, the Constitution reckons that it purposes to protect civilians’ liberty. The importance of freedom has even stretched further than the political arena and has prompted the birth of civil rights movements and other activist protests. The Cold War and the Civil War were all for the cause of freedom. The importance that Americans attach to freedom can also be demonstrated from the erection of statues, banishment of slavery, use of liberty poles and a right to vote for adults. For many years, women and the African Americans have for a long time fought against denial and infringement of their freedom . However, given the importance that Americans affiliate to freedom in the conceptualization of their country, it has been the subject of modifications over the course of years especially before the Revolutionary War.