The American Character - Essay Example

Essay I: Q1: The American Character A study of American history and its politics is often found to be replete with numerous references to the country’s national character. The framers had harbored the hope that America’s pluralistic society would eventually evolve and become a shared social and political destiny that would ultimately serve the purpose of acting as a counterweight to the country’s evident cultural diversity(Aker, 2007). The American Character is seen to be made up of five key components these are: The American Creed: The British Intellectual G.K. Chesterton is quoted as having noted that America happens to be the only country in the world that is essentially founded on the premise of a creed. While other nations are founded on the basis of a race, or by the power of emperors or kings that accumulated large tracts of land as well the peasants that inhabited these lands, America is found to be different in that it was founded on a shared belief that is embodied in the American Creed. The Creed was developed by William Tyler Page in answer for a national contest for such a creed. The American Creed is important as in developing this creed, Page was careful to incorporate in what is a brief but clear statement, the basic American ideals and traditions as expressed by the country’s founders and its leading writers and statesmen (Bennett, 219). Economic Determinism:Economic determinism is a theory that postulates that all economic relationships such as one being worker or a capitalist are essentially the basic foundation on which all other political and social arrangements have been built. In proposing this theory, Karl Marx, observe that class conflict and social differentiation resulted from economic factors. The theory is important to the American society as a critical analysis of the United States shows that economic forces in the country pray a pivotal role in determining, shaping and the defining of all the cultural, social, political, technological and intellectual aspects of America today. Manifest Destiny: The term Manifest Destiny describes the attitude that was prevalent during the country’s expansion in the 19th century. The attitude held that the United States could not only expand to eventually stretch from coast to coast, but this was ultimately its destiny. The Manifest Destiny attitude is important as it played a crucial rule in the country’s history as it hoped to fuel the western settlement, the war with Mexico as well as the removal of Native Americans from their traditional territories (Carlisle and Goldson, 103). When using this phrase, Anglo-Saxon Americans in the 1840s believed that it was their providential mission to expand their institutions and civilizations across the entire breadth of North America. Other than territorial aggrandizement, the expansion was also aimed at bolstering the process of liberty and providing more individual economic opportunities. Progressive Imperialism:Progressive Imperialism is considered to be the principle political ideology of the United States and exists in both right wing and left wing forms. While the left wing form of progressive imperialism is best articulated by its aggressive humanitarianism approach, the right wing form contends that America as an empire is a natural thing and it should be readily embraced in addition to being aggressively advanced with the aid of ideologies and military options. Progressive Imperialism is important as it helps to promote positive values across the world. All Progressive Imperialists are found to be united in their belief that themes found to be inherent to American Progressivism such as the overall goodness of American Values, the Universality of these values, as well as the right for all people in the world to not only attain but also implement those values through military means in foreign countries—are superior. Isolationism/Nativism:Isolationist is a term that is used to describe people that pulled away from any involvement in foreign affairs. When applied to the United States, it describes the events that happened after WWI when the United States decided not to be involved with the League of Nations on the basis that it did want to ever be entangled in another war with the Germans. The League of Nations comprised of a group of nations that was determined to try and create world peace. Nativism is a term that is used to mean the opposite of immigration and when applied in the United States, it favors the primary race of the country (White). Nativism was popular in the United States after WWI as most Americans did not like Germans as they were held responsible for having started the war. The five components of the American Creed, progressive imperialism, manifest destiny, economic determinism and isolationism/nativism all serve to help in describing the American Character. However isolationism/nativism is seen to conflict with the ideas represented by the American Creed as they contradict the perfect and inseparable union that is called for by the Creed. Works Cited Aker Erik. The American Character. 2007. Web. Accessed from http://www.policytoday.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=108 Carlisle, Rodney P, and J G. Golson. Manifest Destiny and the Expansion of America. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2007. Print. Bennett, William J., ed. Book of virtues. Simon and Schuster, 1993. Essay II: Q4: Is Lady Liberty Still Alive? The Statue of Liberty is recognized as being one of the most easily recognizable statues in the world and it was gifted to the United States by France in 1886 as a token of both the two countries friendship and camaraderie. France had hoped to give the statue to the United States to help in marking its 100th anniversary but as is characteristic of most public projects, the statue arrived late as a result of budgetary and administrative delays (Koed, 135). In the 1880s, America entered a period of unprecedented immigration that saw about five million Europeans enter the country during the first half of the nineteenth century. For the millions of immigrants that sought to try and enter the country via Ellis Island, the first sight of America and all that the country promised was the Statue of Liberty. For these immigrants liberty was seen to mean a new land, a new opportunity and a new home (Koed, 136). Although the dreams that the Statue of Liberty represents are noted to have gradually changed at different periods in its history, the statue still represents the liberty that can be attained in America today. One of the best examples of this liberty is the fact that an African American man is currently the country’s president. Numerous immigrants have been able to take advantage of the American dream and become successful despite the challenges that they might have been faced with in their home countries. Even today, the Status of liberty continues to stand as a much appreciated welcoming symbol of freedom, liberty and hope to all who seek to try and enter the country through the harbor, be they citizens returning home, new immigrants or simply visitors. She continues to represent the ideals of the nation and is an enduring icon that is representative of the American Spirit. The United States is in the process of trying to enact a new immigration bill to help in controlling immigration in the country strength its communities, the country’s economy as well as its future. However there are a number of critical issues that must be addressed in this bill before it is passed. The first of these issues is amnesty. The bill creates a framework for the legalization of an estimated over 11 million people that are unlawfully present in the country. Anyone that was present in the U.S before 2012 qualifies for this amnesty by this presents too much opportunity for fraud (The Heritage Foundation, 2013). Another issue that must be addressed is that enacting the bill in its current form will result in high fiscal costs to tax payer as it does not account for the welfare and other government benefits that the newly legalized immigrants will be eligible to receive over the course of their lives. Another critical issue that must be addressed before the bill is passed is that in its current form, the bill modernizes lawful immigration and non-immigration visas. Some of these modernizations such as abolishing the diversity lottery, the expansion of visa waivers and temporary worker programs while increasing high-skill migration will negatively impact the country’s job market (The Heritage Foundation, 2013). Works Cited Koed Elizabeth. A Symbol Transformed: How ‘Liberty Enlightening the World’ became ‘The Mother of Exiles’. The Social Contract. 2(3). 134 - 142. 1992. Print. The Heritage Foundation. The Senate’s Comprehensive Immigration Bill: Top 10 Concerns. 2013. Web. Accessed Essay III: America’s Moral Authority Currently America’s foreign policy can be described as being driven by a relatively strong moral obligation to try and spread democracy around the world or to try and extend the blessings afforded by liberty to all of the planet’s inhabitants. While giving a speech at West Point as he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize, President Obama argued that the strength of America’s values are the true source of America’s moral authority. The moral authority that the United States has been able to enjoy over the years has in recent years been shaken by the decisions made by its presidents. President Bush is noted to have overreached this moral authority when he took advantage of the country’s continuing belief in the goodness of its intentions and exceptionalism and the country’s undeniable role of being the planet’s sole military superpower when he caused the country to fight an unnecessary war against the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Obama administration further compounded the loss of moral authority when it escalated the war in Afghanistan when it promoted the use of more drone strikes in the war. Ever since the events of 911, it has continued to become increasingly clear that America’s foreign policy is inherently flawed and drastic changes are required. The War on Terror pitted the country in a war against a tactical ideology (Quist and Drake, 194). This move to declare a war against a tactic that might have either been driven by a political correctness to avoid identify a foe that is primarily animated by religion or by a genuine inability to identify the enemy caused President Bush’s rhetoric to at bet be perceived as incoherent and obfuscatory at worst. The country’s foreign policy as enforced by President bush and those who worked to shape this policy wrongly believed that America could forcibly transform Islamic nations and cause them to become peaceful liberal bastions and in the process push Iraq and Afghanistan by hundreds of years within a single decade. In his foreign policy, President Woodrow Wilson was firmly convicted that the consistent application of America’s power on the behalf of all world’s population would have the effect of spreading democracy and spreading peace. However, this approach did not work for Wilson and it has not worked for any other president that has come into power. Currently, it can be argued that Obama’s officials have taken a similar approach to that of President Wilson’s officials that belied that good things will eventually follow if the country continues to maintain an expansive global presence on behalf of what it perceived to be the good guys against the bad guys. If America can just get rid of the tyrants across the world, stability and democracy will follow. Of note is that this approach has grown to become unpopular among Americans (Merry, 2014). Polls conducted across the country have unsurprisingly shown that the popular attitude among most Americans is that the country should reduce its involvement in matters that essentially do not concern it. After the events of WWII, America’s foreign policy has seen the country become continuously involved in the resolution of nearly all conflicts across the world. However, the country’s foreign policies have seen its citizens become increasingly disillusioned and the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions have caused growing numbers of Americans become reluctant to see the United States take an active role in the resolution of international problems. It is due to this reasons that I believe that there is an urgent need to review the country’s foreign policy. Works Cited Merry Robert. America’s Costly Foreign-Policy Follies. 2014. Web. Accessed Quist, B W, and David F. Drake. Winning the War on Terror: A Triumph of American Values. New York [u.a.: Universe, 2005. Print. Essay IV: How I Would Wish to Change America If I were ever to be given the opportunity to change America, One of the first measures I would undertake would be to formulate policies designed to ensure that the country takes a more pivotal role in regard to the question of reversing the effects of climate change and global warming. The issue of climate change is a global problem and will ultimately require strong international cooperation and leadership between the developing and developed countries if it is ever to be resolved. Despite the evident effects of climate change, it is estimated that a disturbingly large number of Americans do not believe that the climate is changing. The current pledges by President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping to ensure that their countries limit their emissions by 2020 are simply not enough (Bagley, 468-469). More effort should be made towards the minimalizing of the carbon emission that are responsible for the planet’s warming. Given the opportunity, I would work towards the development of laws that would severely curb the emission of greenhouse gases in the country. In addition to this, I would also develop a policy that is similar to the UK Zero carbon policy that has seen the UK outperform its first two carbon budgets and in the process adopt more efficient and greener forms of energy. The police killings of innocent civilians across the country that led to the Ferguson unrest are quite concerning and it is important that measures be undertaken to ensure that they such incidents never reoccur in the country’s future. If I were to be elected as president, I would create federal laws that would seek to reform the training that the police receive. The racial profiling that is currently employed by the police in determining potential criminals will become a thing of the past as all Americans will now be treated as equals. In addition to this, I would work to promote community policing initiatives as members of the community are better placed to more easily identify criminals as compared to the police force. To further enhance these security measures, I would implement policies in the police force that would require that all police officers that are on duty to always wear body camera (The Telegraph, 2014). These cameras would not only help to create a feeling of accountability among these police officers, they would also serve to deter violence against the police during arrests as perpetrators would be wary of such actions as their actions would continuously be recorded. There are currently over 11 million illegal immigrants in the United States and the country’s border patrols are fighting what has become a losing battle against illegal immigration and the smuggling of illegal drugs into the country. To help in remedying this situation, I would setup a task force that will look into how the country can better reinforce its border against drug smuggling and illegal immigrants. I would also work to increase the budgetary allocations that are provided to the anti-narcotics and border patrol divisions to help them increase their manpower and purchase the latest anti-smuggling equipment. Works Cited Bagley, Constance E. Managers and the legal environment: Strategies for the 21st century. Cengage Learning, 2012. The Telegraph. Barrack Obama: Police Should Wear Body Cameras after Ferguson Unrest. 2014. Web. Accessed Read More