Essay On Political Culture

Improved Essays
Political culture is known as a set of beliefs and opinions, often inherited, about how the United States Government should operate. A thorough understanding of a country's political culture helps understand the way a country's government is designed. Since the 1830’s, America has been thought to have a distinguished political culture that includes many different components. The first is liberty, which is generally thought as a citizen’s right to be free; however, they cannot violate another citizen’s rights in doing so. Liberty is mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Of these components, liberty id the only one listed in all three of these documents. The next is equality. …show more content…
The Rule of law says that we as Americans live in a country where government promotes law that is equal and fair and should not be overtaken by a ruler. Next, nationalism proves to play a role in political culture. Nationalism basically means you are proud of your country and believe that your county is greater than others. Nationalism can be said to be an emotional identification and shows a passion to see your country prosper. The last component is capitalism, the right do things such as own property and participate in an open market with very little government interference. These components are what are thought to have shaped American political culture. An adversarial spirit in our political culture refers to America’s public preoccupation with rights. Americans have this preoccupation because of the Revolutionary war, a war fought for freedom and rights as a country; therefore, an emphasis on rights in understandable. The continuing resistance between freedom and social control can create an adversarial spirit. This can sometimes cause a sense of distrust among our government officials. The United States has a very distinct political culture, and it seems to have worked for us thus far, which is more than many other countries

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Political Culture is when the US citizens expressed their opinions and thoughts about how the government and politics should operate. Americans will make sure the government prominence to have liberty, equality, and democracy. There are three political subcultures, Moralistic, Individualistic, and Traditionalistic Political Culture. Moralistic Political Culture is when people can see the government as a public service which is provided by a government to people to improve their living conditions. People will participate in politics to ensure the public good.…

    • 300 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    New Jersey V. Tto Case

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Question 1: The Constitution and Bill of Rights what did the founders have in mind original intent: constitution was perfect the way it was written, or was it meant to be perfected. The American constitution is a fixed document, because the constitution has only undergone minor changes. As society has been changing, the Constitution’s interpretation has been tweaked and altered to fit today’s situations. The American Constitution and the Bill of Rights drives politics by the way people interpret the constitution.…

    • 693 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    The American people have long struggled with compromise between the two parties, thus leading to an enormous upset with all parties. The main goal should be to gather unto a compromise rather than grabbing arms and fighting with each owns beliefs. The collection and security of peoples rights also is thrown into play with the debate of anti-federalist and federalists. Liberty of the people is a sacred belief to many of these people and must be achieved and protected. The American republic has stood out amongst other republics, and its smaller sibling, democracy, as the longest lasting and most successful republic in recorded history.…

    • 1598 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The idea of what makes someone American comes down to the belief in three rights; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Americans have rallied behind these inherent rights to form a strong unified nation. In Thomas Bender’s book, A Nation Among Nations, he argues in his chapter, Freedom in the Age of Nation-Making, that 19th century political thinkers believed that an overlapping “space of decision” and “space of culture” was the best way to form national unity and protect the individual liberties of citizens. The “space of decision” is the government established by the people of a nation and the “space of culture” are values and belief systems of the people of a nation. In relation to the Civil War of the United States, the institution…

    • 1074 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    From the founding of the United States to the present, the idea of freedom has been the staple of America’s appeal. The roots of freedom were planted in the Declaration of Independence, where Thomas Jefferson defined freedom as “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The statement held an attractive promise, as it seemingly applied to all Americans. In reality, the promising statement was intended solely for white men, and these restricting ideals were rooted deep into the soil of the rapidly growing America. It is clear that modern American freedom does not equate to that of the Founding, but the degree to which it…

    • 615 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Political culture is a set of beliefs, values, and attitudes that define and provide a structure and foundation for a political system. Even though, all Americans don’t share the same views, the sweeping majority support the ideas of liberty, equality, democracy, individualism, unity, and all-around diversity. Liberty for Americans is the freedom for people to do what they want; however, they want, if it doesn’t impose on the freedom of others. Although, equality in America hasn’t always been provided to all races and genders, today it’s a pillar of our society. All Americans have the same fundamental rights.…

    • 954 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Great Essays

    Paper 1 This paper will answer the question of What are the ends or purposes of American government? How are they different from other regimes, such as ancient Sparta or Puritan colonies? How do the ends of regimes alter the role of government in society?…

    • 1671 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    American Political Culture

    • 1022 Words
    • 4 Pages

    American political culture defines political attitudes, institutions, and activities that are most appreciated in American political life. The American vision has been characterized by several familiar basics. The Bill of Rights went into effect in 1791. Its importance was to protect the freedom and rights of Americans and its effect on American citizens can be seen even today. The Bills Of Rights is the foundation of American Government.…

    • 1022 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    For over two hundred thirty years, the United States of America has thrived on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as set forth in the Declaration of Independence. It is these same values which American voters attempt to illuminate, keep, and prolong. Congress, however, can create laws which block those same values our founders laid down. America’s job is to prevent that from happening by electing people to represent them in government. The people vote for those whom they think will best represent them, the people vote for who has the same ideals as them, and the people vote depending on which specific party they register.…

    • 1206 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The United States did not create human rights. In a very real sense it is the other way around: Human rights created the United States.” Stated by Jimmy Carter, this quote delineates the manner in which the citizens of the United States enjoy an abundance of rights. The foundation of these rights emerged from the ideologies of the Founders, which in turn were tremendously influenced by numerous occurrences in the world’s history, including the advancements of the Age of Enlightenment. Accordingly, how and why did the ideas established in this epoch influence the American Founders?…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Enlightenment ideas were highly embodied in the declaration of United State Independence. The major enlightenment ideas highlighted that each and every citizen has the right to reason, autonomy, and the notion that all human beings are equal by nature. In addition, enlightenment ideas stated that the government and religion are separate. In this essay, I will highlight how the different enlightenment ideas were embodied in the declaration of Independence in the United State of America.…

    • 980 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The American elected framework enables state and nearby governments to explore different avenues regarding diverse kinds of political organizations, appointive instruments and imaginative open arrangements. Also, the political subcultures of these administrations help characterize the honest to goodness exercises of governments, how they should work and who ought to partake. The investigation of state and neighborhood political culture in the United States has been overwhelmed by Daniel Elazar's model of the moralistic, individualistic and traditionalistic subcultures. Moreover, in the cutting edge period, the different strands of Texas political culture could be come down to three fundamental ideological inclinations: financial radicalism…

    • 1370 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    If there is one universally known idea about the United States, it is liberty. Among many of the opinions formed about America, the one that we are one of the few nations to have true liberty is quite probably the most positive. Inside America however, the actual notion of liberty has undoubtedly had a shift over the course of its history. From colonization to revolution to modern times, every era has had a small difference in how liberty was viewed and established. Presently, in modern times, where there are seemingly no restrictions on freedom despite race, gender or religion, the spirit of liberty is the most changed.…

    • 984 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    In the video “Political Culture,” Thomas Patterson describes the origins and distinctiveness of American’s political ideals, illustrates the acceptance of these ideas by future generations (and challenges they pose), and provides examples of how these ideals affect today’s politics. When colonists questioned Britain’s authority over their public and private lives, the American Revolution was initiated and later ended with the colonies being freed from British rule. As a result, the colonies developed an important set of ideas such as the right of freedom, liberty, rights, and justice. These ideas, compiled in one writing known as the American Creed, was embraced by succeeding generations. Subsequently, rights were expanded to include minorities…

    • 143 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The American political culture contains various concepts and values. Indeed, Americans share the same perspectives, the support in the ideals of individualism and liberty. The idea of individualism encompasses the idea that we as Americans have rights. For instance, we can make independent decisions, and we are responsible for our lives. We define liberty as having the freedom to do as we please with limits in the interest of having a stable society.…

    • 1158 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays