“American national identity and political culture is based on shared political and civic beliefs and values. These beliefs and values are important in maintaining our constitutional democracy in an increasingly diverse American society. Describe these political and civic beliefs and values and explain how these shared political and civic beliefs and values define an American citizen rather than ethnicity, race, religion, class, or national origin.”
I spent about 20 minutes just staring at that question trying to think of what Americans believe on the whole. Besides the inate binding love for democracy, freedom, and liberty, we are more divided by politics, religion, and class than we are brought together. While I wouldn’t go kill you over it or anything, we are far from all standing around and singing “We Are the World” together.
I’m would never ask Dopers to write a fucking dumbshit essay for me, but I honestly don’t even know what common values all Americans hold.
Freedom of speech is a big one. Very little of the world shares our (generally held) view that even the most offensive language should not be proscribed by the state.
Capitalism: while we differ on just how much of a place government has in business, we virtually all agree that free markets are generally the best way to do things.
Freedom of religion: we differ over how much religion there should be in government, but with a few isolated exceptions Americans have no problem with other people’s private worship habits.
I’ve talked to a few immigrants about why they chose to immigrate and, further, become American citizens. They’ve all said things like their future was closed off, even after graduating from college, because they were from the “wrong” social class, they wanted the chance to reinvent themselves, etc.
You can argue that type of advancement is rapidly being closed off in the U.S., but it remains a shared value.
Although I’ve completely ravaged your context, this is a huge binding quality we share. The very fact we as a nation suffer Rush Limbaugh AND Bill Mahr and neither has had to fear a credible threat to his life speaks volumes I think.
We are much like siblings. We bicker like hell about stuff, but at the end of the day only very isolated and universally condemned attempts are made to permanently silence an opposition. In light of conflicts & practices seen in just the last 100 years in places like Ireland, Eastern Europe, Congo, Germany, USSR…we sometimes take tolerance, even reluctant tolerance, for granted.
I would also add freedom of the press and freedom of assembly. Really, the entire First Amendment pretty well covers our most cherished (for lack of a better word) beliefs and values.
There is a strong egalitarian streak in the American psyche. Even if it isn’t true we like to believe that anyone no matter what their status at birth could become president, and that the status of a person is not based on the status of their ancestors.
The notion that regular folk can own their own slice of land. That regular people have “ownership” rights to their own property. (At least this was pretty radical during our country’s formation).
the idea of the western frontier…
The idea that you are always free to move out west (or any of the 50 states), far away from where you are now, start over and make a success of yourself.
Obviously, it ain’t quite true.
But the vast size of America does create a sense of freedom that is very different than most other developed countries(where a 4 hour drive in any direction takes you across borders to a foreign language.)
“Sense of freedom” --it isnt always open and talked about, but everybody feels it.
We are a strong “civil” society. By that I mean that there are countless civic organizations people join, from Lions to Elks to Rotary to Optimists to…you get the idea. This is a shared value.
It’s more interesting to debate about our differences than hold hands and list out our common values. Even the things we hold common, have different meanings as to why they are more or less important to us.
Last time I checked, the forum on Great Commonalities didn’t have too many threads.
Yeah, there aren’t too many Americans who will argue with the Bill of Rights (except the Brady Campaign), even though we might argue with each other about what exactly they mean.
Also, while a lot of people will bitch and complain about the current crop of immigrants, we’re still very much a melting pot. “American culture” is basically what happens when you throw the rest of the world’s cultures into a blender. I mean, what’s more American than Cinco de Mayo, St. Patrick’s Day, and Kung Pao Chicken?
We all believe in a certain amount of sexual equality. Sure, there are still lot of sexists, gender stereotypes, etc.
But when was the last time you heard someone seriously say that girls shouldn’t go to school? Or that women shouldn’t be able to have jobs, or should be imprisoned or killed for doing something men are allowed to?