Friday on the way to Bryan I was listening to Guadalupe Radio and one of the guests brought up an interesting take on the election. The point raised was that the election is spurring a discussion on is there an American Culture, and if so what is the culture. To a very large degree this election is quickly morphing into that very question.
While many different elements went into the Trump victory in the primary, to a some degree it was fueled by voters who are reacting against black lives matter, rioting (yes these two overlap), benefits for illegal aliens, hostility to the energy sector, and general entitlement. The GOP isn’t a natural fit for many of these new voters, they should be seen as a discrete subsection of the population. The reaction of the enumerated groups and their allies have changed the tone of the election and is quickly pushing this election to become a referendum on the societal and cultural direction of the nation.
In this framework the first question becomes is there an American Culture? The easy answer is sure, Baseball, Apple Pie, and the Fourth of July! A less flippant answer is yes there’s an American Culture, but that it consists of a few core values with significant regional differences. How these core values are implemented and the change in how the values are viewed is what is leading to the distinct clash in societal norms today.
Sociology sets forth a list of nine American Values. These are:
Equal Opportunity
Achievement and Success
Material Comfort
Activity and Work
Practicality and Efficiency
Progress
Science
Democracy and Enterprise
Freedom
Organizations that help foreign exchange students prepare for life in the U.S. add:
Independence
Informality
Directness
What’s glaringly missing from the list is “melting pot”, and that’s a very telling omission. The lack of “melting pot” precisely encapsulates the stark contrast in views for this election. The lack of melting pot is why we have seen an unravelling of the American Culture and a changing in what are viewed as American Values.
Without melting pot, we no longer have equality of opportunity. We have a focus on equality of outcome, regardless of if the outcome places the best people in the position. Without melting pot we see independence take on greater importance than democracy and enterprise. This in turn fuels the lack of melting and makes society become even more segmented.
The two candidates offer stark choices. One believes that progress is measured in terms of achievement and success , enterprise, and science. The other believes progress is measured in material comfort. One believes that achievement and success comes from activity and work. The other believes that achievement and success is measured in equal outcome and the degree of material comfort.
These changes in values draws into question the role of government and how the rest of the values are carried out. The Federalist Number 51 states, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.” The reaction to Trump’s nomination establishes that men are not angels. The view that violence is entirely permissible and justified to disrupt Trump’s rallies shows that we’ve reached the tipping point and everyone must decide what type of governance the future will hold. We can have a government of democracy and enterprise lead by a candidate who knows he is no angel, or we can have a government of material comfort lead by a candidate who acts as if she were an angel.
The Federalist Number 51 also states, “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.” This is the danger in the upcoming election. The Supreme Court is split 4-4 and the next President controls the direction of the Court. A leftist Court takes us back to the abuses of the Warren Court. There’s no longer any auxiliary precautions to check the exercise of power that we’ve seen in the past eight years. The election isn’t just about who leads for the next four years. This election is about the basic view of what does America stand for. Either we maintain our American Culture, or we become part of the world culture that has taken root in Europe and drives decision making at the United Nations.
The United States is a republic not a democracy. There is a big difference. One is mob rule. A republic provides protection with the rule of law.
As a Latina coming from Central America, I did not come here to create a balance of “a melting pot” at all. I came here was to adopt into the goodness of the American Culture and its laws and realize that I too would benefit greatly respecting such laws, and living harmoniously within my neighborhood.
I do not care for the thought to be conceivable we need to be a ‘DAM” MELTING pot. We foreigners came here to leave….LEAVE our countries because we wanted to live in American, under its rule of law. So, please stop the political correctness because it confuses us Latinos, or Europeans on your wanting us to bend your laws to suit of we perceive to be correct when we left a very corrective society over seas to come here. Why are you doing this to us…do you want us to rebel, fly our own National Flags, made demands, that when we do you would get mad at us…because your are inconsistent and sending double messages.
Is this what you guys want within the Republican Party or Democrat Party. Do you really want us to change your society around and then make you more confused?
You know what you guys need to go watch right this minute on netflix “WE WERE SOLDIERS”, then you will understand what it means to come here legally those of us and find out you, yourselves are very confused Americanos. Man up and be a soldier for our American heritage…and to hell with the Kock and the rest of them.
WE ARE AMERICANS, period and yet we can enjoying sharing our cultural through dances, food flavors, and what-nots….but please don’t teach us and allow us to push you guys into the wall with demands and breaking your laws because what will we be teaching our next generations to doing the same thing also. Then what?
Thanks. I am mad and disappointed in our House and Senators to have allowed Texas to be an open door because they kicked the can with the donkey down the dirt and back alleys just to gain votes. I blame you and for those reasons I voted for DONALD TRUMP and not our Senator Cruz…because I wanted someone I could trust in really doing the job. We still have our problems with illegal employments, illegals entry and illegals in our governmental programs and yet not one SENATOR from Texas has done NADA!!!!
Why not stay at home and make your country better, rather than fleeing like a coward? Whether you come here legally or illegally you still preferred to run away.
Here is what I do not accept or believe in from your article:
Organizations that help foreign exchange students prepare for life in the U.S. add:
Independence
Informality
Directness
Bunch of crapola!!
This should be all we teach foreigners to understand and have them accept it before issuing any green card or American Citizenship….either accept it or go back home….a su casa.
Sociology sets forth a list of nine American Values. These are:
Equal Opportunity
Achievement and Success
Material Comfort
Activity and Work
Practicality and Efficiency
Progress
Science
Democracy and Enterprise
Freedom
Do you really find the U.S. to not be direct and informal in nature?
That’s why I love Bernadette, She knows how to tell it straight. I’m on the Trump Train too and voted for him over Cruz. The rest of you “NEVER TRUMP” folks can go to ^$@#
Randy, you are right. I am not political “correct” and neither running for office to tells lies, now do I have a business that I need Conservative patronage, and for sure I am not asking for any appointments, and I don’t help candidates so I can expect them to hire me into their office should they win. I am straight up truthful, love me or hate me and I don’t steal either.
Just back from three weeks in Ireland. Got into some interesting political discussions with locals over pints of Guinness a few times. You may know that Trump owns a golf course there; http://www.trumpgolfireland.com/. He wants to build a wall for erosion control along the coast adjacent to the course which has caused loads of controversy; http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/donald-trump-climate-change-golf-course-223436
The joke in Ireland is that he is bringing over a crew of Mexicans to build it.