Political Culture

I completely agree with Alyse. Her argument, for America having a conflictual political culture, has a very valid point. America has over three hundred and sixteen million people. It is impossible for everyone in the nation to agree and stand by the same morals. America holds a reputation for holding a diverse nation. It welcomes all different religions,speaks a variety of languages, and trusts in new opinions of the people. By the nation encouraging all this freedom to the people, it gives a larger area for conflicts in political culture to evolve. America has been divided into Red America and Blue America. Brooks characterizes Red America as people who live down south with less education and deeply involved in church. He describes Blue America as the complete opposite; living in cities, snobby well educated people with a large sense of individualism. This is the divide in America and facts have been found to prove it. A prime example is one stated by Brooks saying that only 53% of reds consider themselves an intellectual while 75% of blues do.Blue America likes to live by the idea of everyone having a creative mind of their own that they can show off and compete with one another, while Red America likes the idea of being equally minded and peacefully working eachother up together. Another example showing the distinct separation of reds and blues was found by Frank, which is a line from a "self described blue" American in New York City. After the 9/11 terrorist attack, she realized that the people doing the actual hard work and labor were the ones who kept the country running, not the business men. This shows the deep separation between the red and the blues. they live two different lives and have complete opposite views of each other. America has a visible separation of two very different people living in one country, under the same Constitution.
Although all this information may point out differences, I don't think having a conflictual political culture in a nation is necessarily a bad thing. Even though problems may arose from the spans of diversity across the country, it will push forward improvement and constant change in the government.

Political Culture

I also agree with Kayla and Zach that our current political culture is in fact very conflictual. Whether you’re looking at how we view ourselves, our pastimes, jobs and or the attendance rate at churches we go too, its obvious no matter what your argument is, that these entire social divides and differences create differences in our views on politics and how the government should operate.A great example is that it is a proven fact, like Brooks said, that people in the “red states” have more people that attend churches than the “blue state” residents do. This creates a divide between moral issues like abortion and same sex marriage. Frank also expands this argument by pointing out the fact that there are many smaller divisions inside these major ones. Frank, even though he is arguing against Brook still can’t rebuke all of Brooks arguments. Facts are facts. There is a lot of factual evidence, like SAT scores for example, to backup many of Brook’s arguments. People in “red” are less educated versus occupants of “blue”. That could lead to many different views on disagreements such as whether kids should be forced to go to school or not. Everyone inevitably has confliction views, but in America, it is clear that we can be divided into two major differences based on social aspects that influence political decisions.  Growing up in Alabama per say could set you on a path to lead a more humble life because that is just how you were raised. These concepts will not change because these views will be passed down from generation to generation. In say New York, if a rich city man raised you, you may think of regard yourself in a different way and value material things more. This would lead to different political views, therefore demonstrating once again, that even though Brooks article may come off a little stereotypical, it still proves that America has a strong conflictual political culture.

Political Culture

I agree with Zach in his saying that America's political culture is conflictual. In America, people can be categorized into either red states or blue states. This separation of political opinions itself already begins to demonstrate the conflictual political culture in America. Life in the red states is very different from life in the blue states and this leads to a lot of judgments and disagreements between the two. As both Brooks and Frank said, red America thinks blue America is snobby, self-centered and ungrateful. On the other hand, blue America thinks red America is uneducated, overweight and too open about religion. It is so unreasonable for everyone to think the same exact thing and share the same opinions and therefore we see the clear distinctions between the American people. Not only do these two broad groups exist, but also smaller groups within the red and blue states similar to cliques in a high school cafeteria as Frank explains. With all of these different beliefs, it is impossible for America's political culture to be conflictual. A common example used when discussing red and blue states is the presidential election between Al Gore and George W. Bush. This is often brought up because it is an excellent display of how varied the political culture in America is and what kind of impact that can have on our nation. Although the 2000 election is a good example, any election could work to show the divide in our country. If you looked at an electoral map for any past election, the divisions between red and blue states would still be very clear. There will never be a year when the map is entirely blue or entirely red. This means that our political culture is conflictual.. Although there is no physical violence between red and blue states, there is still tension and disagreements. As long as there are red and states, there will always be conflict in their ideas and expectations of the government. A consensual political culture in America is more of a picture perfect idea than it is a reality in our country.

Political Culture

Our American Political culture is conflictual.  As Brooks’ describes in his essay, there are many ways to differentiate Blue from Red America.  The different lifestyles evident between these separate peoples lead to many disagreements politically.  This became very clear to most after the Gore Bush election.  As it was seen that the election came so close to a tie, our country began to realize just how divided we are.  While we can be depicted as very divided just between Red and Blue states, I don’t think this is the most accurate way to describe our conflictual state of being.  We are not just divided in this one way, we are divided in many other ways as Frank describes.  He uses an example of our nation being split even further into separate categories such as the ones you would find in a high school cafeteria. I think this helps give a more accurate depiction of what America is like today.  We are split into two main groups with conflicting ideas, and they are Red and Blue states.  But even more specifically, there are subgroups within these main two that divide our country even further. Brooks’ Essay does a poor job to acknowledge this which is why Frank gives a more accurate depiction of America.  Overall, America is conflictual, but in more ways than most think.  The famous picture of our country created shortly after the Bush election (pictured below) is not the only way people should realize America is conflictual. You have to acknowledge the fact that there are numerous other types of people with different views, who don’t fall directly into either Blue, or Red America.  This fact is why America is so much more conflictual than it is described in Brooks’ essay.

Political Culture Meets Political Ideology

Political Culture is defined as widely shared beliefs, values, and norms that define the relationship between citizens and government. We have included the following in our definition of American culture:

• Personal Liberty
• Equality
• Democracy
• Civil Society (The Rule of Law)
• Individualism
• Religious Faith and Freedom

We have also discussed political ideologies in America and their impact on our political culture. The intersection of political ideology and political culture has been an area of intense debate in recent political science, and it has sparked an important question:

Is American political culture conflictual or consensual?

Remember, a conflictual political culture is one in which different groups (or subcultures) clash with opposing beliefs and values; a consensual political culture experiences less conflict. No matter how broadly the consensus is held, any culture contains values that overlap and conflict; the American political culture is no exception.

ASSIGNMENT
In a blog post please:

• Write a well developed, argued, and organized answer to this question.
• Be sure to include evidence from both the Brooks and Frank readings in your response.
• Include an outside piece of evidence from the internet (Movie, picture, graph, chart, etc).
• Do not write your post in isolation, comment on a previous blog post made by a classmate, or comment on an idea or argument made in class.
• Be sure to label your post "political culture"

Also, don't forget to vote in our poll! (on the right)

For anyone doing No Child Left Behind for the panel

I found a really good informational website
http://www.edweek.org/ew/issues/no-child-left-behind/
http://febp.newamerica.net/background-analysis/no-child-left-behind-overview

Happy Gas Day!

First of all, happy gas day!! (weird). As I'm sure you remember, at the start of class I told you that we will never truly have snow days off from school. Well, apparently, I need to amend that to include the occasional day off for gas leaks!

This is what they meant by gas leak, right?

Below is your homework assignment due for class on Wednesday (Period 4) or Thursday (Period 7). Please make sure to have it for class, and spread the word to your fellow AP Gov classmates that there is homework due tomorrow in addition to the Chapter 3 Terms that were due today.

Homework:

• Complete the assignment federalism case studies found on the blog in the class materials section.
• Please complete the assignment on a separate piece of paper.
• You will need your textbook for the assignment, however, if you don't have it the internet should work too!

• Please review the first 20 slides of the PowerPoint titled The Roots of Federalism found on the blog in the class materials section.
• We will review this in class, but it will be helpful for you to review it on your own first.

A reminder to Gil and Eddie that current event presentations are still scheduled to take place tomorrow to start class. If you have questions or would like me to review your PPT please post it to the blog tonight.

Finally, an example of proper case study format can be found here. Please try to emulate this case study when writing your own.