TX Gov’t. 2306
Prof. Dayley
My Stand in Life
Political socialization is defined as a lifelong process in which people structure their opinions about politics and come into their political values. My political socialization process started as a young child growing up in two southern Baptist homes and is still in the process. I come from a small town in Texas where if you were not a conservative, you were basically shunned. Since moving down south to College Station for school, I have learned that it is okay to have a different political stand than mine.
All of my parents are conservatives and so am I, but we do not always see eye to eye on things. I am a very open-minded conservative that recognizes the liberal beliefs. Which …show more content…
The ‘American Dream’ helps shape the American political culture. American political culture has multiple values, but is based on liberty, the right to be free without depreciating another’s rights. With liberty, we have equality; which means that the people have similar opportunities to achieve what they want in life, not necessarily with equal results. People are free to make their own choices and receive different results based on their personal choices. Equality is important to our laws; everyone, regardless of gender, religion, race, or age is expected to obey the laws of the land. Democracy is a government run by the people through elected representatives. Since the colonists came from Great Britain’s monarchy, they decided to leave the oppressive government so we could have liberty and equality. The Rule of Law ties into the democracy; the law is applied fairly and equally and not solely by a ruler. Individualism is when the individual’s rights are held higher than the governments. Nationalism is the belief that that our nation is more powerful and virtuous than other nations. The ‘American Dream’ is strong in the belief of owning private property and open markets, which is how capitalism is a value of political culture. All of these values make up the American political culture that we know …show more content…
I am a strong believer in the ‘American Dream’, as is most of the world. Other countries hear of our great nation and want to come here to experience it for themselves. However, I believe the dream from the 60’s and the current dream are in two different categories. The dream itself has not changed that much, but more the reality of the dream becoming true. With our government standings, it is much harder to achieve the dream than it was for the 60’s and even before. Our financial standings as a nation are poor. It is much harder to jump the gap between lower class to upper class, or even to the middle class. In comparison to other countries, everyone in the United States is living a dream. Most countries are severely oppressed by their government. We hear of North Korea and their imprisonment by their government and we are fighting a war for other countries to help them gain some freedom. No other country comes close to the political culture that is in