American Studies

American studies at Tehran University is quite new. Now it is the third year of the program in this university. It involves most of the aspects of American studies. I myself knew some about it, since a friend of mine started this course a year ago. The institute of North American and European Studies is a newly built building. I find it here a very friendly atmosphere, knowledgeable and helpful professors and hardworking students. I call the Head of the institute and our history professor, the Founding Fathers of the institute who do their best despite the difficulties to provide the best of everything for the institute and students. They had important roles to make such institute. Here everyone is ready to help the others. They ask the students to work hard and the students are really busy with their researches and studies, but you see smiles on faces. I have learned a lot since the beginning of the term. There are not fanatic ideas as some may think due to the problems between Iran and America; everything is studied academically which is very important to produce trustworthy and true science.
As I study more, I just feel sorry to see so many misunderstandings about Iran and Islam across the world and especially the United States. I see what a common man knows in Iran about America is much more than what is known about Iran in the United States. Sometimes, even the elites do not try to get what is right to avoid the foolish opinions or beliefs. There are simple rules to be sure and stop misunderstandings.
I remember what I read somewhere about a false thought which was believed in Aristotle's time. Aristotle was a famous philosopher, but he just like the other people in his time believed that women had fewer teeth than men. If he had only asked a lady to open her mouth and had counted her teeth, he would not have made such a mistake. He did not do that because he was sure he knew it. Now in the third millennium and the age of technology and information there are many mistakes and errors that can be prevented easily. Of course a lot of false information is released on purpose, by countries and organizations which causes doubts, but that is the responsibility of elites to experience, observe, ask and try the ways to be sure, rather than believe what they hear.
American studies is the study of the United States dealing with its history, culture, economy, literature, art, media, film, human rights and whatever which is related to the united States, either domestic or universal. Today, American studies is a big part of world study, since the United States has a lot of influences and effects across the world. Here at Tehran University most of the mentioned aspects are studied.
Some believe American Studies is the study of American civilization which relates to the United States culture and people. It is an interdisciplinary field with main focus on America.
Vernon Louis Parrington is known as the founder of American studies. He won the Pulitzer Prize for his Main Currents in American Thought which has both methodologies of literary criticism and historical research. It reads in the introduction to Main Currents in American Thought:
"I have undertaken to give some account of the genesis and development in American letters of certain germinal ideas that have come to be reckoned traditionally American--how they came into being here, how they were opposed, and what influence they have exerted in determining the form and scope of our characteristic ideals and institutions. In pursuing such a task, I have chosen to follow the broad path of our political, economic, and social development, rather than the narrower belletristic."
The "broad path" that Parrington describes set an academic precedent for what is called today, American studies. The broad path made a scholastic course of study after Harvard's interdisciplinary program in "History and American Civilization" in 1940.
There are different approaches to American studies; one of them is "myth and symbol" which claimed to get specific recurring themes in American texts trying to illuminate a unique American culture. The word exceptionalism is applied to express the uniqueness of America as well. It followed by criticism across the world that American exceptionalism notes American special mission and virtue making it unique among nations. It caused more academic discussions and more people and universities' attention on the field of American studies.
Over the years the connection between American studies and other fields such as ethnic studies, gender studies, cultural studies and post-or-pre-colonial studies has been stronger. Now American studies relates to study globalization and Americanization, too.
So there are different answers to the question what American Studies is. It is generally an interdisciplinary program to study American history and experience through different aspects, elements and disciplines to analyze the multiplicity of cultures, ideas, believes, ideologies, institutions and whatever that has made this nation.

Human Rights in the United States

"The Country Reports on Human Rights Practices are submitted annually by the U.S. Department of State to the U.S. Congress in compliance with sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (FAA), as amended, and section 504 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended. The law provides that the Secretary of State shall transmit to the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, by February 25 "a full and complete report regarding the status of internationally recognized human rights, within the meaning of subsection (A) in countries that receive assistance under this part, and (B) in all other foreign countries which are members of the United Nations and which are not otherwise the subject of a human rights report under this Act." Reports on several countries are included that do not fall into the categories established by these statutes and that thus are not covered by the congressional requirement.
The reports cover internationally recognized individual, civil, political, and worker rights, as set forth in the universal declaration of human rights." http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/

The human rights in the United States is a controversial issue. The United States has been both praised and criticized for its practices due to this matter. Some of the practices have been considered progressive and some other against human rights, either domestically or universally.
"Legally, Human Rights within the United States are those rights recognized by the Constitution of the United States and those recognized by treaties ratified by the United States Senate as well as certain rights articulated by the Congress of the United States."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_and_the_United_States#_note-11
The question is whether the human rights have been respected equally by the United States across the world or not.Many people believe that the United States has had double standard practices to the human rights and the equality which must be the same for humankind has changed to be inequality.
Some consider this country as a shelter for refugees in case of international strife; some others consider it as the cause of problems which made people lose their certain rights.
The double standard practices of the United States in and out of the country have raised a lot of questions and oppositions. There are many criticisms on US practices which violate human rights. Sometimes US citizens condemn the US government because of the actions that threaten the national security. Most critics have been due to the existence of torture, legal rendition, assassination, imprisonment without trial and the support of dictatorships. The American system was established to guarantee social and economic rights for its citizenry through a progressive liberal democracy and its constitution which contains the Bill of Rights. "Civil liberties in the United States are built on what has been described as a self-evident truth that 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" Declaration of Independence
Freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment and the right to a fair trial and trial by jury are all have been recognized by the constitution. These are all seem to provide the best services according to the human rights, but what has happened in reality was not successful as believed by many critics.
Equality in case of race, gender, age, disability, and freedom of religion, freedom of movement, freedom of expression, national security exceptions, humane and humane treatments, death penalty, prison system, health care, women rights and international human rights are the matters which the United States has been criticized for not being able to serve the domestic and universal expectations.
Reference:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_and_the_United_States#_note-11

Americans Voting Behaviors in 2004 Presidential Election

The importance of active civic participation is obvious for the future of a nation and a healthy democracy. In 2004 Presidential election, the republican candidate George Walker Bush won against John Kerry the democrat one.50.8 percent of the voting ballots were devoted to Bush and 48.3 percent were devoted to Kerry. Also, Ralph Nader won less than 0.4 percent of the votes.
Bush and Kerry had close competitions and at the end Bush was chosen to be the president of the United States. Americans voting behaviors is the subject of this article. The first part of this article discusses people's behaviors generally and the second part will be devoted to youth voting, specifically.
Different theories and models described Americans voting behaviors in 2004 presidential election. Following you will read about some reasons and models explaining Americans voting behaviors.

1. Party identification model indicates party identification alongside with socialization. Americans are democrats, republicans or independent and party identifications are important in voting behaviors based on race, gender, education and income. In 2004 election men voted more for republicans and women voted for democrats. African Americans and other minorities also supported democrats. Those with less income voted for democrats as well. People who were less educated voted for republicans. These were based on party identifications, but there were people who voted for a certain candidate rather than the certain party.

2. Issue model which focuses on certain issues which effect on voting behaviors of people. Issues are different either domestic or universal. War, economy, health care, terrorism, security, moral values were important on people's decisions. Statistics indicate the most important elements as war in Iraq, terrorism and homeland security, jobs and unemployment, health care, federal budget and taxes. These were important issues in Americans decision making process.
3. Moral issues and voters' decision Making process in the 2004 Presidential election were important. For example:" President Bush's victory, the approval of every anti-gay marriage amendment on statewide ballots and an emphasis on ‘moral values’ among voters showed the power of churchgoing Americans in this election and threw the nation's religious divide into stark relief.” Associated Press, November 4, 2004

4. Economic conditions, influence consumer confidence, also they influence both political evaluations and votes. But there is little sense of the origins of consumer confidence itself. Consumers are those who vote. Nation's level of consumer confidence responds to objective economic conditions. Candidates who pay more attention to economic conditions can take measures to satisfy the voters. Politics is important for understanding consumer sentiment beyond what is known from economic conditions. It demonstrates a direct effect of political evaluations of the president's management of the economy, the party of the president, extraordinary political events, and monetary policy; it also affects media coverage of the economy and consumer sentiment, after controlling for economic conditions. When news is positive, citizens give favorable evaluations; this happens naturally, it causes more positive sentiment. Understanding the political economy needs an emphasis on the causal effect of politics as well as economics. All these create different behaviors by the participants in the Presidential election as it happened in 2004.

5. Impact of personality must be considered in cognitive, behavioral, and affective political processes, too. One to talk about is the effects of the need to evaluate that is a personality trait and reflects a person's proclivity to create and hold attitudes; people high in that are likely to make attitudes toward all sorts of objects and events. The data from the 1998 National Election Survey Pilot and the 2000 National Election Survey was shown to predict a variety of important attitude-relevant cognitive, behavioral, and affective political processes beyond holding attitudes, it could predict how many evaluative beliefs about candidates one held, the likelihood that a person would use party identification and issue stances to determine candidate preferences. It is important to know that the extent to which a person took part in political activism , the likelihood he voted or intended to vote would change and another thing, the extent to which a person used the news media for gathering information, and the intensity of emotional reactions that felt toward political candidates were effective as well. So the need to evaluate seems to play a significant role in shaping important political behavior, emotion, and cognition.

6. The effect of a subtle reminder of death on voting intentions for the 2004 U.S. presidential election has been considered. It is on the basis of terror management theory which was hypothesized that a mortality salience induction would increase support for President George W. Bush and decrease support for Senator John Kerry. It was late September 2004 and after a mortality salience or control induction; registered voters were asked which candidate they had intended to vote for. According the predictions, Senator John Kerry could receive substantially more votes than George Bush in the control condition, but Bush was favored over Kerry following a reminder of death, suggesting that President Bush's re-election may have been facilitated by non-conscious concerns about mortality in the aftermath of September 11, 2001.

7. New studies express a powerful empirical relationship between political discussion and political knowledge. And, there has been no clear discussion or demonstration of how political discussion translates into increased political knowledge. A study proposed three explanations on this matter; first, exposure, second anticipatory elaboration that creates links between work on uses, gratifications and news information processing, and third discussion-generated elaboration that focuses on how discussion itself can influence information processing. Some data from 2000 and a local community survey during the 1996 presidential election were used to test these three. The results suggest that the direct relationship between discussion and knowledge may be mediated through motivations and information processing behaviors. They also support the anticipatory elaboration and discussion-generated elaboration explanations while posing questions on the exposure explanation.

8. There was a model by the name of Jobs Model which was well done in 2004.It could predict the Presidential election well. The model was based on data available in August 2004 and its error was only 1.3 percentage points predicting the incumbent share of the two-party popular vote (Lewis-Beck and Tien 2004). On the other hand the median forecast from seven teams of statistical modelers was off 2.6 percentage points (Campbell 2004, 734). It is believed that the Jobs Model was more correct since it broadened measurement of economic performance that is a conceptual variable lying at the core of most of these efforts. It argues that the changing nature of the American economy required attention to a hitherto neglected variable which is job creation.

9. It is the early years of new millennium in politics so the machinery of the “old politics” that was centered on a party-orientation is being replaced by computers of the “new politics” which is centered on an image manufacturing-orientation. It goes with highly integrated marketing strategy that is driven by a candidate’s inner circle of advisors who now control the money and message of both the party and candidate organization. It leads to a very easy transition from election to governing and it happens that the top advisors during the campaign become top advisors to the winners and the key architects of the party administration. All of the developed marketing techniques and means that have been used in politics over the past several years are becoming more sharply focused on one central theme, and that is to produce a winning image for the leader and his/her party.

Youth voting
There are reports that in 1971, 18- to 20- year olds gained the right to vote, and 50 percent of young adults aged 18 to 24 voted in the 1972 presidential election. But voting among young adults has dropped significantly, causing concern among lawmakers and other policy makers.
"The percentage of youth ages 18 to 24 who reported voting and registering to vote was higher in the 2004 presidential election year than in 1996 or 2000 (42 percent reported voting in 2004, compared with 32 percent in both 1996 and 2000)."But, the percentage was lower than when 18- to 20- year olds first gained the right to vote in 1972. Fifty-nine percent of youth had registered to vote in 1972, and only 52 percent registered to vote in 2004. In 1972, 50 percent of youth voted, compared with 42 percent in 2004.The reasons for declines in voting express that many youth feel uninformed about politics and the electoral process. A study found that one third of high school seniors lack a basic understanding of how the American government operates.
Another report by the National Association of Secretaries of State also got that youth believe that government and elections are not relevant to things about which they care. It has been suggested that this belief elaborates why many prefer to engage in community service, which is actually developing more and more.
Differences by the type of elections, ages, gender, race/ethnicity of voters:
There are differences by type of elections, too.
Fewer youth vote in non-presidential election years, comparing presidential election years. For example seventeen percent of youth voted in the 2002, non-presidential election year, whereas 42 percent voted in the 2004 presidential election year. Females are more likely than males to report both registering to vote and voting. It is not a lot different, anyhow. In the 2004 election, 55 percent of females aged 18 to 24 registered to vote, compared with 48 percent of males the same age. That was similar to 45 percent of females who actually voted according the reports, compared with 39 percent of males.Young Hispanics are the least likely to report registering to vote and actually voting in both presidential and non-presidential election years. In 2004, 44 percent of black youth and 43 of white youth reported voting, comparing 20 percent of Hispanic youth. Of course Hispanics may be of any race.
References:
http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/voting/cps2004.html
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=296252
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0022-3506.2004.00288.x http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContentItem.do?contentId=853745&contentType=Article

Social Stratification in America

There are not exact guidelines for classes in the United States and different theories try to make it classified. Most Americans Believe in A three-class model. They are the rich, the middle class, and the poor. America is a diverse society considering its culture, economy, politics and ideology which make different levels of wealth, income, education, occupation and social behavior. It is not easy sometimes to classify certain groups or people in a certain class.
One approach which is more common is based on cultural and economic diversity of the people and defines more of them in middle class.
"Sociologist Dennis Gilbert, William Thompson and Joseph Hickey as well as James Henslin have proposed class systems with six distinct social classes. These class models feature an upper or capitalist class consisting of the rich and powerful, an upper middle class consisting of highly educated and well-paid professionals, a lower middle class consisting of semi-professionals, a working class constituted by clerical as well as blue collar employees whose work is highly routinized and a lower class which is according to Gilbert is divided between the working poor and underclass."
"A stratified society is one marked by inequality, by differences among people that are regarded as being higher or lower... it is logically possible for a society to be stratified in a continuous gradation between high and low without any sharp lines... in reality... there is only a limited number of types of occupations... People in similar positions... grow similar in their thinking and lifestyle... they form a pattern, and this pattern creates social class." —Dennis Gilbert, The American Class Structure, 1998
The nominal approach believes that American society is sociologically and economically fragmented and it causes no clear class distinctions.
There are also some who believe in certain classifications, but the most common idea points out the American society as a highly developed one which frames a complicated class system.Again those who put vast majority of Americans among the middle class are more.
Class in the US is more based on the personal income and educational attainment for the people age 25 or older. It results in the hierarchy in which individuals find themselves.The members of the society are distributed among positions of varying importance, influence, and prestige. It describes the positions a person may be regarded in the society. The positions are not equal some are more agreeable than the others regarding their essentiality to the well-being of the society as a whole. There are some positions which are rewarded with prestige and income. The positions can be occupation related or not, like the role of being a parent or being a member of a wealthy family. The job role itself remains one of the most important status features in the United States and that is why the promotion at work is so important. The positions and jobs create opportunities to enjoy different services and facilities of the society which are not provided equal to all. For example the more money a person has the better clothes he can buy and it is related to the class the very same person belongs.
"It is impossible to understand people's behavior... without the concept of social stratification, because class position has a pervasive influence on almost everything... the clothes we wear... the television shows we watch... the colors we paint our homes in and the names we give our pets... Our position in the social hierarchy affects our health, happiness, and even how long we will live." —William Thompson, Joseph Hickey, Society in Focus, 2005
The nature of American lifestyle which is based on capitalism produces classes as well.
"We are proud of those facts of American life that fit the pattern we are thought but somehow we are often ashamed of those equally important social facts which demonstrate the presence of social class. Consequently, we tend to deny them, or worse, denounce them and by doing so we tend to deny their existence and magically make them disappear from consciousness." —W. Lloyd Warner, What Social Class Is In America
To study the class system in the US different elements must be considered, some of them will be followed briefly in this article.
1. Income which is one of the most prominent indicators of class status. It has total influence on the class of people.
"It should be stressed... that a position does not bring power and prestige because it draws a high income. Rather, it draws a high income because it is functionally important and the available personnel are for one reason or another scarce. It is therefore superficial and erroneous to regard high income as the cause of a man's power and prestige, just as it is erroneous to think that a man's fever is the cause of his disease... The economic source of power and prestige is not income primarily, but the ownership of capital goods (including patents, good will, and professional reputation). Such ownership should be distinguished from the possession of consumers' goods, which is an index rather than a cause of social standing.'—Kingsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore, Principles of Stratification
2. Education which is related to occupation and income. Higher education is required for many middle class jobs. Generally the better income provides better opportunities to study.
3. Culture which contains sub-cultures as well. It causes assimilation among people to be like the other classes maybe. As mentioned before US is a diverse country and it provides assimilation and generalization which will affect everything in people's lives from the manner in which they raise their children, initiation and maintenance of romantic relationship to the color in which they paint their houses.
Also, agriculture and other industries are important studying about the class system in America.
The elements which mentioned and the others which were all studied by sociologists are used to define the social class in America as: upper class, corporate elite, middle class, upper middle, traditional middle class, lower middle class, working class and lower class.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Social-Class-in-the-United-States&id=913133

American Identity and Language

American Identity and Language
By: Fatemeh Azimzadeh
Culture is certain commonalities of any certain groups of people in any certain geographical spaces. Culture is land-based and identity is culture-based.
Cultures are made due to certain spaces. People make their cultures to adapt themselves to the spaces they are in and different ways of adaptations make different cultures. The more spaces are alike, the more cultures resemble. Part of the development of cultures is due to the needs of certain spaces. Other part relates to what cultures import or what people pick up from their own cultures or other cultures to use more.
People share their commonalities through languages which can be words, arts, behaviors or any other means to communicate. As long as the commonalities are there people feel relaxed being together and the process of developing the culture continues.
Basically, any structure is based on a foundation and it needs some columns to be solid and strong .Language is one of the columns for any identity to be distinguished from the others.
Many believe that bilingualism is distorting the process of rearing children if one decides to bring up his child a real American, English is the first and the only choice. There are immigrants who want to keep the ties and connections with their ancestor countries by their heritage language which is part of their culture and identity. Actually, a Non-English-speaking person in America, can not be regarded a true American. English is a very important part of the American identity, since that is the language of the Founding Fathers of this land. The more a person in America looks like the Founding Fathers, the more American he is. Land, language and appearance are the elements that the other aspects of American identity and American exceptionalism can be defined and discussed through them.
If a friend of yours said that he had an American friend, first of all you would imagine a white English-speaking man. Another example, suppose you see a friend with a stranger at a party, if you ask him "Where is your friend from?" and if your friend replies "He is from the United States" very probable you will talk to him in English, no matter what his appearance looks like, either a black man, or a person who is similar to an Indian or even a Chinese in resemblance. Being a white from the United States and speaking in English are the first things that come to mind to describe American nationality. You may say, today English is a universally used and understandable language, it is true, but is used mostly in case you can not communicate with a person by his native language. If you can you will talk to his native language, since any language carries also, meanings, feelings, believes or thoughts that can not be transferred through other languages. Those who are able to speak in different languages understand it more. To express a feeling a thought or an idea multilingual people pick up certain words from different languages, it means maybe a word in one language carries the best of what it wants to express. For example by the words you start greetings you do not have the very same feelings. So, that is why multilingual people choose certain words from different languages to express what they want to say.
Language is one of the commonalities through which people feel better being together. A traveler picks up the words of his language very soon in a strange city, and gets pleased, when others can talk to the same language. Then he gets more pleased to meet a person sharing the same nationality, it means they can understand each other better and can enjoy more not to feel alone being different to others. The American traveler will say, "I'm from America." and he will hear, "Oh, I'm American, too." The traveler will hear "Oh," and "too" more emphasized which come from their commonalities. Many times happen they are not two people talking, but their cultures and backgrounds. Maybe the same traveler enters a city, in which the citizens are very warm to him even, but they speak to another language and that is the time he feels something else must be existed, but it does not. Have you ever felt homesick in such a place?!
What is written here can be true for any languages and for any cultures. There is something special in any space which is unique, something in the air, land and water if any of them or all of them exists. Like the plants which are special for different areas.
So, English which is spoken in America as what said about the certain spaces is part of American identity.

http://ezinearticles.com/?American-Identity-and-Language&id=907965

Welfare in the United Ststes of America

By: Fatemeh Azimzadeh


The public welfare in the United States is formed to save money instead of people and to provide better living for all the people, but it transpires doing neither of them. There are two main reasons for it:
First, it neglects a large number of people who are in need and if they are provided with some support will be much more productive and autonomous. Some millions of them are not aged, disabled, handicapped or parent of minor children; they are just needy unemployed and underemployed men and women waiting for protection by government.
Second, people who are included in the welfare programs, but they are provided with minimum assistance to live an honorable life will remain dependent on the welfare, with a lot of restrictions, undermining their self-worth and dignity.
There is a confusion of statutory administrative practices and regulations that the recipients are measured unrestrained, untrustworthy and lazy. The newly arrived ones to the states are not provided with the assistance, because of the residence requirements, for instance. If officials' agents search their homes it is privacy violation. More, problems are combined with unacceptable social services. So, it is not a well-balanced whole.
The term welfare in the U.S commonly refers to the programs that are government-funded. Unemployed and underemployed men and women are provided with economic supports, goods and services. Professionals call it social welfare that contains any programs that support people to perform better in the society.
There are more than one hundred and twenty welfare programs in the federal government of the United States. There always have been controversies over it and the main question has been on its existence, whether it should be or not. The number of programs is so many that actually some think, the government interferes the free enterprise system, though it must subsidize the system. The principle investment of major industries such as telecommunication, aerospace and biotechnology has not been provided by the government to run their tasks, government funds are given freely to corporations but they do not announce it. Welfare corporate has not been considered debilitating.
Welfare system should protect citizens of societies against anguish and agony effects of poverty .Since it does not end the dependency of people on governments; many believe it can not create a society free from unemployment.
In the other hand not all people can work, very young, very old and disabled are among those.
There are sometimes not enough work opportunities even for those who can work properly. The United States is one of the countries with free-market economy and a certain percent of capable working-age adults will always remain unemployed and that is due the technological and job skill changes happening day by day. The rates of unemployment regionally and from season to season are different. So welfare can assist the segments and fragments of population.
That was early19th century that local governments started to provide for poor new opportunities, by different ways such as contracting with wealthy families to help them, locating them in workhouses or providing them with cash or goods. Some politicians expressed their concerns however. A reform movement happened in many states 182os and 1830s to rehabilitate the poor by replacing outdoor relief with workhouses. The second reform efforts happened in 1880s and 1890s to improve their social functioning and encouraging them to be independent through social work. Opposition existed, but welfare did not disappear. The Congress supported different programs to expand public provisions for the poor. Establishing mother' pensions for poor mothers mostly widows and workers' compensation programs came in to being by early twentieth century.
During the worst years of great depression nearly one-fourth of labor force was jobless and much more poor households were poor by current standards. The development of the US modern welfare dates to 1930s. President Franklin D. Roosevelt was the one who led a new reform movement, economically and socially. The Social Security Act was part of his New Deal program which established a number of welfare programs. Each of them was designed to protect different segments of population, for retired people and their families, for dependent children and those who lost their jobs temporarily. In 1946 The Social Security Administration was established by government.
The other establishments were Federal Security Agecy1939, the Department of Health, Education and Welfare 1953, the Department of Health and Human Services 1980 and the Department of Housing and Urban Development 1965.The Department of Education, the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Treasury as well as the Department of Labor manage some different welfare programs. Funding for such programs has increased especially for working poor families.
Government's welfare programs are performed in different ways, distributing direct cash, certain goods such as public housing, subsidized rents, and coupons to buy food or the means to obtain services. The government decides to whom or how much welfare must be provided and that is based on the economic well-being. As soon as the recipient's income increases, the welfare programs fall. Some are restricted programs to control those meeting additional benefits. Members of specific groups deserve certain forms of welfare. For example, elderly people or those with mental or physical disabilities get several supports that are especially for them. Other disadvantaged people are students, unpaid workers like mothers and caregivers and minority groups who are provided with a minimum level of income.
Welfare creates problems, too. If the recipients earn more money their benefits may fall and they will have to pay taxes, so some people prefer to remain on welfare and not to look for jobs. Some other people who work but their income is not enough can not neglect the benefits of welfare, either. Moreover, some change their behaviors to be eligible for advantages could be obtained from welfare, for instance a young parent may not marry again just to enjoy the benefits of welfare.
Democrats and Republicans have different ideas over the issue of welfare; Republicans desire is to make conditions well enough for more work and less dependency on welfare .They support time limits on welfare. They believe welfare should promise the recipients and their children education or job trainings. The welfare recipients must be free from drug and they must get proper immunizations. The welfare reform should not cost more than existing programs.
Democrats on the other hand vote against requirement of time limits on welfare and the programs making recipients work. Under the present Democrat administration Florida for example, gives away millions of dollars each year to individuals who do not deserve receiving the benefits.
Critics have argued over different programs to get what they think is the best one. Time limit programs or the money devoted for job trainings are among the matters they argue over.

http://ezinearticles.com/?Welfare-in-the-United-States-of-America&id=904839

A White House Tour

White House is located in Washington, D.C. It is a tourist attraction that 5 of 132 rooms are open to public visit. They are the Blue Room, the East Room, the Green Room, the Red Room and the State Dining Room. White House was built between 1792 and 1800.People called it different names, the President's Palace, the President's House and the Executive Mansion, but White House has been the most common name.
All presidents of the US except George Washington had lived there during their presidential terms.
After all renovations it has kept the simple form of existence. It stands among gardens and lawns. The main building; the white edifice was built with the association of an Italian architect.
The apartment of the President is on the second floor of the main building .The guest rooms and quarters for staffs are on the third floor. The rooms which are on the ground floor are; the cloak rooms, china room, the kitchen and library.
The formal rooms of state are on the first floor and are open to the public.
The East Room is the largest room in the White House, used for state receptions.
The President receives guests at state dinners in the oval Blue Room and the Red Room is where the First Lady receives guests.
Informal receptions are held in the Green Room and formal dinners are in the State Dining Room.
The Cabinet Room is in the west wing; the cabinet secretaries and the advisors serving the President meet there.
The Rose Garden has been used for different events by the presidents, like meeting the press, being photographed with prominent citizens, making public announcements about policy. Moreover, many news conferences take place there.
The Oval Office has been used by some presidents to address the public on TV. President Bush is one of them. This office is the President's workplace. There is a desk in this office that the President does a lot of his tasks at it. The presidents keep personal photographs or reminders in the office. There are two doors in the office, one opens to the Rose Garden and the other one opens to the Cabinet Room.
Also, there are pictures, paintings and pieces of furniture that are symbols used by different presidents, like what President Bush has in his office and referred to them while he was addressing people in his office and describing it.
He used the word sun several times, talking about the start of the day in the Oval Office, the rug in the middle of the room which has the eagle in its centre with the olive branch and also the paintings on the walls which reflect his nature. The room is an optimistic place to work, he believes.
He has the painting of Abraham Lincoln in his office as the president, who unified the country which was a big objective to keep the union.
Also, he mentioned other presidents George Washington as the first president of the country and Dwight D Eisenhower as a modest person and a president that he appreciates his leadership style, since he was a solid president.
At the end he talked about the family pictures on one of the desks in the Oval Office, He says he loves his family behind him.

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