American Nationalism

Nationalism and especially American nationalism are the words which people hear and read a lot after the attacks of September 11, 2001.It brought support to changes of American policy toward the rest of the world. It was not as strongly as this high lightened for the past two centuries as it is a need now to keep Americans unified. The Americans got together around their flag as a symbol of national identity. A sudden attack made posed a question about American identity that who they are really. It seems the matter of identity had been ignored for years. It contains different matters like, religion, ethnicity, language, ideology and more. The American Creed something unique and originated from the experiment they got by having different governments and this creed is not far and separated from religion even in the time of wars like Iraq war. American nationalism has always been mixed with religious colors. Its root backs to Protestant beliefs that brought Americans together as a whole and to show that they are different from their origins in Europe, specifically. The combination of nationalism and religion to be exactly the American ones was developed through history by some terrible experiences such as wars in and out of the country and it still continues.
American identity has been affected by globalization and immigration a lot. The great number of Hispanics who immigrated to the US seemed to be a problem for American identity. The existence of different religions, races, cultures and ethnicities needs a linkage for creating a certain definition of identity. Images of individuality and distinctiveness are aspects of identity which can be in the groups like societies; this togetherness enables the members to claim to be different to the ones who are not in their groups. It makes different feelings, positive or negative to others with different identities. When parts or members of different identities move together to a certain place, then how the identities are defined? The problems rise then. The languages, religions, races and cultures are different; how continues their existence? The immigrants to the US have been from different nations, cultures, social classes, etc. It changed the country to be a multicultural one and created complexities across the country, at the same time land has been a link to keep them together. They define their identities by the name of America. Any name like Mexican, Chinese or Hispanic is attached to' American'; it is beyond what their origins are. Now, it is believed that the American identity keeps them together. That is not necessarily related to the origins of those who know themselves part of the American nation. The American values are much important, so anyone who believes in American values can be American. The values move across the borders and people from different ethnicities, cultures, or religions can believe in those values. After September 11 the American flag was a center to bring the Americans together as a nation; it is a symbol of the national identity. Being under threat and feeling the country is not as immune as the past from dangers supposedly surrounding it was an important element in looking backward to think who really the Americans are. The attacks of September, 11which happened in the mainland of America that was unprecedented after what happened in Pearl Harbor; that was a big shock to the existence of the US. The major part of Anglo-Protestant culture and its political Creed of liberty and democracy faced challenges to continue as it did before.

The question of identity is what they look for a certain answer. The issues like modernization, globalization, and economic development caused people to rethink about their identities.
One important element is war which was once thought is a state maker, but it seems now it is a state breaker. Some nations like the French, the English, and Germans crystallized their national identities in the crucible of war. It does not mean that the repetition of the old experiences have the same results.

A new beginning, new hopes and new horizons to reach

Spring and all its beauty are the rewards of patience!
I offer you all the blossoms of our tree!
Wish you all a new year, full of happiness and perfect kismet.

congratulations

دلتان به نورخدامنور،مشام جانتان به شمیم بهارمعطر،لطف روزگاربرایتان مقررونوروزتان مظفر

Split-ticket voting in presidential and congressional elections of the United States

American people sometimes vote for candidates in opposite parties in presidential and congressional elections. Split-ticket voting is a kind of tactical voting in which a voter supports a candidate different to his sincere party preference. Actually the voter misrepresents his favored one or party to gain more desirable result and to prevent an undesirable outcome. This phenomenon is important in American election system. When people vote for one president of one party and a member of congress from another party, it is difficult to formulate distinct platforms for parties and it decreases the future certain assurance among people and parties. It is said about the American people that their behaviors are simple and uncomplicated, but there is a complexity in their voting behaviors.
The question is why the split-ticket phenomenon happens and what motivates the people to perform it?
The key answer is within the American system and people's trust to this system. National policy and interests for the US people and politicians have been the same for a long time and not much different to what the Americans Founding Fathers desired, but their levels have change due to different issues. They are always concerned with economic well-being, political values and security inside and outside of the country to preserve the US individual and universal prosperity. The terms right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness must be provided with a government that is devised to protect them all. It is done through controlling power with Constitution and the system of checks and balances between the federal executive, legislature and judiciary and between the senate and the House of Representatives and also between federal and state sovereignty. The process of lawmaking and popular elections are the safeguards of the system.
American people believe in the system which is at their service and just the way the services are provided are different. Through the American system individuals are unique, precious and important and they know the two major parties are the ones which provide what is needed for a desirable American life. Among the American presidents more than 20 were in office along with majority of opposition party members in the congress. There are different approaches and theories describing the causes and reasons of this phenomenon; some of them are offered here, but the conditions under which split-ticket happens, time and places before and after elections must be considered for all reasons.
1. According to 'Policy Balancing-Model' voters want to balance the relative policy extremism of the Democrat and the Republican parties. It also balances the government policies. For example, foreign affairs and the much to deal with them are important as far as considering the American people's rights, liberties, and the prosperity of American economic system. Partisan control is effective if majority of voters decide one certain thing to happen. So, there will be a balance not letting one party goes far.
2. Political observers sometimes thought that the electorate was not able to distinguish major and significant differences between parties. Some are not knowledgeable or well-informed to vote during the elections or they are more influenced by their families, friends, electoral campaigns or communities to make a different party choice.
3. American individualism influences decision making whether by policy makers or people. Parties are important as far as they provide what people want. Expectations of the American life are provided within either of the two major parties and that is why there is not a third major party. It happens that expectations are more important than the party identifications and reliable ness and whoever assures the electorates' hopes and anticipations to happen as hoped will be the right candidate to be chosen whether as the president or a congress person and despite his party affiliation. Party identification is not strong and the voter is not a whole supporter of either party.
Congressional elections take place in the mean time of president's term in office. So if one is not satisfied with what president promised to do, he easily shifts to choose someone from oppositional party to serve in the Congress or vice versa.
4. There is a theory that a great deal of split-ticket balloting and particularly in more recent elections are caused by the parties' increased ideological estrangement which differs between parties or voters.
5. Sometimes electorates vote against the president's party in off-year House elections as a kind of lagged split-ticket behavior to moderate the White House programs and or projects.
6. One theory is that this phenomenon is the result of different median policy positions of voters in nation-wide elections.
7. It happens most likely in ideological moderate districts which are typical of the party that represents them.
8. It sometimes happens with the lack of interactive differences as well as huge personal popularity of a certain candidate, like what happened in Eisenhower's time and went beyond partisan loyalties.
At the end it must not neglected that there are many that even do not make an effort to vote or vote just to have an impact on the election.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split-ticket_votinghttp://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1467-9248.00441?cookieSet=1&journalCode=post

The Power Point Presented in the class

Industry and Technology

THE AUTHOR
Christopher Clark grew up in the London area and obtained his Ph.D. in history at Harvard University. He taught at University of York and University of Warwick. He is a specialist in 18th and 19th North American and United States social and cultural history. Some of his books are: Social change in America from the Revolution to the Civil War andThe Roots of Rural Capitalism: Western Massachusetts . This power point is based on his article, Industry and Technology in the book, A New Introduction to American Studies.

World’s Attention to the U.S:
Ø Political system and ideologies
Ø Technological leader and industrial power

The overwhelming rural and agrarian society of some poor colonies changed to an industrial power.
Archetypal modern society
Useful knowledge, practical ingenuity
Franklin, Whitney, Morse

* Early focus on machines, later social, cultural and political context.
* Communications between: towns and country, farms and factories, nature and machines.

Colonies to civil war:
Iron production, urban crafts trades, ship building
Revolution: industrial development
After revolution:
1. Transferring of technologies to America from abroad
2. The development of new techniques within the borders

American Industrial Revolution
* Faster and more flexible Americans
* Guns and clocks
* More machines then more systematic development

Ø Machine development: migration, population less than land, labor shortage, capital scarcity, coordination of several producers + inventive men and women
Ø Yankee ingenuity versus South slavery

From Civil War to Great Crash
~ Link between agriculture and manufacturing, more mechanization
~ Turning point
~ Specialism, interchangeable parts, standardization, skilled and unskilled workers
~ Far from the work- bench controlling
~ Fordism
~ http://www.hfmgv.org/about/default.asp

* The boss’s brain under the workman’s hat
* The clock, the machine of modern age
* Automobile and wireless transmission
* Growing markets for consumption
* Electric power
* Progressive movements
* R&D
* Laboratories
* Private enterprise

The business of the United States is business.
Government +Industry +Military partnership
Military strength+ Economic prosperity
Land, Water and Air power
The Second World War

A Post Modern Era
• Giant leap for mankind
• Bioscience and biotechnology
• Communication of information
• Knowledge and data as raw materials
• Atomic technology
• Globalization
• Americanization

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…
Excerpt from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

http://www.news.com/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
http://www.census.gov/epcd/
www/naics.html

American Exceptionalism

Exceptionalism dates back to the early time that people recognized America as the new world. Its base was on rejecting. The new comers started to reject the systems which they had problems with. They rejected many things from the Great Britain. The ruling system and the beliefs were those they wanted to change and have the new ones in the new land. They were told repeatedly that they had been chosen people and had had holy missions across the sea. Chosen; they were different, so by such idea whatever they did was exceptional to themselves. The idea made them think be better than whatever and whoever they had left behind and it spread and stretched all through the American history. They paid to obtain what they wanted. Most of their achievements were by their revolution and then the wars that they had. Wars had been important part of the American history. Their differences appeared in their identities little by little. Being exceptional happened through rejection and attraction or attaching and detaching. It rejected the ideas and systems they had left behind and attracted what helped to flourish their achievements. There were creation and imitation together. America was the land that those who wanted to reject their backgrounds could move there hoping to gain something different that they had wished for. The hopes did not work for everyone the same. Different groups by different origins, ethnicities, social classes and gender could not achieve the same accomplishments and fortunes.
Many were those who wanted not to be in where they had been, like immigrants from Ireland. The combination of different people from different backgrounds and different ambitions lay across the country. Anywhere they went on the vast land they started to construct and build what they needed to have, since they had no other choice to survive. Most of them could not return, so they tried to make what they wished for themselves. Naturally other people or countries became rivals. For example the political leaders wanted to prove that they could manage everything themselves perfectly apart from the monarchial ruling system of England and other countries. The other groups and classes of the society like labors, blacks and women tried to gain promotions, better situations of life and existence. They were all wheels and gears to move the country forward to achieve the goals. Various movements happened along with the progress and through the actions and reactions within a century or so they could develop the country and make a lot of things they wanted real. That is the human effort which can make things real and in the US the immigrants had to work more to do it sooner, so it was a kind of exceptional development happening in short time comparing the other countries and civilizations which spend long times to be strong and solid. It was true for Japan as well after the World War II and all the nation were together to rebuild their country. It can be considered as exceptional efforts. The Americans had struggles, clashes and challenges in their history; revolution, resistances and wars led the country to economic, industrial, cultural and political improvements and a number of small colonies changed to be one of the world's superpowers. They tried to spread their values across the world. Being exceptional as they believed strengthened their confidence to consider other cultures, systems, beliefs or anything which is non-American inferior to their own. Assimilation has been one solution to them and if it was not successful, more clashes and struggles would happen worldwide. The Americans have tried to keep their superiorities in many fields and exceptionalism meant being superior in any fields of being American and the power to import the American values taken from the world back to anywhere they wish across the world. People choose what they import as different products, but sometimes they have to. The cultural and political products are of those that sometimes are imported with no choice and it can not be taken as exchanging. The question is how much and how long they can continue the trend of exporting and importing?

Eleanor Roosevelt

Eleanor Roosevelt is one of the women who have been admired a lot in American history. She helped her husband, Franklin Roosevelt during the Great Depression and World War II; he was ill and she was a very good assistance to him.
Eleanor Roosevelt was born on October 11, 1884, in New York City. She was the first child of the family. Her father, Elliott was a businessman, from a distinguished, wealthy family; he was active politically and her mother, Anna came from a family that rooted in the political history of colonial New York and Revolutionary America. Anna was one of the most beautiful women in New York high society, and this made young Eleanor feel as an "ugly duckling". She lost her parents when she was young. She was subsequently placed in the care of her maternal grandmother, Mary Hall.
At the age of 15 her grandmother sent her to the Allenswood Academy in London, England. There she was under the tutelage of Marie Souvestre, Eleanor; she was one of the most important influences in her life. She was interested in politics, social causes, history and literature. She returned to US in 1902. She was a young, well educated and self confident one. She was looking for improving the work conditions for women, so she joined the National Consumers’ League. She was a member of different reform organizations.
She met her cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt on a train and it came to their marriage on March 17, 1905. Franklin's mother had believed that they were too young to marry and after marriage she had strong influence on her son and daughter-in-law; she decorated their house for instance or hired their servants.
Politically she became more active after her marriage. She gave birth to six children. She always lived under critical eye of her mother-in-low. They lived in the houses which had doors connecting the two households in New York. They had a family estate that she stayed there when she was not in the city. Franklin Roosevelt was a progressive Democrat and he moved the family to Albany, since he had won a seat in the New York State Senate. After two years they went to Washington, D.C. Franklin had a new position; he became the assistant secretary of the navy. During World War I Eleanor worked for the Red Cross and other volunteer organizations; in fact it was the continuation of what she was doing before her marriage. Now she was the wife of a cabinet undersecretary and she could lobby for an investigation into shortages in a government hospital treating veterans suffering from shell shock.
The intimacy of their marriage was lost forever after she found that her husband had affair with her own social secretary. She offered to divorce, but it did not happen; not to destroy Franklin's political career. This marital problem increased her activism and political involvement. She had a separate social and professional life. Her close friends were Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman.
Franklin was diagnosed with poliomyelitis, a viral disease that caused permanent paralysis to his legs and he did not return to politics until 1928. In that year he ran successfully for governor of New York. It made Eleanor more prominent than her husband. She was a leader of the League of Women Voters, the National Consumers’ League, and the Women’s Division of the New York State Democratic Committee in New York City.
She wrote for and published articles in a number of national journals. She overcame her natural shyness and became a skilled public speaker and effectively used the new media of the day, radio. She campaigned vigorously for Democratic candidates. With her friends she built a country home for herself on the Roosevelts’ Hyde Park estate. In 1927 she was teaching in Todhunter, a private girls’ school in New York City; she helped Dickerman to purchase there.
In 1928 New York governor Al Smith pressed Franklin to accept the Democratic nomination for governor. Franklin was reluctant, and some of his closest advisers urged him to decline the offer, but with Eleanor’s help, Smith persuaded Franklin that it was the right move and Franklin narrowly won the election. Although Franklin’s election would diminish her own political autonomy she supported him. Eleanor spent most of her weekdays in New York City, remaining active in various social causes and teaching part-time at Todhunter, and often spent time at her beloved stone house. Also she remained a close adviser to her husband. She was a lifelong liberal and frequently spoke out on controversial social issues, from civil rights for minorities to support for the poor.

Franklin’s election as president of the United States in 1932 forced Eleanor further away from grassroots political action and she feared that the role of first lady would be a confining one. She became Franklin's political representative. Her broad sympathies and great energy created a whole new image of what a First Lady could be. Eleanor Roosevelt continued her press conferences, toured the nation repeatedly, and pressed her opinions in newspapers and radio broadcasts.
During the Depression she made Americans feel that someone cared and would try to help. Franklin Roosevelt did not always follow her advice, but still she pressed the cause of Black people, youth, the poor, and the unemployed. Franklin died in 1945and President Truman named her U.S. Delegate to the United Nations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, was what she had a lot of efforts on it, and the delegates rose in a standing ovation for her.She continued to be active in politics and in work for international cooperation and she was praised for her attempts. She changed the role of first lady and became a powerful political figure in her own right, voicing her opinion on a wide range of social causes. She concerned youth employment, civil liberties, and civil rights for blacks and women. She channeled her passion for world issues as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. She impressed many with her shy dignity and fierce determination.

Reference and citation : http://www.msnbc.com/onair/msnbc/timeandagain/archive/eleanor/default.asp?cp1=1http://www.greatwomen.org/women.php?action=viewone&id=128