The Last Word: Assignment 2 for Wednesday Consider: Is America the “best” country in history, or somehow different or better than other nations?

The Last Word: Assignment 2 for tomorrow Consider: Is democracy the best system for economic prosperity? Should the Chinese/Hong Kongers want democracy?

success/ success/ economic-success-require-democracy economic-success-require-democracy

AP Government and Politics Chapter 4

 What is “political culture?”  What are the unique aspects of American political culture?  Liberty  Equality  Democracy  The Rule of Law  Individualism (unity?)  Diversity  Capitalism?  If we agree on these, why do we have political conflict?  How are these reflected in our belief about the economic system?  What makes you an American?

 “In Europe, nationality is related to community, and thus one cannot become un-English or un- Swedish. Being an American, however, is an ideological commitment. It is not a matter of birth. Those who reject American values are ‘un- American’”.  Seymour Martin Lipset, in American Exceptionalism, A Double-Edged Sword

AttributeAmericaSweden DemocracyParticipatoryDeferential Court systemAdversarial; will challenge government Non-adversarial EqualityPolitical, not economic Political and economic SuccessIndividualismCooperation

 How can we determine where we are as Americans in terms of our:  Feelings of efficacy? Internal vs. External  Trust in government?

 From C-SPAN

 Is America “exceptional” when compared to the nations of the world, and historically?

 “The position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional, and it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. Their strictly Puritanical origin, their exclusively commercial habits, even the country they inhabit, which seems to divert their minds from the pursuit of science, literature, and the arts, the proximity of Europe, which allows them to neglect these pursuits without relapsing into barbarism, a thousand special causes, of which I have only been able to point out the most important, have singularly concurred to fix the mind of the American upon purely practical objects. His passions, his wants, his education, and everything about him seem to unite in drawing the native of the United States earthward; his religion alone bids him turn, from time to time, a transient and distracted glance to heaven. Let us cease, then, to view all democratic nations under the example of the American people” – deTocqueville, Democracy in America  And when asked specifically by a British journalist in 2009 whether he believes in American Exceptionalism, Obama replied thusly: "I believe in American Exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

AP Government and Politics Unit 2 Homework: Assignment 2 for tomorrow; Collaborize post due Friday, response due Monday Consider: Do Americans trust their government? Why or why not?