The American Political Culture Ideology and Opinion in the U S Political Culture Ideology a set of widely shared beliefs values and norms concerning the relation of citizens to their government and to one another in matters affecting public affairs It is like putting on a set of virtual reality goggles it s all you see whether it s the truth or not Notable features of the APC pervasive but unrecognized Different cultures have different views on different issues o Death penalty o Views on what is human rights America is the outlier o America is no longer he model for developing democracies o US is a go it alone country Uses of ideologies cultures The broader more familiar use commercial o Music is used to sell you things o Farms are used to adverise subconsciously The narrower less familiar use Political o Key to effective use elicit emotion override cognition People were able to cancel a Smithsonian show by manipulating emotion Unique nature f the American Political Culture US national identity is political rather than organic in nature o Other countries have more history and share long historical identitifiers o US has mostly political identifiers Founding Fathers Washington The American Political Culture is also unique in that it is singular not plural in nature o US share very deep common beliefs and cultures o US doesn t have very broad differences in political spread Democrats aren t very more liberal than Republicans Other countries conservative parties are more liberal than our liberal parties Our politics are lopsided to the right o Historical roots Western history of class war French Revolution Feudal disease leads to Socialist antidote US history Not revolutionary but evolutionary No disease no need for antidote o We didn t have feudalism so we didn t develop socialism United States political beliefs 6 Core Values 1 Individualism Laws are focused on the individual not so much on the group a b America has no language of the public c Ironically rhetorically allegiance to individual liberty may mask group think a If people have a stake in government they will pay attention and try to make it work 2 Property 3 The Law of contracts 4 Equality 5 Freedom a US loves contracts b The constitution is the 1st contract in the US i People can take the government to court a 4 and 5 go together b Seems as if you can only have one freedom or equality c Negative freedom i What you are free from ii The right of the individual to be free from government influence i Emphasizes the right of the people to choose their own destiny future d Positive Freedom 6 Democracy a 2 forms of democracy b Procedural democracy i Emphasized in the US ii The procedures of democracy 1 1 person 1 vote 2 Rights are protected at a court of law c Substantive democracy i US plays down ii The substance of democracy iii Stuff that comes out of democracy iv If we had substantive democracy workers would have the same influence as Rupert Murdoch 1 1 dollar 1 vote Seeds of Decline and the flowering of cultural change 2 Fundamental themes o Political economic theme 2 fundamental strains Hamiltonian strain view and trade o Advocated active federal government to promote commerce o Limiting popular sovereignty limiting regular peoples influence for self rule o Special role for courts to limit popular sovereignty Jeffersonian o Small government for independent farmers and artisans o More willing to allow the people to have a say o Laissez faire believes government should stay out of the economics Hamiltonians were in charge early on but Jeffersonians became dominant by preaching small government but using Hamiltonian principles Most people in the US are Judeo Christian Historical role of religion in APC demonizing our enemies We are a very religious country more so than other modern democratic Justification for anti democratic political actions Contemporary role of religion in APC repeating our mistakes countries been beneficial o This causes an overlap in religion and politics that hasn t always o Religious moral theme Unity of vision spreading of the good word ot the APC Divergence of Elite and Mass Opinions Sprang from the rise of industrial capitalism divide started to develop Radical solutions sought by working masses o As people who received the benefits of Industrialism became more concentrated a o Often transplanted from Europe by immigrants o But ethic and religious rivalries within working classes no labor party formed here Conservative Compromises proposed by the Progressive reformers policies sought by capitalist owners o Mostly reformed procedural democracy o Undercut radical demands for change o Thus modern liberalism as moderate philosophy bigger government but in alliance with corporate banking center Elite control aided by changes in organizing society Old Order New Order o Social class church political party defined self images o Possibility for collective politics via group identification o Chance for popular control over social power o Public schooling advertising mass media mass institutions o No easy handles for uniting the masses o No protection against the organized power of Industrial capital Disappearance of working class is especially significant o Corporate culture s emphasis on consumption false consciousness among workers o People buy the things of the middle class so people believe think they are middle of being middle class class o diversion of working class energizes non political matters Social Control Aspects of the APC democratic pluralism and the Tyranny of Tolerance We tolerate any opinion but if you say the wrong thing you will regret it Everyone is pretty much on the same page which can lead to group think when someone says something different the opinion won t cause any issues because we as a group just dismiss it Different opinions don t resonate o Noam Chomsky is a revered individual in Europe but in the US his ideas are ignored or o Dixie Chicks music was banned from some radio stations in the south after speaking out Unable to question the structure of the system we are left only with questioning the actions of o We play the game while questioning the other team elites but not questioning the written off against Bush the referees rules o We will are our own willing oppressors Public Opinion The visible face of the APC Question 1 Who are we politically A nation of ideological conservatives but operational liberals o Most Americans call themselves conservatives liberals is kind of