¶ … America, states' rights are a hot topic. Can states legalize gay marriage, or is that something that is better left to the federal government? Can states make their own gun laws, or should we have a general law by the U.S. government about them? These are just a few examples of issues where states' rights are disputed. Religion is a hot topic as well; can students pray at football games and graduation ceremonies? Can a person's religious beliefs make taking an otherwise illegal drug legal? Foreign affairs gets a lot of coverage, as well: should America be concerned about democracy in other nations? Should we use force to patrol the world, perhaps making it a more secure place?
These all seem like very modern questions, and in many ways, they are. Football games and gay marriage were hardly relevant during the colonial period...
But the events of our colonial history have a huge impact on the way that we look at issues today, and in the way that we choose to handle them. Our identity as a nation was shaped over 200 years ago, by events that defined what it means to be "American."
One of these defining issues was the fact that our forefathers were trying to escape religious persecution in England (1) and move toward a nation of "religious tolerance" (55). The diversity of backgrounds that came to the colonies and later had to find a way to compromise with regard to their co-existence included Catholics and Protestants, Puritans and more secular groups, and a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds (54-55). This mixture of religious beliefs led the Framers to create an amendment which would not favor one religion over any other, but make all…
This doesn't explain why the Irish had such a difficult time, but in America, religious differences are often the cause of intolerance as well. The truth is that without immigrants in the 19th, 20th, and 21st century -- and of course the two hundred years before this, this nation would not be where or what it is today and to remain true to our roots we must accept that
A further stereotype about Asians that cannot be ignored is that regarding the sexuality of the Asian female. "Asian Pacific women have generally been perceived by Hollywood with a mixture of fascination, fear, and contempt....If we are 'good' we are childlike, submissive, silent, and eager for sex or else we are tragic victim types. And if we are not silent, suffering doormats, we are demonized dragon ladies -- cunning, deceitful,
United States, at the beginning of 1855, seemed to be the strongest it had ever been with Western expansion, a flourishing economic outlook, and thousands of new immigrants bringing their hard work to America's newest factories and fields. However, the tension was mounting politically, tension that would lead to an inevitable, long-suffering war that killed thousands of Americans, and changed the landscape of our nation forever. The climax came
Gun control has been a controversial topic of discussion in the United States ever since it was initially introduced in the 1920s. Conventional wisdom says that guns are responsible for violence and that they need to be regulated more stringently to prevent further harm. Guns advocacy groups, on the other hand, claim that such violence is a result of the actions of specific criminals, and that the punishing of those
Conclusion What direction is the quality of health care and delivery of health care moving in; it is not moving in a direction at all. Like the pendulum, the direction of health care remains suspended to the far side - right or left, depending upon which side of the political isle one is on. The pendulum remains frozen in time, and it reflects chaos in the delivery of health care and
Race, Class & Crime The confluence of race, class and crime is a hot topic nowadays. This is especially true when discussing events or topics of various types. Very or fairly specific examples of this would include the recent shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, MO and the subsequent non-indictment of the officer who shot him despite the fact that Brown was not armed and the ongoing discussion about how paying