chapter 1 thought and discussion questions

1. Why do Americans tend to hold negative views of politics and politicians? I think that a large majority of Americans hold some degree of distrust for authority. I also think that as a people we hold much aversion to bureaucracy because of the corruption that we consistently witness. The questionable explanations for actions or the lack of explanations at all lead to a lack of legitimacy in the reasons for the politics to even exist or at least some of the political reasoning to be rewritten and renegotiatied on an extreme level.
2. Is it possible to conceive of a political system in a modern mass society in which all citizens who desire could participate equally in the making of public decisions? I think that for the most part we already have that in America. Americans just choose not to partake in it to the full availability that they are able.
3. How rapidly do political cultures change? What are the factors that cause them to change? Normally political culture changes evolve slowly over time but there are times that rapid shift can take place. An example of this rapid shift given in the book, Arab Spring of 2011 in the countries of Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Bahrain were inspired by social media protests to build their disagreements with the current regimes into changes in leaderships in their countries. This type of change was unheard of before in this region. Societal culture plays a large part in starting shifts in political cultures. Beliefs, customs, expanding knowledges and social media accessibility are definitely influencing social cultures everywhere.
4. Why is individualism the dominant characteristic of American political culture? How is the nature of American individualism changing? Individualism comes from the frontier era when a person only had themselves and their family to depend on for survival. It then became the dominant characteristic carried on through American history. The “rugged