Cody,+Kent,+Myles+-+Who+Are+We

Myles Gaarde/Cody Kukulka-Rogers/Kent Fiero COR 200 “Who Are We” Wiki Due: February 19, 2012 “Who Are We” Wiki Americans, like anyone else in the world are complex and extremely difficult to figure out completely. The amount that we have yet to discover about ourselves outweighs what we actually seem to “know,” so it is much easier to say who we are not. Americans, much like the world, have become stuck in the idea that to become something, or to claim an identity, we must avoid a specific something else because our identity tells us to do so. I feel that as Americans, and as the person I am, we do not depend on where we come from, the languages we speak, or our education, as these things can be changed. The real me is what I feel when the Star Spangled Banner is sung at a high school football game, or when a twenty-one gun salute is fired for a fallen brother. These are the indefinable actions that bind each person in any nation around the world to what they love, and ultimately, what make us who we are as a people.

The book “Who Are We?” written by Samuel Huntington can be summarized by focusing on the idea of American Identity and throughout the book, speaks on the challenges of immigration and diminishing American self-identity that America faces. With the idea of the American identity, Huntington focuses on the fact that America has indeed been founded as a settled nation rather than that of an immigrated land. Huntington speaks on the influence of dual-citizens, whom he refers to as “ampersands,” and the easy availability that other cultures have to destroy the American core values. In the proceeding section of the book, Huntington refers to the “American Creed,” which can be quoted as the “principles of liberty, equality, individualism, representative government, and private property.” According to Huntington, this is what Americans used as a reference to their identity and beliefs from the time of early American development and defines our history as a country. Huntington also focuses later within his book on the numerous challenges of American identity. The first of these challenges being that of the globalization of the American economy and lifestyle. Because of the spread of American culture throughout the world, our culture has become entangled with and is impacted by many other cultures around the globe. Huntington also states that the ending and resolution of the Cold War brought down the importance of Americans implementing their personal identity as a citizen, and rather more as a group. Along with this, Huntington refers to the use of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts as the main cause of the erosion of the original and true American identity, that which was based on the principles that the European settlers founded our country upon.

Huntington goes on to create a big point of the, in his words “Hispanicization” of the United States. Huntington believes that the immigration and dual-citizenship of Mexican Americans are what truly destroyed the original American value system. The main reason to this point involves the massive number of illegal immigrants from Mexico and the fact that America is one of the only first-world countries that continue an “open border policy” with a third-world country. In this way, Huntington believes that the United States is at fault for its own cultural demise. Huntington continues to state that through cross-integration between these two cultures, we have come to a point of re-founding our country based on a new culture, people, and language system, as well as a new identity overall of an America that contains and continues to withhold multiply-cultured people.

Huntington finishes up his book with the idea of renewing the American identity. It is a fact that our original creed and identity has become a history to the United States that we live in today, and for that reason, a new set of values and a new identity is needed for America to continue as one nation. Overall, we are brought the idea that America as a nation has changed drastically and is continually changing. In this way, we must be prepared to expect changes in what and who we are, as well as how we live as Americans.

The State of the Union address covered many trending topics within our society; President Obama spoke on the idea of an "Economic Blueprint" for America in 2012. Obama directly presented the issue of unequal income and the problem with American business continuing overseas, as well as the consistent problems with our education system. This led Obama to the topic of certain tax and spending cuts for 2012 that will help to pull America out of its deep deficit. Another arising issue that Obama brought up in his address is that of military spending, declaring that with the troops being withdrawn from Iraq, now is the time to cut military spending, as well as many other sorts of government spending. One of the biggest topics that were covered in the President’s address would be that of the education program that America is providing and has provided to students like us. President Obama directly stated that we must make it a priority that the American people be, and continue to be well educated, as well as the idea that colleges must continue working in order to make their student’s educations more affordable. In this way, the people of America will have a higher possibility of furthering our education, therefore making the American people a more valuable and impacting part of the world that we live in today. Overall, President Obama focuses on the improvements of America, as well as not leaving out information or acting blinded to the fact that we are currently behind economically, socially, and powerfully, but with the hard work and participation of Americans as a nation, we will work our way out together.

The article “Jihad vs. McWorld” written by Benjamin Barber, discusses the relationship between Jihad and McWorld. This article states that the world, between opposing forces, is moving toward lawlessness and anarchy. Barber goes on with the idea that the planet is being torn apart by race and ideology, and is even separating groups into what seems like separate countries within single nations. Jihad is driven to create differences based on race or ethnicity within the world and seems to justify its way of doing so. At the same time, McWorld creates one group and effectively recreates the ideas of separate peoples as one. Both, according to Barber, “make war on the sovereign nation-state and thus undermine the nation-state’s democratic institutions.” In this way, Barber creates a sort of paradox between the ideas that though these places are being torn apart by their cultures; they are at the same time, being brought together economically.

Within our given segment of “The World is Flat” by Friedman, we are brought through the idea of “Americanization,” with how and why it came to be. In this portion of the book, we learn that globalization in general has basically turned into and is seen as “Americanization,” with the idea that America is attempting to recreate the entire world to reflect our principles. In this way, Friedman brings up the idea that ultimately, the world is being pulled toward becoming a homogenous race of Americans. We learn that through new forms of communication and innovation, Friedman believes that people are allowed the opportunity to more fully embrace and live out their own culture and background. In this way, Americanization has impacted the world, but in many ways, the present time period allows for better access to past cultures throughout the world.

The article in the Financial Times entitled, “Strategy to Straddle the Planet” focuses on the single largest business deal between China and India to date. This deal was created in the form of a purchase of ten billion dollars in power generation equipment with both China and India. This brings up the continued idea of globalization, but in a new form, being that this time it is a form of Chinese globalization. The article goes on to talk about all of the new trade agreements that Beijing has created throughout the world, as well as the impact that it has had on their economy, and the rest of the world. Overall, the article focuses on the fact that the United States may soon no longer be the biggest influence of the world, but very well could be surpassed by China at any given time.

The article in the New York Times entitled “How the US lost out on iPhone work” focuses mainly on Apple and the idea that their products are being created overseas and are taking away jobs from Americans that we feel Americans deserve. Steve Jobs stated within the article that with comparisons in the categories of output, flexibility, and diligence, America is not even in the running for a proper fit with the creation of Apple products, especially when compared to the Apple factories in China. This brings up the fact that companies like Apple are the reason that America’s economy is so hard on the middle class of America. They state that the reasons these jobs have been moved elsewhere are demand, reliability, and speed of production. Once these companies move these jobs, even if their intentions are temporary, they most of the time end up remaining in, or expanding in these foreign locations. Overall, America is challenging its corporations that manufacture or choose to hire overseas to have the same work done right here in America, therefore benefiting these corporations and its workers.

I find the question “Who are We?” to evoke a different image in everyone; it is a complex arrhythmia that takes precedence over everything we do. The self-image we carry is most often one of greatness and pride, yet when we think of others, the true colors of being an American most often come into sight. Although many believe we are lazy and intolerant of other races ethnicities and cultures, I feel that America and the people of this land have always and will continue to be a nation of opportunity that aids everyone. America is the land of opportunity. We not only have found it for ourselves through the Revolutionary war and Declaration of Independence, but we help anyone that is seeking to find opportunity. Iraqi freedom is the most recent case of this. We didn’t force Iraq to follow the thoughts of America, but we simply freed them from the oppression of a cruel dictator. They chose their own fate from then on.

I disagreed with very few things that were said both in class and within the text. From the few things I do not agree with, one is how cocky and stuck up people feel America is. America is a proud country and we like to show the pride of our victories. There is a fine line between pride and over confidence, especially when confidence turns to the point of ignorance. Americans know we are blessed and hopefully recognize the great privilege we have to live in this great country.

One Bible verse that fits into the identity of America would be Romans 13:1-5, which states “ Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not terrors to good conduct, but to bad conduct. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer, therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. ” This represents the idea of following a government form, especially that which is founded on Christian principles, as America is. It is a valuable of our identity that our nation be Christian and that we behave as Christ would in his acceptance and forgiveness of others. This is to say that we not be a tyrannical country.

Today, America is full of people who identify themselves from every different angle. This is what creates the challenge of defining who we are such a wonderful experience. As a collaboration of all the immigrants from around the globe, each American will feel differently, but still know that they themselves are still Americans through a different prism. Let us hope that the America, set forth by our leaders more than two hundred years ago, has not strayed too far in its present state. Let Americans, as well as the people of the world, hope that America continues to aid others in their fight for justified equal and similar rights if they so choose.

External Sources: Romans 13:1-5 Freedom and American Identity Current Overview: State of the Union Understanding American Culture Bringing America Back