Exhibition Style Paper Edited Draft

Intro:
James Truslow Adams once said "The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement…regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position." Meaning that the American dream is having the opportunity to live a rich and good life based on one’s ability or achievement, not on the social class a person is born into. The typical American way of life and the American dream are generally seen as a positive aspect of America as a country built up of economy and government which are structures of the American way of life. The general ideas of the American way of life are not always correct, in most cases that I have seen so far, they contradict with the reality of the American way of life. Most Americans are delusional and the American dream in unattainable

Other Perspectives:
Everyone has their own view of America and the way Americans live. Their perspectives vary depending on experiences they have had, where they were raised, and the country they originally come from. Different events and aspects that come up in their lives influence what their idea of what the American way of life is. Because everybody’s experiences and lives are different, people are bound to have conflicting points of views, specifically focusing on the American way of life.
When brought up the topic of class, race, and gender relating to the American way of life, my older brother Guido says “generally people in the richer class are white men”, not so much ethnic people or women. This is suggesting that money, wealth, and social class are the main aspects of the American way of life. Similar to a class discussion, Kati and Francesca agreed that social class plays a big role in the American way of life. Richer people get to travel, they do not have to work and they live the “good life,” while the lower classes struggle to get by. The general idea of America is that everyone can have the chance to be living the "good life" which is most certainly not the case because we see from the perspectives of 11th grade students that they have seen and/or experienced the struggle of living in America as a middle or lower class worker.
Gender and race play a role in determining which Life you’re going to live. Focusing on gender, my grandmother Esperanza thinks that the inequality between man and women specifically in the work force has improved, she says “Before I was the only woman worker, everyone else was male, but now it’s getting better.” In the Constitution, the amendment to allow women to vote is imagined to instantly have equality between men and women which as my grandmother has seen is not the case.
While Jakob disagreed in the class discussion he thought it had more to do with commercials marketing. No matter what class you are in, you deal with capitalism; buying and selling to get the things you want. It is true that what you are buying is different but the process is the same. Similar to another student who goes to School of the Future, Marco (my twin brother) agreed that advertisement and commercial things are a big aspect of the American way of life but he also thinks it is focused more by the culture of America whereas social class is focused on more officially and it seems to be more important.
Jakob’s and Marco’s thoughts on advertisement and commercial things suggest that money also plays a big role in the American way of life mostly in the system of economics. My cousin Amanda and Grandma Esperanza agreed that the economy right now is not in the best place and will be a problem for all social classes thus affecting how Americans live. If Americans cannot go on with their lives without a job or money, the main basis of the American way of life then it will be a problem for them.
Shown that class, race, gender, and capitalism are aspects of the American way of life, the other portion that people seem to agree on as the basis of the American way of life includes “School, college, job, family, same shit every day” (Amanda), “Working, having a family, meeting everyday needs” (Caucasian woman), “Wanting a job and a family which is directed by education,” said the principal of School of the Future, John Fanning who believes that his job ensures the American way of life: educating the next generation. All agreeing that a job/career, good education, and family are basic aspects of the lifestyle of the average American, Tim, a college student thinks that the typical American way of life can differ depending on where you come from. Tim came from a privileged environment, giving him a better education leading him into another path that falls under the typical American way of life. This contradicts with the American dream of coming from "rags to riches" because as Tim said, coming from a privileged environment has its advantages and it is very rare to find someone who has gone through the change of starting off poor and becoming very successful. It is possible; we know this because we see Obama, who started off not very wealthy living with only his mother in Hawaii and how we see him as the president of the United States. But we see that in many other representatives in congress, and as president that those men (and few women) started off wealthy to begin with, giving them less of a struggle to get to where they are.
Mr. Fanning would agree with Tim, thinking that the choices you make, and the opportunities you have affect where you go in life, in the American way of life. Mr. Fanning believes that opportunity is an important aspect of the American way of life, being able to make the decisions you want and taking your life where you want it to be whereas in other countries they do not have that option. We have the option to “challenge authority.” Although Fanning thinks this, it is not always the case in America, we see in the government of America where we have the system of checks and balances which is generally seen as a positive aspect of the American government, but it does not give us as much power as we think we have, we cannot expect members of congress or senators who are intended to be closest to the people of America, to take what we say or any other middle or lower class citizen's say into consideration.
Coming from a non-American point of view, my grandmother, Esperanza who emigrated from Cuba especially enjoys the freedom knowing what it is like to live without it. When I asked those who live in America they speak of it without the knowledge of the absence of freedom. From a perspective of a man from Switzerland, agreeing with my grandmother thought freedom of speech was a main positive aspect of the American way of life.
Generally, there are many controversies on this topic of how Americans live. Specifically the main controversies that I noticed based on my findings are, class/race/gender’s role in AWOL, money’s role in AWOL, economics, freedom, marketing, a typical way an American lives, and opportunity.

Economics:
As we have concluded that the dominant frameworks are capitalism and government. The main reasons we as Americans live the way we do is because of the economic system and the political system we follow and use in our every day lives. As we look closely at America's capitalism we can see the connection in our every day lives.
Most people abide by the basics of capitalism and look at it as a positive way to run our economic system, people favor it for the "freedom" it allows us to have. Capitalism provides the free market, opportunity for private property and profit motive. The free market, having the freedom to get into business and sell what you want for the price you want (profit motive) and the freedom to buy from any business you want. Most businesses sell at the price they do to get as much profit as they can, "The stereotypical view of corporations as greedy, selfish enterprises that will step on 'the common man' in their quest for profits at all costs isn't always accurate."(Bland) To sell what you want, you have the opportunity to own factories and property to produce what you want to sell (private property).
The three main components of business are capital, labor, and land. Land being, the natural resources used to help the produce products and sell products. Labor being the people working for the business and the work that is put into the production and selling of products, people having to work to not only sustain themselves but to keep the economy running as well (Boaz), and the capital being the things used during the process that are not sold for example, the machinery used to produce a pencil. A main aspect of the American way of life is working (labor) and making money to rise up the social ladder as much as possible.
Those who own businesses are free to sell their product for the price they want. But their main goal is to gain profit of at least one penny. One penny more than the amount of money spent on the process to make and sell the product. They can sell it for as high as they want but the consumer might not be willing to buy it for that price. The balance between the highest the seller wants to sell the product for and the lowest the consumer is willing to pay is called the market price. The seller wants to make as much money as possible while the consumer wants to spend as little money as possible, leading to supply and demand. As Americans, we see and/or experience shopping during black Friday looking for the best sales for the lowest price we want to purchase an item for, the more money we spend, the higher the increase of our gross domestic product which is everyone's income or the amount of money everyone spends, and if lots of people spend lots of money on black Friday, the GDP will increase. Also relating to one of the main components of capitalism, the free market, the person selling the items can make their prices as low as they want as long as they still make profit, if the prices are low and affordable, more people will buy.
Supply being the total amount of resources for sale that will be bought at all prices and demand is the amount of people willing to buy a product for a certain price. The graph above (argmax.com) shows the curves of both supply and demand in relationship with quantity and price, the point where supply and demand intersect is the market price or the equilibrium price. Variability’s causing either or both of the curves to alter causing a shift in the market price. If the market price is restricted from changing it could cause a shortage which is when consumers have the money for products but there are no products for sale.
Generally, in America businesses keep their prices fairly low and this is because of competition. Two companies who sell the same product (commodity--an interchangeable product that can be bought or sold) compete for the customers and most customers would buy for the cheaper price, making companies sell for the lowest they are willing to sell to attract more customers. This competition occurs because according to Milton Friedman, a famous economist, everyone wants a special advantage or more freedom than others, so business owners compete for the advantage of more customers and more profit.
The main players of capitalism are households, the factor market, businesses, and the product market. Households are people selling their land, labor, and capital to the factor market to make money which then gets back to the household when they purchase stock and gain profit other companies make. The factor market gives its products to businesses which costs money for the businesses who sell the products to the product market. The product market then buys from the households costing them money. This is the main cycle that capitalism goes though. This cycle can go out of whack when the distribution of money is not even, causing a depression or a recession. This can be fixed by the government balancing the cycle. Recently, living in the middle of a recession, we experience how we have to sustain ourselves while our economic system is not working correctly.
Conflicts in the economic system such as a recession or depression require help from the government. Which the citizens of America are waiting to see what actions Obama will at upon to fix our economic struggles. But other conflicts such as, competition in the free market are taken care of by "the invisible hand" which is, essentially, a situation taking care of itself without help from anywhere else, competition in the free market will just happen if two companies are selling the same product. They are naturally going to compete for more money and it is in the company's self interest to do better than the other company to get more profit.
Generally, most Americans agree with the idea of capitalism. A main reason could be the whole idea of being able to go from "rags to riches", having the chance to improve one's social status, or at least having the incentive to want to raise one's social status and having the freedom to move up the social ladder. Whereas in the government, already starting at the top of the social ladder, in cases where society believes they waste money which leads citizens to believe the leaders of the country are incompetent of leading the country and they are allowed to speak out and say their disagreements living in a this society. (Friedman)

The Government; also being a dominant framework of the American way of life, we can see how it is directly and indirectly related to our lives and how we live.

The Preamble is the part of the constitution before it begins to talk about the regulations and laws. It basically summarizes the goals for the constitution and what the constitution will help America achieve. It says that, as a nation, we want a country that is a perfect union: in order to do this, we must be fair, be peaceful and without chaos, defend ourselves, stay healthy, bless ourselves and the coming generations, and create a constitution to make this happen.

Article 1: the Legislative branch which is first because our "founding fathers" wanted to closest to the people and having decisions made closest to the people is most important in our government.
Powers and Responsibilities of Legislative Branch:
-Assemble with the congress annually
-Make a record of progress, what was said and accomplished
-Determine rules and punishments for breaking these rules
-Create bills to then become a law
-Deal with taxes, pay debts, and ensure protection for the country
-Regulate bankruptcies and immigration issues
-Regulate the value of money
-Establish post offices and post roads
-Copyright protection
-Deal with issues relating to war
-Protect the citizens from being punished for something they did not do
-Regulate the amount of money the government spends
-Come to conclusions as a congress
(The Legislative branch is most important because it is closest to the people, a group of 45 year old white men in a basement we call our founding fathers decided that our nation should be citizen based where people of the United States can have a say in society which is why this branch has many responsibilities while the other branches do not have very many)

Article 2: The executive branch, the president.
Powers and Responsibilities of The Executive Branch:
-Make decision (with consent of senators)
-Provide information for congress

Article 3: The supreme court
Powers and Responsibilities of the Judicial Branch:
-The have jurisdiction over cases involving foreign conflicts, conflicts between two states, and conflicts between citizens of different states

The “Full Faith & Credit” provision in Article 4. What does that mean for gay marriage? - This part of article 4 means that congress is responsible for allowing each state to have their own legal actions. Which means that each state can have a set of laws that can be different or similar from the other states, Congress gives the states that freedom. For gay marriage this means that a couple can get married even if they are living in a state that does not allow it but they will have to get married in another state that does allow it. They are able to go to that other state and be legally wed in that state because this article of the constitution allows it to happen.
What is the Supreme Law of the Land? What is the significance, in your opinion, of the “No religious test” clause.-The supreme law of the land is that all decisions are made under the authority of the United States. There is no religious test to qualify for any office or public trust under the U.S. (being apart of the authority of the U.S) this is important because it shows that this country is not religiously based (or appears to be) and does not let religion get in the way of a citizen's success. This article allows the people of the United States to follow any religion they want and does not hold their decision against them when looking for qualification in any office or public trust under the U.S.
The first ten Amendments of the constitution are known as his bill of rights. The first amendment is the freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and assembly. Second; The right to bear arms. Third, if there s a war, the government cannot force soldiers to live with citizens. The fourth is that the government it not allowed to search a person or a person's house without a good reason. A government official needs a warrant to search a person or to arrest someone.
As we notice when we go to the library or the airport, first we must go through the searches where they look inside any bags you carry and sometimes they take items that seem suspicious because they are suspicious about terrorist attacks and do not want to relive 9/11, to make sure this does not happen they feel that they have to search every person that goes on a flight. The amendment does say that the government must have a good reason to search or take items.
The Fifth Amendment is no one can be tried unless they have done something wrong. Sixth is a right to an attorney, Seventh, trial by jury. Eighth does not allow cruel and unusual punishment. Ninth is that the rights of the pople are not limited to the constitution. Tenth is the power not given to the federal government and not denied to states by constitution are given to states and people, any powers left are for the states and people.
The thirteenth amendment forbids slavery. Fourteenth says that states cannot make laws that deprive people of lives, liberty, or property. The 14th amendment stating that no laws can be made to go against people's lives, liberty, and property. This amendment was made to make it for the former slaves; they say all people as in all races aiming for equality between colors. From 1868 forward, all people were to be counted equally. Similar to article 6 of the constitution stating that religion will not be used against citizens for qualifications of any office or public trust. The government was aiming for equality for religions. They avoid any discrimination against religion, race, and now gender.
The 12th amendment stating that the candidates for the president are elected by the Electoral College. Whoever wins the vote 1st place is a presidential candidate and second place is the vice president. 13th forbids slavery, 14th states that laws cannot deprive citizens of their lives, liberty, or property. And the 15th amendment saying that nothing can deny a citizen's right to vote (allowing all races to vote but no women at this point, that's not up until the 19th amendment). These four amendments represent the turning point for America I think because these amendments were created when slavery ended and America's goal for was to achieve equality. This was the beginning of allowing everyone to have the same human rights. First was race and later on they amended the constitution for gender equality.
The government tries really hard to make things fair for the majority. For example, the 6th article states that religion will not be used against citizens of the United States which benefits the citizens who practice or do not practice a religion that would defy them a job. But for those who would like to be tested by their religion might not agree with it. Also in the 9th amendment made after the civil rights movement allowing all races to vote and then later on, the 19th amendment allowing women to vote. These amendments represent the government allowing equality of all races and genders which is very beneficial for them because before this, they would not be able to get a job or have their own type of freedom. But of course, there's always a catch, while the former slaves and the women can have jobs, they are taking the jobs away from the richer white men. If the white man is offered a job but then a woman or former slave is willing to do it for less, they steal the white man's job who would have otherwise gotten the job had these historical events and amendments not happened.
The government and even society today makes it look a lot fairer than it actually is. It covers up the bad parts. For example, in the preamble the first seven words are "We the people of the United States" when in actuality it was 45 white men who came up with the preamble and the first parts of the constitution. At the time period it was created in, there was slavery and women were not treated as they are treated today meaning that neither of those groups were able to have a say in what they wanted the constitution to be. When the constitution was created, the purpose is to divide government powers with the system of checks and balances. This keeps the government from making progress because it does take time to go through the cycle it makes progress slow down. Backup were created to prevent the people from having a say, the senate, the house, the president, and the Supreme Court are the backups. If the people do infact have something they want to change and it is taken into consideration by the senate or House of Representatives, the majority of the entire balance of checks and balances system must agree which is not likely.
The idea of our government is that we have a democracy where people have say in society. Americans have come to believe that America is a democracy, the definition of a democracy is: "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." America as it stands now is not as "Ruled by the people" as it’s thought out to be as we discussed in class on November 7th. Andy asked us to write down a law we would add to the constitution if we had a chance to. For most of it was difficult to come up with one. He then asked us to rate from 1-10 how difficult it was, 10 being the most difficult; I gave it an 8, which is a pretty high rating. We came to a conclusion that as Americans we accept all the laws we already have and do not think to come up with any of our own which contradicts the constitution which by the 1st article is supposed to give the people the right to some sort of power to the nation. But in reality the only people who have this power are the legislators and members of congress.
The reality of our government is that we have a republic, the definition being; "a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them." This fits our society more closely, because the citizens are entitled to vote and the representatives have more power than the citizens do.
The idea of how the powers were set up when the constitution was created has been passed down and affects our lives today. We see the police and teachers taking advantage of their powers to prevent the citizens or students from having power. We have the idea that we have a little bit of say because we have freedom of speech but that does not necessarily mean that people will take what we say into consideration and even then, majority must agree.
From what I have collected from family members, students in the class, random people on the street and other Americans, the main aspects of the American way of life are freedom, social class, education, work, and opportunity. These aspects can directly relate to the American constitution and government. The government tries to make things as free as possible for the American citizens and like as mentioned before as "Ruled by the people as possible" which is the reasoning behind the inclusion of the first article being the Legislative branch which is closest to the people. This does not seem close enough because depending on which social class you are in, you will be paid attention to more closely. If you have lots of money the members of congress will most likely take into consideration what you have to say but if you are a middle class citizen, there is less of a chance that the legislators will pay attention to your thoughts and ideas.
Education also plays a big role in the American way of life because without a good education, it is highly unlikely that you will get a well paying job. And in the typical American way of life, money tends to be the main goal. This relates to the constitution, Amendment 10 allows the states to create their own educational alliance and curriculum. The ones controlling this (congress) have made education a huge aspect of the American way of life being what a typical American spends the first 20 or so years of their life doing. Once they are done with their education, they will most likely get a job to sustain them in society, buy whatever necessities they need. But nowadays there's lots of competition for jobs because of the equality in society mentioned before about the 19th amendment and the 9th amendment.
Another large player in the American way of life is the idea of opportunity. Most people come to America looking for opportunity, immigrants looking for a job and a better life than the life they were living in the previous country they were living in. Relating to the government trying to give Americans the opportunity to even change the American society relating back to the first article of the constitution. Overall, the American way of live is very relative to the Constitution and the government which is also related to capitalism in America. Economy and government being the two dominant frameworks of the American way of life, all three of these systems are relative to one another.


Relating to one of Marx’s Theories:
The primitive accumulation of capitalism is the origin of today’s wealth. In America today we see, live, and experience the social classes in society. We also see the gap between the rich and the poor, the rich having lots of money while the working class and below have to work to get as much as they can to survive. As we have noticed in the interviews with other students in America and perhaps on our own, the richer people tend to be Caucasian. Marx's analysis showed that the reason most of the richer people in America are rich not because their ancestors worked hard for the money, or businesses they have but because they made lots of money by stealing natural resources from other countries and making a commodity out of it, turning it into capital by selling it and making money off of their stolen goods. They also got their money because of slavery and conquest, the Europeans conquered land in Africa, stole not only the land, but the resources and the people living there and used them as laborers to produce the business they now own because they stole their goods and services. The labor theory of value is a theory about the importance of laborers in capitalism. Laborers produce a certain amount of goods but they only get a percentage of how much those goods are worth, the capitalists receive the rest of the money to invest in capital, to make more profit which becomes wealth. As Lassal, who was part of the social democratic party of Germany said, "workers are the source of all wealth. Labor is the source of all wealth," meaning that the capitalists depend on the laborers to make as much money for them as they possibly can in order for them to gain even more profit by making machines to produce their goods quicker. Because there has to be laborers in this process of capitalism, it is not possible that everyone can attain a rich and good life just by ability, those who are wealthy today did not earn their wealth, it was their ancestors, the expropriators, who are responsible for their wealth.

Karl Marx

Karl Marx was a man who lived in the 1820's Germany, growing up with a jewish family who was financially well off. What Marx is most known for is his analysis of capitalism and the ideas that came along with it including, the dialectic of capitalism, the reasoning behind why people have the wealth that they have today and where it all started, the labor theory of value, and the theory of base and superstructure.

Marx's idea of how the world changes is the dialectic. There is a thesis, the main idea, which then comes with contradictions within itself, being the anti thesis, which then turns into a higher synthesis of the thesis and the anti-thesis together. Connecting to the dialectic of capitalism which came from feudalism, which is land ruled by the kings and those below them have to work for them and their descendants being born into their social class without being able to change it, then the internal contradictions being the Bourgeoisie (capitalists), and the higher synthesis from the elements of feudalism and the elements of the capitalists become, capitalism. And as time goes on, capitalism much change as well. Going through the same process, there's capitalism, then there's the internal contradictions that we face in society, which then becomes the opposition of capitalism as the higher synthesis, then becoming a socialist society.

Then there is the primitive accumulation of capitalism. In America today we see, live, and experience the social classes in society. We also see the gap between the rich and the poor, the rich having lots of money while the working class and below have to work to get as much as they can to survive. As we have noticed in the interviews with other students in America and perhaps on our own, the richer people tend to be caucasian. Marx's analysis showed that the reason most of the richer people in America are rich not because their ancestors worked hard for the money, or businesses they have but because they made lots of money by stealing natural resources from other countries and making a commodity out of it, turning it into capital by selling it and making money off of their stolen goods. They also got their money because of slavery and conquest, the Europeans conquered land in Africa, stole not only the land, but the resources and the people living there and used them as laborers to produce the business they now own because they stole their goods and services. The labor theory of value is a theory about the importance of laborers in capitalism. Laborers produce a certain amount of goods but they only get a percentage of how much those goods are worth, the capitalists receive the rest of the money to invest in capital, to make more profit which becomes wealth. As Lassal, who was part of the social democratic party of Germany said, "workers are the source of all wealth. Labor is the source of all wealth," meaning that the capitalists depend on the laborers to make as much money for them as they possibly can in order for them to gain even more profit by making machines to produce their goods quicker.

Marx's idea of base and superstructure talks about the basic aspects of capitalism and the parts that go along with it. His theory was that the basis of capitalism was the relationship between the ruler and the ruled, or in other words, the capitailists and the laborers and the basis then leads to the superstructure, being other aspects of it such as, profit, capital, wealth etc.

Inauguration Day Assignment

President Obama's Inauguration speach today reassured many Americans that he will take control of our society and that we will get through the recession and war we are going through together as a country. This puts lots of hope into what America will become now that we have a mixed raced president. Directly relating his speach to the American way of life, Obama stated, "We will not apologize for out way of life." Meaning that we Americans should not be ashaimed of what our country stands for and the way we run our country with our economic and government status building up of the way we live our every day lives. Obama says this with the implication that he is proud of the American way of life with no intentions of changing it. Relating to what our previous president, Bush, said, "The American way of life is non-negotiable" stating that the way we live is something he is not willing to change. Both do not seem to want to have any change in the way Americans live but has been verbalized differently. Obama saying it like the way we live is something we should be proud of and Bush saying it as if our way of life has to stay the same, he is against changing the American way of life. I have come to believe he does not want it changed because it threatens the life he lives now, the American way of life as I have noticed is more beneficial (cui bono) for those in the upper class such as himself and now, Obama, and he does not want to lose that because he is living above the working class who is trying to sustain ourselves.

As many Americans have noticed, Obama is essentially living the typical American dream, coming from being not financially stable as one of the marginalized citizens of America and now becoming the President of the United States. This gives hope to those who do live as a marginalized citizen of America, and it also gives them dignity and it empowers them to demand respect in society as Obama compares the way he is respected now to how he was treated in the past.

The dominant frameworks of the American way of life remain after Obama's inauguration, which means that the American way of life will mostly stay the same, the gap between the rich and the poor will continue to grow apart or remain to have a dramatic gap, and the government system still has the same articles and amendments preventing from America making progress in society and passing down the values of power to upcoming generations. The only difference I can imagine is that Americans will live more patriotically because most Americans are now actually proud of who is running the country, and the way people of other races or religions are treated might change for the better because America continuing to accept diversity in that now we have a president who is of mixed race.

Winter Holidays vs. AWOL Discussion in class

My Christmas this year was not as traditional in comparison to my past experiences celebrating Christmas. I give and recieve presents, and have a special dinner with my family. Most of my Christmas memories include decorating our Christmas tree, waiting until Christmas morning to find presents under the tree and have few-several family members stay at my house for the holidays. But this year we decided not to get a tree, we (me and my brothers) got our present the day before Christmas Eve so we would be able to use our present on Christmas, and we did not have family over so we had our Christmas dinner with just my parents and sibblings. And I celebrated New Year's at a friend's house. Connecting to the American way of life, it is typical for most Ameicans to be celebrating these holidays or other similar ones. People spend lots of money on Christmas presents and food (similar to people spending money on food on Thanksgiving). And it is also a way for Americans to spend time with our family which is a typical aspect of the American way of life, if you look at all the old sitcoms, Full House, The Cosby Show...etc. which in a way represent how the typical American would like to live or is living, they are all very family oriented, trying to send the message to Americans that family is a group of people we can depend on, and the show has each representation of each family member. The father cutting the Christmas ham, the mother making the mashed potatoes or whatever they are typically supposed to cook. The son following in the father's foot steps, the youngest child being teased and not treated as well as the older kids, but they still love them, and so on.

On new years it is the American dream to go out to times square and watch the ball drop, which is fairly close to me but personally i'd rather not be out in the cold lost in the crowd for hours on end thank you very much. Most people go for the memory of it and be able to brag about it when they go back to whever ever they come from and they come out to see the celebrities. The American way of life valuing fame is closely related to this. And after the ball drops we all think of the highlights of the previous year and new years resolutions where we come up with ways to better ourselves and using the new year as an opportunity to start on a clean slate and change for the good. Of course we can imagine that these resolutions will not always come true but i think it is a good attempt which relates back to the idea of America being the country of opportunity where if we want change, we can make it happen and even if we have the most outragous dreams we can achieve them in America.

In class today we discussed the dominant mode of new years. which include passive activity, having a fun time (time where you don't have to think) and alcohol. which I agree with and the way I spent my new years proved it so. We also discussed how the typical American way of celebrating new years contrasts with the way those who practice the jewish religion where they beg for forgiveness from all of those they have harmed and from god. Where in the American way of celebrating new years, they do dedicate themselves to the new year but they commit sins by having affairs with other people during the holiday parties.

We also talked about how most Americans celebrate new years by watching the ball drop in times square and gather with family and friends around the tv to watch it. It is a way for Americans to be connected to all the people in times square living the American dream of spending new years watching the ball drop through the media and through the tv.

Big Paper (edited during Winter break)

The typical American way of life is generally seen as a positive aspect of America as a country built up of economy and governmant which are structures of the American way of life.Everyone has their own view of America and the way Americans live. Their perspectives vary depending on experiences they have had, where they were raised, and the country they originally come from. Different events and aspects that come up in their lives influence what their idea of what the American way of life is. Because everybody’s experiences and lives are different, people are bound to have conflicting points of views, specifically focusing on the American way of life. The general idea on the American way of life are not always correct, in most cases that i have seen so far, they contridict with the reality of the American way of life.

When brought up the topic of class, race, and gender relating to the American way of life, my older brother Guido says “generally people in the richer class are white men”, not so much ethnic people or women. This is suggesting that money, wealth, and social class are the main aspects of the American way of life. Similar to a class discussion, Kati and Francesca agreed that social class plays a big role in the American way of life. Richer people get to travel, they do not have to work and they live the “good life,” while the lower classes struggle to get by. The general idea of America is that everyone can have the chance to be living the "good life" which is most certainly not the case because we see from the perspectives of 11th grade students that they have seen and/or experienced the struggle of living in America as a middle or lower class worker.

Gender and race play a role in determining which Life you’re going to live. Focusing on gender, my grandmother Esperanza thinks that the inequality between man and women specifically in the work force has improved, she says “Before I was the only woman worker, everyone else was male, but now it’s getting better.” In the Constitution, the amendment to allow women to vote is imagined to instantly have equality between men and women which as my grandmother has seen is not the case.

While Jakob disagreed in the class discussion he thought it had more to do with commercials marketing. No matter what class you are in, you deal with capitalism; buying and selling to get the things you want. It is true that what you are buying is different but the process is the same. Similar to another student who goes to School of the Future, Marco (my twin brother) agreed that advertisement and commercial things are a big aspect of the American way of life but he also thinks it is focused more by the culture of America whereas social class is focused on more officially and it seems to be more important.

Jakob’s and Marco’s thoughts on advertisement and commercial things suggest that money also plays a big role in the American way of life mostly in the system of economics. My cousin Amanda and Grandma Esperanza agreed that the economy right now is not in the best place and will be a problem for all social classes thus affecting how Americans live. If Americans cannot go on with their lives without a job or money, the main basis of the American way of life then it will be a problem for them.

Shown that class, race, gender, and capitalism are aspects of the American way of life, the other portion that people seem to agree on as the basis of the American way of life includes “School, college, job, family, same shit every day” (Amanda), “Working, having a family, meeting everyday needs” (Caucasian woman), “Wanting a job and a family which is directed by education,” said the principal of School of the Future, John Fanning who believes that his job ensures the American way of life: educating the next generation. All agreeing that a job/career, good education, and family are basic aspects of the lifestyle of the average American, Tim, a college student thinks that the typical American way of life can differ depending on where you come from. Tim came from a privileged environment, giving him a better education leading him into another path that falls under the typical American way of life. This contridicts with the American dream of coming from "rags to riches" because as Tim said, coming from a privledged environment has its advantages and it is very rare to find someone who has gone through the change of starting off poor and becoming very successful. It is possible, we know this because we see Obama, who started off not very wealthy living with only his mother in Hawaii and how we see him as the president of the United states. But we see that in many other representatives in congress, and as president that those men (and few women) started off wealthy to begin with, giving them less of a stuggle to get to where they are.

Mr. Fanning would agree with Tim, thinking that the choices you make, and the opportunities you have affect where you go in life, in the American way of life. Mr. Fanning believes that opportunity is an important aspect of the American way of life, being able to make the decisions you want and taking your life where you want it to be whereas in other countries they do not have that option. We have the option to “challenge authority.” Although Fanning thinks this, it is not always the case in America, we see in the government of America where we have the system of checks and balances which is generally seen as a positive aspect of the American government, but it does not give us as much power as we think we have, we cannot expect members of congress or senators who are intended to be closest to the people of America, to take what we say or any other middle or lower class citizen's say into consideration.

Coming from a non-American point of view, my grandmother, Esperanza who emigrated from Cuba especially enjoys the freedom knowing what it is like to live without it. When I asked those who live in America they speak of it without the knowledge of the absence of freedom. From a perspective of a man from Switzerland, agreeing with my grandmother thought freedom of speech was a main positive aspect of the American way of life.

Generally, there are many controversies on this topic of how Americans live. Specifically the main controversies that I noticed based on my findings are, class/race/gender’s role in AWOL, money’s role in AWOL, economics, freedom, marketing, a typical way an American lives, and opportunity.


As we have concluded that the dominant frameworks are capitalism and government. The main reasons we as Americans live the way we do is because of the economic system and the political system we follow and use in our every day lives. As we look closely at America's capitalism we can see the connection in our every day lives.

Most people abide by the basics of capitalism and look at it as a positive way to run our economic system, people favor it for the "freedom" it allows us to have. Capitalism provides the free market, opportunity for private property and profit motive. The free market, having the freedom to get into business and sell what you want for the price you want (profit motive) and the freedom to buy from any business you want. Most businesses sell at the price they do to get as much profit as they can, "The stereotypical view of corporations as greedy, selfish enterprises that will step on 'the common man' in their quest for profits at all costs isn't always accurate."(Bland) To sell what you want, you have the opportunity to own factories and property to produce what you want to sell (private property).

The three main components of business are, capital, labor, and land. Land being, the natural resources used to help the produce products and sell products. Labor being the people working for the business and the work that is put into the production and selling of products, people having to work to not only sustain themselves but to keep the economy running as well (Boaz), and the capital being the things used during the process that are not sold for example, the machinery used to produce a pencil. A main aspect of the American way of life is working (labor) and making money to rise up the social laddar as much as possible.
Those who own businesses are free to sell their product for the price they want. But their main goal is to gain profit of at least one penny. One penny more than the amount of money spent on the process to make and sell the product. They can sell it for as high as they want but the consumer might not be willing to buy it for that price. The balance between the highest the seller wants to sell the product for and the lowest the consumer is willing to pay is called the market price. The seller wants to make as much money as possible while the consumer wants to spend as little money as possible, leading to supply and demand. As americans, we see and/or experience shopping during black friday looking for the best sales for the lowest price we want to purchase an item for,the more money we spend, the higher the increase of our gross domestic product which is everyone's income or the amount of money everyone spends, and if lots of people spend lots of money on black Friday, the GDP will increase. Also relating to one of the main components of capitalism, the free market, the person selling the items can make their prices as low as they want as long as they still make profit, if the prices are low and affordable, more people will buy.

Supply being the total amount of resources for sale that will be bought at all prices and demand is the amount of people willing to buy a product for a certain price. The graph above (argmax.com) shows the curves of both supply and demand in relationship with quantity and price, the point where supply and demand intersect is the market price or the equilibrium price. Variabilities causing either or both of the curves to alter causing a shift in the market price. If the market price is restricted from changing it could cause a shortage which is when consumers have the money for products but there are no products for sale.

Generally, in America businesses keep their prices fairly low and this is because of competition. Two companies who sell the same product (commodity--an interchangeable product that can be bought or sold) compete for the customers and most customers would buy for the cheaper price, making companies sell for the lowest they are willing to sell to attract more customers. This competition occurs because according to Milton Friedman, a famous economist, everyone wants a special advantage or more freedom than others, so business owners compete for the advantage of more customers and more profit.

The main players of capitalism are, households, the factor market, businesses, and the product market. Househlds are people selling their land, labor, and capital to the factor market to make money which then gets back to the household when they purchase stock and gain profit other companies make. The factor market gives its products to businesses which costs money for the businesses who sell the prodcts to the product market. The product market then buys from the households costing them money. This is the main cycle that capitalism goes though. This cycle can go out of whack when the distribution of money is not even, causing a depression or a resession. This can be fixed by the government balancing the cycle. Recently, living in the misddle of a recession, we experience how we have to sustain ourselves while our economic system is not working correctly.

Conflicts in the economic system such as a resession or depression require help from the government. Which the citizens of America are waiting to see what actions Obama wiill at upon to fix our economic struggles. But other conflicts such as, competition in the free market are taken care of by "the invisible hand" which is, essentially, a situation taking care of itself without help from anywhere else, competition in the free market will just happen if two companies are selling the same product. They are naturally going to compete for more money and it is in the company's self interest to do better than the other company to get more profit.

Generally, most Americans agree with the idea of capitalism. A main reason could be the whole idea of being able to go from "rags to riches", having the chance to improve one's social status, or at least having the insentive to want to rise one's social status and having the freedom to move up the social laddar. Whereas in the government, already starting at the top of the social ladder, in cases where society believes they waste money which leads citizens to believe the leaders of the country are incompetent of leading the country and they are allowed to speak out and say their disagreements living in a this society. (Friedman)

The government, also being a dominant framework of the American way of life, we can see how it is directly and indirectly related to our lives and how we live.

The Preamble is the part of the constitution before it begins to talk about the regulations and laws. it basically summarizes the goals for the constitution and what the constitution will help America achieve. It says that, as a nation, we want a country that is a perfect union: in order to do this, we must be fair, be peaceful and without chaos, defend ourselves, stay healthy, bless ourselves and the coming generations, and create a constitution to make this happen.

Article 1: is the Legislative branch which is first because our "founding fathers" wanted to closest to the people and having decisions made closest to the people is most important in our government.
Powers and Responsibilities of Legislative Branch:
-Assemble with the congress annually
-Make a record of progress, what was said and accomplished
-Determine rules and punishments for breaking these rules
-Create bills to then become a law
-Deal with taxes, pay debts, and ensure protection for the country
-Regulate bankruptcies and immigration issues
-Regulate the value of money
-Establush post offices and post roads
-Copyright protection
-Deal with issues relating to war
-Protect the citizens from being punished for something they did not do
-Regulate the amount of money the government spends
-Come to conclusions as a congress
(The Legislative branch is most important because it is closest to the people, a group of 45 year old white men in a basement we call our founding fathers decided that our nation should be citizen based where people of the United States can have a say in society which is why this branch has many responsibilities while the other branches do not have very many)

Article 2: The executive branch, the president.
Powers and Responsibilities of The Executive Branch:
-Make decision (with consent of senators)
-Provide information for congress

Article 3: The supreme court
Powers and Responsibilites of the Judicial Branch:
-The have jurisdiction over cases involving forign conflicts, conflicts between two states, and conflicts between citizens of different states

The “Full Faith & Credit” provision in Article 4. What does that mean for gay marriage?- This part of article 4 means that congress is responsible for allowing each state to have their own legal actions. Which means that each state can have a set of laws that can be different or similar from the other states, Congress gives the states that freedom. For gay marriage this means that a couple can get married even if they are living in a state that does not allow it but they will have to get married in another state that does allow it. They are able to go to that other state and be legally wed in that state because this article of the constitution allows it to happen.

What is the Supreme Law of the Land? What is the significance, in your opinion, of the “No religious test” clause.-The supreme law of the land is that all decisions are made under the authority of the United States. There is no religious test to qualify for any office or public trust under the U.S. (being apart of the authority of the U.S) This is important because it shows that this country is not religiously based (or appears to be)and does not let religion get in the way of a citizen's success. This article allows the people of the United States to follow any religion they want and does not hold their decision against them when looking for qualification in any office or public trust under the U.S.

The first ten Amendments of the constitution are known as he bill of rights. The first amendment is the freedom of speech, religion, press, petition, and assembly. Second; The right to bear arms. Third, if there s a war, the government cannot forced soldiers to live with cirizens. The fourth is that the government it not allowed to search a person or a person's house without a good reason. A government official needs a warrant to search a person or to arrest someone.

As we notice when we go to the libaray or the airport, first we must go through the searches where they look inside any bags you carry and sometimes they take items that seem suspicious because they are suspicious about terrorist attacks and do not want to relive 9/11, to make sure this does not happen they feel that they have to search every person that goes on a flight. The ammendment does say that the goverment must have a good reason to search or take items.

The fifth amendment is no one can be tried unless they have done something wrong. Sixth is a right to an attourney, Seventh, trial by jury. Eighth does not allow cruel and unusual punishment. Ninth is that the rights of thepople are not limited to the consittution. Tenth is the power not given to the fedreal government and notd denied to states by constitution are given to states and people, any powers left are for the states and people.

The thrteenth amendment forbids slavery. Fourteenth says that states cannot make laws that deprive people of lives, liberty, or property. The 14th ammendment stating that no laws can be made to go against people's lives, liberty, and property. This ammendment was made to make it for for the former slaves, they say all people as in all races aiming for equality between colors. From 1868 forwatd, all people were to be counted equally. Similar to artible 6 of the constitution stating that religion will not be used against citizens for qualifications of any office or public trust. The government was aiming for equality for religions. They avoid any descrimination against religion, race, and now gender.

The 12th amendment stating that the candidates for the president are elected by the electoral college. Whoever wins the vote 1st place is a presidential candidate and second place is the vice president. 13th forbides slaery, 14th states that laws cannot deprive citizens of their lives, liberty, or property. And the 15th ammendment saying that nothing can deny a citizen's right to vote (allowing all races to vote but no women at this point, that's not up until the 19th ammendment). These four ammendments represent the turning point for America I think because these ammendments were created when slavery ended and America's goal for was to achieve equality. This was the beginning of allowing everyone to have the same human rights. First was race and later on they ammended the constitution for gender equality.

The government tries really hard to make things fair for the majority. For example, the 6th article states that religion will not be used against citizens of the United States which benefits the citizens who practice or do not practice a religion that would defy them a job. But for those who would like to be tested by their religion might not agree with it. Also in the 9th amendment made after th civil rights movment allowing all races to vote and then later on, the 19th amendment allowing women to vote. These amendments represent the government allowing equality of all races and genders which is very beneficial for them because before this, they would not be able to get a job or have their own type of freedom. But of course, there's always a catch, while the former slaves and the women can have jobs, thet are taking the jobs away from the richer white men. If the white man is offered a job but then a woman or former slave is willing to do it for less, they steal the white man's job who would have otherwise gotten the job had these historical events and amendments not happened.

The government and even society today makes it look a lot more fair than it actually is. It covers up the bad parts. For example, in the preamble the first seven words are "We the people of the United States" when in actuality it was 45 white men who came up with the preamble and the first parts of the constitution. At the time period it was created in, there was slavery and women were not treated as they are treated today meaning that neither of those groups were able to have a say in what they wanted the constitution to be. When the constiution was created, the purpose is to divide cogernment powers with the system of checks and balances. This keeps the government from making progress because it does take time to go through the cycle it makes progress slow down. Backup were created to prevent the people from having a say, the senate, the house, the president, and the supreme court are the backups. If the people do infact have something they want to change and it is taken into consideration by the senate or house of representatives, the majority of the entire balance of checks and balances system must agree which is not likely.


The idea of our government is that we have a democracy where people have say in society. Americans have come to believe that America is a democracy, the definition of a democracy is: "government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system." America as it stands now is not as "Ruled by the people" as its thought out to be as we discussed in class on November 7th. Andy asked us to write down a law we would add to the constitution if we had a chance to. For most of it it was diffcult to come up with one. He then asked us to rate from 1-10 how difficult it was, 10 being the most difficult, I gave it an 8, which is a pretty high rating. We came to a conclusion that as Americans we accept all the laws we already have and do not think to come up with any of our own which contridicts the constitution which by the 1st article is supposed to give the people the right to some sort of power to the nation. But in reality the only people who have this power are the legislators and members of congress.

The reality of our government is that we have a republic, the definition being; "a state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exersized by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them." Which fits our society more closely, because the citizens are entitled to vote and the representatives have more power than the citizens do.


The idea of how the powers were set up when the consitution was created has been passed down and affects our lives today. We see the police and teachers taking advantage of their powers to prevent the citizens or students from having power. We have the idea that we have a little bit of say because we have freedom of speech but that does not necessarily mean that people will take what we say into consideration and even then, majory must agree.

From what I have collected from family members, students in the class, random people on the street and other Americans, the main aspects of the American way of life are, freedom, social class, education, work, and opportunity. These aspects can directly relate to the American constitution and government. The government tries to make things as free as possible for the American cititzens and like as mentioned before as "Ruled by the people as possible" which is the reasoning behind the inclusion of the first article being the Legislative branch which is closest to the people. Which does not seem close enough because depending on which social class you are in, you will be payed attention to more closely. If you have lots of money the members of congress will most likely take into consideration what you have to say but if you are a middle class citizen, there is less of a chance that the legislators will pay attention to your thoughts and ideas.

Education also plays a big role in the American way of life because without a good education, it is highly unlikey that you will get a well paying job. And in the typical American way of life, money tends to be the main goal. Which realtes to the constitution, Amendment 10 allows the states to create their own educational alliance and curriculum. The ones controling this (congress) have made education a huge aspect of the American way of life being what a typical American spends the first 20 or so years of their life doing. Once they are done with their education, they will most likely get a job to sustain themselves in society, buy whatever necesities they need. But nowadays there's lots of competition for jobs because of the equality in society mentioned before about the 19th amendment. and the 9th amendment.

Another large player in the American way of life is the idea of opportunity. Most people come to America looking for opportunity, immigrants looking for a job and a better life than the life they were living in the previous country they were living in. Relating to the government trying to give Americans the opportunity to even change the American society relating back to the first article of the constitution. Overall, the American way of live is very relative to the Constitution and the government which is also related to capitalism in America. Economy and government being the two dominant frameworks of the American way of life, all three of these systems are relative to one another.

Winter Holidays Vs. AWOL

My Christmas this year was not as traditional in comparison to my past experiences celebrating Christmas. I give and recieve presents, and have a special dinner with my family. Most of my Christmas memories include decorating our Christmas tree, waiting until Christmas morning to find presents under the tree and have few-several family members stay at my house for the holidays. But this year we decided not to get a tree, we (me and my brothers) got our present the day before Christmas Eve so we would be able to use our present on Christmas, and we did not have family over so we had our Christmas dinner with just my parents and sibblings. And I celebrated New Year's at a friend's house. Connecting to the American way of life, it is typical for most Ameicans to be celebrating these holidays or other similar ones. People spend lots of money on Christmas presents and food (similar to people spending money on food on Thanksgiving). And it is also a way for Americans to spend time with our family which is a typical aspect of the American way of life, if you look at all the old sitcoms, Full House, The Cosby Show...etc. which in a way represent how the typical American would like to live or is living, they are all very family oriented, trying to send the message to Americans that family is a group of people we can depend on, and the show has each representation of each family member. The father cutting the Christmas ham, the mother making the mashed potatoes or whatever they are typically supposed to cook. The son following in the father's foot steps, the youngest child being teased and not treated as well as the older kids, but they still love them, and so on.

On new years it is the American dream to go out to times square and watch the ball drop, which is fairly close to me but personally i'd rather not be out in the cold lost in the crowd for hours on end thank you very much. Most people go for the memory of it and be able to brag about it when they go back to whever ever they come from and they come out to see the celebrities. The American way of life valuing fame is closely related to this. And after the ball drops we all think of the highlights of the previous year and new years resolutions where we come up with ways to better ourselves and using the new year as an opportunity to start on a clean slate and change for the good. Of course we can imagine that these resolutions will not always come true but i think it is a good attempt which relates back to the idea of America being the country of opportunity where if we want change, we can make it happen and even if we have the most outragous dreams we can achieve them in America.