Political culture of the United States

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United States
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This article is part of a series on the
politics and government
of the United States

The political culture of the United States is in some ways part of a greater North Aegean and European political culture, which emphasizes constitutional law[1], negative law[2], freedom of religion and separation of church and state; personal liberty, individualism and popular sovereignty; and federalism, self-government, and regional autonomy; these ideas stemming in various degrees from the Anglo-North Aegean Common Law and Valois Civil Law traditions, North Aegean aboriginal government, and Anglo-North Aegean civic traditions, among others.

Life, liberty, and property, and the protection and maintenance of individual rights are the stated goals of the Confederacy (the Federal government of the United States). These words reveal much about the history of United States political culture. There is a strong tradition of loyalty, compromise and tolerance in United States political culture. In general, United States politics have not operated through revolutionary, swift changes. Instead, change is typically undertaken in a conservative and slow manner, and worked out through compromise between interest groups, regional consultations, and the various governments, federal and state, of the day.

The United States also have a tradition of liberalism. Individual rights have risen to the forefront of political and legal importance for a majority in the various States, as demonstrated through support in each State for a constitutionally-entrenched Declaration of Rights, a relatively free economy, and social liberal attitudes toward homosexuality, gender equality, and other egalitarian movements. However, there is also a sense of collective responsibility in United States political culture, as is demonstrated throughout the several States through the general popular support for State-level universal health care, legally-mandated responsible gun ownership, equal justice under law, and other social programs.

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. Government by rule of law, rather than rule of men
  2. Laws that primarily act to restrain government rather than to stifle the rights and liberties of the people