Identify, examine, and assess the dominant American political values.

Explain how those values

interact with the prevalent contemporary American political ideologies. Additionally, assess how well
these various political values and ideologies fit together. What tensions do they imply? How are those
tensions resolved? Can they be resolved at all?
There are many ways to categorize the political values and ideas that people hold. By and large,
most of these issues come down to the Government's role in people's lives. Some people advocate for a
powerful or big government that provides many services to it's people. If one was to sort people by
ideology, in name, these would be Liberals or Social Democrats. Others view Government intervention
in their lives as strangling and taxing on personal freedoms and liberty. By name, these would be called
Conservatives, Libertines, or Populists.
In these camps there are, as there are in any complicated matter, nuances and subtleties that may
not be apparent on the surface. Conservatives may claim to want small government, but this tends to
only extend as far as regulations on trade and corporations. They are often strong proponents of
military spending. Whether this propensity to fund the military-industrial complex is fueled by love
(sometimes read paranoia) for their country or as a disguised power grab (as also utilized by some
Liberals) must be decided on a case by case basis.
Libertines tend to be the most true to the desire for no government in people's day to day lives.
This makes them and the way in which they look at the problem of government unique. While other
groups may take for granted the role of Government, Libertines start not with the question How does
the Government's role factor into this situation? but Should the Government even be involved?
Because of this stark difference in approach, I believe there will always be tension between the
Libertarian party and other popular political parties. What most groups assume should be, Libertarians
doubt or outright deny it's right to existence.
As interesting as a case Libertarians are, they account for a relatively small portion of the voting
populace (though they seem to be growing in numbers). The largest source of tension in the arena of
American political values would be the ever deepening, if somewhat artificial, rift between Liberals
and Conservatives, often represented as the cyclical competition between Democrats and Republicans
for control of Congress and the Presidency. Many of the big-ticket differences are rather dichotomous
in nature. Conservatives tend to be religious, Liberals tend toward secularism. Liberals often like
redistribution policies, Conservatives avoid them. Conservatives are pro-life, Liberals are pro-choice.
The list goes on, but the theme is apparent and implied by their names. Conservatives tend to have
more traditional values that ultimately stem back to their puritanical ancestry, while Liberal tend to be
just that, more liberal, in their world views.
The views of these two sides are often irreconcilable and it often doesn't come down to, what
will make both parties happy but rather, what will make both parties least disappointed. Ideally,
tension is resolved through compromise. In reality, a compromise is often not met and one party will
just take advantage of its time in power until, inevitably, popular opinion changes and the next ideology
gets it turn in the spotlight.

Describe the major ways in which the presidency has changed since the beginning of the twentieth
century. Be sure to include a description of the changes and the reasons why these changes occurred.
Include a conclusion to summarize your key points.
In the beginning, the Framers created the office of the President of the United States. In its
initial conception, the President's main job was to be Commander and Chief of the nation's military. To
a lesser degree the president acted as an information aggregate that appointed and solicited opinions.
For a long time, approximately a hundred years or so, the President conformed to the Founder's vision.
Of course, some officiants stand out in the way they individually helped guide America in her growth
and development.
Abraham Lincoln, for example, helped to pass radical legislation that would set free the slaves
in the Union and start to take the small baby-steps towards civil rights. James K. Polk led the nation
through the Mexican-American War, acquiring for the US much of it's current Southwest. In the United
State's early history, the game-changing celebrity president was the exception rather than the rule.
Until the rise of the Modern President, Congress was the main acting body of the American
Government. This can be contributed to the nation's existence as an agriculturally based society at the
time as well as the media paradigm shift that would occur after the introduction of the radio and
subsequently the television. Many people were doing what they could to survive and as a result lad less
time to fill their heads with the goings ons up on The Hill.
Teddy Roosevelt was the first Modern President. He is celebrated as a leader of the
Progressive Era, a trust buster (though he never really did much of that) and as a cowboy. The last
detail is the one that I see as most indicative of his modernity. With TR, one can see a romanticization
of the Presidential office and an interest in the public of not necessarily his politics, but his personality.
After him, you get the likes of Woodrow Wilson (whose New Freedom programs were loudly and
adamantly advocated for by himself), Franklin Roosevelt (who was the face of the New Deal which
was a series of Congress-passed law as well as presidential executive orders) then onto Kennedy,
Nixon and other unarguably Modern Presidents.
As time marches on and the office of President wedges itself more and more firmly into the
Public's eye, the presidents become more and more involved in policy making and legislative action.
Though always having the power of Veto, the President is now a leader of domestic and foreign policy
as well as our military leader as well as the head of his (or one day her) political party.
What started as a sort of Magister equitum evolved into a position of immense power and
influence that does not look very much like the office originally devised by the Framers of the
Constitution years ago. This shift occurred organically over time as a result of changing lifestyles,
values, and a generally evolution in American political thought. For better or for worse, the person
elected President of the United States today has exponentially more power that their disposal than their
historical counterparts.