G.K. Chesterton - 2nd Assignment

.: it is founded on a creed, the meaning of the creed is best captured in The Declaration of Independence: The American Constitution does resemble the Spanish Inquisition in this: that it is founded on a creed. America is the only nation in the world that is founded on a creed. That creed is set forth with dogmatic and even theological lucidity in the Declaration of Independence; perhaps the only piece of practical politics that is also theoretical politics and also great literature. It enunciates that all men are equal in their claim to justice, that governments exist to give them that justice, and that their authority is for that reason just. It certainly does condemn anarchism, and it does also by inference condemn atheism, since it clearly names the Creator as the ultimate authority from whom these equal rights are derived. Nobody expects a modern political system to proceed logically in the application of such dogmas, and in the matter of God and Government it is naturally God whose claim is taken more lightly. The point is that there is a creed, if not about divine, at least about human things (p. 8). I think Chesterton is referring to his idea of a "civil religion" which he considers "friendship based on differences.' He believes it is a creed based on the principles of equalty and justice and it is universal like the Christian religions. Of course, we have seen abuses to these ideals women and men of different races were not afforded the same freedom and equality under the law. Still it is a magnificent idea that is unique to the United States. He points out the "Melting Pot metaphor as a mix of culture. We are not confined to the same influences as Europeans. We are not an exclusive Anglo-Saxon culture. We are a mix of many cultures that invigorate us with many different ideas and skills. America is not stagnant.

Homework 9/17/13 Bourne Quote

"But if freedom menas a democratic cooperation in determining the ideals and purposes and industrial and social institutions of a country, then the immigrant has not been free, and the Anglo-Saxon element is guilty of just what every dominant race is guilty of in every European country: the impostion of its culture upon the minority peoples." I think that Randolph Bourne is saying in his article in The Atlantic Monthly that if the immigrant is forced to give up his cultural heritage in order to become what the Anglo-Saxon thinks constitutes an American, this is tyranny. Most people who came to America were fleeing from some type of oppression whether it was religious, financial or any other type of servitude. The Germans, Bohemians or French did not come here to become Anglo-Saxons just as the Anglo-Saxons did not come to America to adopt the culture of the Native American Indians. I chose this quote because I feel that the greatness of America is the diversity of its people. Yet, though this article was written before the First World War, it is still true today. Each new wave of immigrants brings new vitality to our culture. Upon arrival each new immigrant group faces the same discrimination as the last group. People are afraid of change and not very inclusive at first.