Conservatism: Civil Rights Movements And The Health Care Reform

The rise of religion in American politics also contributed to the growth of conservatism. The most prominent was a coalition of conservative, evangelical Christians

Most people don’t know where it is. Most people have never seen it. Most people have never even heard of it. Despite this, the William B. Travis Building in Austin, Texas is where American history is made. Correction, this is where the events and memories of the present and near past get wedged into America’s long-term cultural memory or slip into oblivion. Since Texas buys or distributes 48 million textbooks annually, educational publishers tailor their products to fit the standards adopted by the Lone Star State. This makes the Texas state board of education, which is housed in the William B. Travis Building, the most influential state board of education in America. Every year this board draws national attention when it meets to adopt or reject proposed changes to the social studies curriculum, which are guidelines that will affect children across America for the next 10 years. In 2010, the most fiercely debated proposal was bringing Christianity into the coverage of American history. More specifically bringing the Christian “truth” about America’s founding into public schools. However, this debate has been going on since the early nineteenth century. People have always questioned how to reconcile the idea of America as a Christian nation with that of America as a beacon for religious freedom. To answer this question for ourselves, we must understand religious life in colonial America, religion in the Constitution and the debate surrounding Jefferson’s “Wall of Separation”

Though the issue of education reform has been neglected in favor of modern social issues such as gun control and gay marriage rights, education is the foundation of what the United States will be

he question of religious involvement in public education has been a controversial topic since before America was a country. Thomas Paine, one of our founding fathers, expressed, “As to religion, I hold it to be the indispensable duty of the government to protect all conscientious protesters thereof, and I know of no other business government has to do therewith,” (“20 Quotes”). While the separation of church and state was a necessity made clear by Thomas Jefferson in the first amendment of the Constitution, the question differentiating freedom of religion and freedom from religion remains intangible. The public university of Arkansas State confronted this debate in September of 2014 after the death of two of its esteemed football team associates.

In our effort to create a more comprehensive and balanced account of the civil rights movement, we should be wary not to inadvertently reinforce the dichotomies that we intend to overcome. These conceptual shortcomings could and should be corrected. Despite the remarkable confluence between the civil rights and the labor movements, we should be careful not to substitute a conservative appropriation of African American activism with a leftist one. There are other measures available that allow us to illustrate the importance of interracial and class-based alliances within the civil rights and the Black Power movements without minimizing the centrality and diversity of African American intellectual thought and activism. As we will never be able

The breakdown of the separation of church and state occurs when one religion views their conception of truth as absolute, and attempts to use public policy as a means of imposing its will on the rest of the citizens. When a religion does this, and fails to appreciate and respect other world views, it fosters a political environment of intolerance and hate that is detrimental to the productivity of discourse. This intolerance of other people’s views, or bigotry, is practiced widely on both sides of every political issue in a battle between religious ideologies. A prime example of this fight between religions is on the issue of abortion. Liberal democrats, who worship the divine power of humanity, fight persistently for women to have the right

The notion of American conservatism has been around roughly since the conception of The United States. Once refined in the U.S. Constitution in September of 1787, what had been left up to speculation was now set as guidelines for the flourishing country. There was always separation in beliefs between American’s, but the constitution truly outlined what America could build upon. This is where American conservatism really came into effect. Conservatism as defined by the Encyclopedia Britannica is “a political doctrine that emphasizes value of social tradition institutions and practices.” Simply meaning that this ideal represented America’s freedom - instilling that the country should always be run by ‘We The People’ as stated in the preamble to the Constitution. Once interpreted more as a preference as to how American’s could live their life, Conservatism has transformed into a distinct lifestyle at which many American’s follow today. With the notable growth of Conservatism it was only imminent that differing divisions of this practice would spark up. The differing ideologies, however, would only be separated by minimalistic technicalities. Although copious different interpretations do exist, many can be synthesized to the same ideas. Ronald P. Formisano’s The Tea Party: A Brief History underscores the significance of holding America to it’s standards set by the documents written by the Founding Fathers.

In analyzing former President Obama’s healthcare initiative referred to as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act, the provisions of this law are sectioned into four categories known as: coverage expansion, insurance market reforms, taxes, and insurance exchanges that serve different functions. Concerning coverage expansion, individuals were mandated to purchase insurance with the expansion of coverage in the private market or would be subject to pay a tax penalty in the year of 2014. Additionally,to help with purchasing insurance, there are tax credits provided on a sliding scale for families and individuals that are up to four times of the federal poverty line. If a family’s income is up to 133% of the poverty threshold, Medicaid eligibility

There exists a long held belief that the United States of America was founded on the principles and doctrinal views of Protestantism. Modern age Christians have scoured historical documents in an effort to provide evidence for a Judeo-Christian foundation in the nation’s republican framework. Likewise, their opponents have written lengthy dissertations and argued over various media outlets that Christian conclusions are unfounded. Yet despite their endless debate, religion, especially Christianity, has and continues to play a fundamental element of America’s cultural, societal, and political makeup. The Second Great Awakening, the religious revivalist movement of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, ignited not only a

President Obama has made healthcare reform a priority since the beginning of his presidency. Obama wants to implement a system similar to Medicare. As defined by Dictionary.com Medicare is: “a U.S. government program of hospitalization insurance and voluntary medical insurance for persons aged 65 and over and for certain disabled persons under 65”. This government based health insurance would still allow private insurance companies to stay in business. Another way Obama wants to change the health insurance companies is to expand coverage and improve the care given. What this means is people with cancer could possibly get health insurance in a case where no one else would cover them. This will also help to lower insurance plan costs.

Today, within American’s two main political parties, there are controversies over issues that were not relevant to early America. Today, Democrats and Republicans hotly debate issues such as second amendment rights, abortion, and gay rights. These issues touch upon deep moral beliefs. Slowly, our country has evolved into a self-centered, ungodly culture. Citizens have forgotten why America was founded in the first place, for freedom of religion, not to live freely without considering one’s fellow man. When America began her political career, the vast majority of United States citizens were united in the fact that they believed in God and were founded solely in Him. Our founding fathers sought to construct a united nation, “under God.” Worldly matters such as federal government and foreign relations were simply controversial topics, not based on one’s

From the moment a child is born, they are exposed to the thoughts and ideas of their parents. As the child grows and experiences the world, they see everything through the lens of their family’s beliefs; behind every idea and action of a child is the teachings of their parents, and in every concept a filter of preconceived ideas. A person, no matter how much they grow, always retains the beliefs they were raised with, regardless of how they choose to act upon them. This same relationship exists between modern day America and early colonial times. The United States has changed drastically over time, but the foundation of American society has remained consistent for nearly 400 years.

The Era of Reform, also known as the American Renaissance was a tribute to the astonishing productivity and collection of legendary success decades before the civil war. This curved every phase of life in the United States. However at this time their importance was on slavery injustices, woman’s rights, institutions of the church and state including prisons and schools, also dietary concerns and domestic relations. Much more was added to this era but, all these causes did not rise at the same time, but were fully enunciated one by one. This was a time when all “reformers affirmed the power of the word whether spoken or written”, (728) Most believed in the people of self-improvement and social improvement. Although in reference of the war this era takes me back to the Gettysburg Address because, ‘that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Although each reformist spoke on their own concerns this era contributed to religious calling and duty for the people.

Religion, Economy and Religion are some major social institutions in America, because that families, individuals and communities are affected by these social institutions rather institutions being affected by them. Every institution is associated and linked with each other and economy is the major player as communities, individuals and families all dependent on stable economy to afford daily living. Recently US economy went down and during that family could not afford mortgages, food, bills, etc. Bad economy ultimately causes the low living standards of communities and that’s where education also gets affected. When the communities would not be able to afford the higher living standards than ultimately affording good schooling would also be

Since the establishment of America’s first schools, the American people have disagreed not only about what the purpose of school is, but also about what schools should teach. Initially schools were supposed to “prepare men to vote intelligently and prepare women to train their sons properly. Moral training based on the Protestant Bible would produce virtuous, well-behaved citizens [who knew not only] the three R’s but [also] the general principles of law, commerce, money, and government” (Kaestle, 1983, p. 5). During the 1780’s educational theorists began calling for reform and in 1785 Massachusetts law