La Civilisation Américaine

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Most presidents have come from a religious background of Evangelical Protestantism. Over half of the US population is Protestant, and their belief system teaches that they do not relate to God through a priest, but they relate directly. Success brings you closer to god, so the more money you have the closer you are to god. American culture leads to a widely shared trust for money. The logic is: if you have money you are successful, and are likely to be successful in politics.

What do we know about the man? Trump has been married several times, does business in was a reality TV star on his show called The Apprentice where a group of people who wanted jobs were eliminated one by one until the last one left was offered a position in his business.

Elections

Primary elections are held inside the parties. The democrat party elected Hillary as their nominee, and the Republican Party elected Trump as their nominee.

The next stage is a complex system of Indirect Elections. The primaries last 4 months.

People can vote either individually or in a caucus. A caucus is a gathering where people give speeches in favour of their candidate.

Each state has a certain number of points allocated to it

An example of how the voting system caused a candidate with less votes to win the election is when George bush won the election by winning more electoral votes over Al Gore, who won more actual individual votes.

The Democrat/ Republican convention

Ironically Trump is a democrat, but he used to be a republican and Hillary is a republican but she used to be a democrat.

(YouTube video title) Battle over Guns CNN – Clinton Trump Gun Control

- How does Trump criticize Clinton?

“Crooked Hillary Clinton” – directly calls her a criminal. He also says: “Hillary Clinton is the most anti-gun, anti- 2nd amendment candidate ever to run for office Hillary wants to disarm vulnerable Americans in high crime neighbourhood.

NRA has given support to Trump. NRA: the National Rifle Association is a powerful entity. The gun lobby is the most powerful in Washington DC.

- How does Clinton criticise Trump?

Hillary uses social media (Twitter) to respond to his accusations and to address him directly.

“You’re wrong. We can uphold 2nd Amendment rights while preventing senseless gun violence.”

- What are Clinton and Trump’s proposals for guns?

Clinton proposes that schools and public spaces (like city halls, courthouses) become gun free zones and that background checks are mandatory for everyone so that criminals are not able to buy guns.

Trump believes that the more guns that are in society, the safer people will be. He wants America to be left alone, so that it can be isolated and safe. He is not going looking for a fight with other countries, but hypocritically he has gone looking for a fight with Mexico. In their public speeches, Hillary is calling for more war than Trump. Hillary has proposed in the past that military spending should increase and that America should go attack Syria directly.

Trump seems to have fairly normal views on gun laws for a Republican, but he feels somewhat differently about Mexico – he is anti-immigrant (the most anti-immigrant candidate to run for president in a while).

Why is Trump winning?

Because congress is a disaster. The American people are tired of the Clinton’s, Obama and the Bush’s. The people are frustrated and angry and they want something new and different. So that is what Trump is selling: he is new. He is different.

To study next week: How much power does a president actually have? Promises that the candidates are making that they will not be able to keep if they win the election because Congress will stop them from passing laws.