We The People Chapter Summary

Cristopher Rosete
PSC 100
Extra Credit
Chapter One Summary
Chapter One of the Book We the People talks about the American Political Culture, there are multiple main points in the chapter. However this chapter mainly talks about how people can influence their government by having the knowledge needed to understand which candidates can represent their values the best. Also by having the necessary knowledge a person can understand how the election process works and how they can be involved in this process. The other main point of the reading is about the shared believes, values and attitudes that the American people have towards their government.
The first main point of the reading answers the question of “What does each person need to do so that

they can influence their government?” In order for people to influence their government, each person needs to be knowledgeable about how the government works and what it does. If a person is able to understand how the government works and why is necessary to have a government, then that person will be able influence their government. By been knowledgeable each person will also be able to choose the political candidate that most likely will represent his personal values.
The book also talks about Political Culture in the United States, Political Culture is the shared values, beliefs and attitudes about how the government should function. American political culture is mainly composted of three beliefs, which are Liberty, Equality of opportunity and Political Equality. The ideal of Liberty is the belief that people will have personal freedoms that the government cannot take away from them and economical freedom to choose how they want to spend their money. The personal freedoms that are included in this ideal are freedom of speech, religion, and expression alongside others. As stated early Economical Freedom is the belief that each person will be able to spend their money on whatever they want to buy. Equality of opportunity is the ideal that all people should have the freedom to use their talents and personal wealth so that they can reach their full potential. This ideal talks about how a person can use their talents to reach the goals that can increase their potential. Political Equlity is the last main idea of American Political Culture, this ideal is the belief that every person will be treated the same (under the law). This means that if a person is arrested for illegal position of a gun. It will not matter if the person is wealthy, nor the race or gender. Under Political Equality each person will receive the same punishment for the same crime.