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Our vision of an American society will consist of meritocracy, rule of law, and social contract Gigi F, Brian M, TJ K, Lucas S

__// VISION //__

Our society will value hard work, obeying of laws, and respecting others' rights. A person shall gain status through hard work and following rules. Success, status, and wealth encourage positive contributions to society. Today in america, following rules is not a priority for the people; but in our vision of society following laws will be a high priority and our society will not become as corrupt. Our vision is the best society because it is efficient and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. Most people have a natural drive to be successful and wealthy and our society makes it easier to accomplish these goals.

__// ARGUMENTS //__

//** Meritocracy **//

An efficient ideal American society must consist of meritocracy. Meritocracy itself is not a form of government, but rather an ideology. Individuals appointed to a meritocracy are judged based upon certain merits which could range from intelligence to morality to general aptitude to specific knowledge. Meritocracy is viewed through the book, Secret Life of Bees, when Rosaleen and Lilly stay at a place in Tiburian while on their journey of running away, and work with the host family to earn their stay. Rosaleen and Lilly help the family with their business of bee keeping and learn many life lessons along the way but more importantly they followed the ideology of meritocracy by working for the family in order to be rewarded a place to stay. (Group 1 Secret Life of Bees) Meritocracy also plays a key role in the 1895 Atlanta Compromise presented by Booker T. Washington. "Booker T. thought instead, prove yourselves worthy of these rights and protections by making a difference and make a difference in the economic standard, meaning work harder and show your work ethic, and improve overall well being through appearance (Gigi F.)." Meritocracy is shown in his idea because of his belief of being patient and waiting to be rewarded equal rights and protections of the law through hard work and making a difference in the society (economic standard) by working hard. In other words, Booker T. emphasized the fact that if you work hard, you will be rewarded / earn things. In today's world, our society faces the problem of meritocracy through the college admitting system. Colleges are now accepting more people based on their race only to create diversity in the community. This goes against the ideology of meritocracy because colleges are not rewarding those students who work hard through out high school to earn a college education abut instead are rewarding those based on their race instead of their hard workand achievement. "That is, a white student with higher grades might have a 30 percent chance of admission, but a black or Latino student with a similar record would have a 58 percent chance of admission (Wash Park Prophet)." It is crucial to include meritocracy in our vision of American Society because it helps create an efficient society and makes all opportunities of becoming successful equal.

//**Social Contract**//

In order to have a working society, we need to have a social contract. This is where the people give up some rights (do whatever you want ie. murder, theft, rape, drunk driving) and work with the society, instead of subvert it (ie. domestic terrorists), so that the people are safe and society functions better. One way to ensure this is to have all of the cultures in society understand all of the others, and give up some aspects of their culture so they don' t infringe on others' rights; for example, the 1890 Massacre at Wounded Knee could have been prevented if the U.S. authorities understood the culture of Sioux indians, specifically the "Ghost dances... [which were performed to help the suffering of the indians, that] the U.S. saw as a threat" (John M). Also, the modern indians of today need to assimilate more into the culture of America, their unwillingness to do so, or their learned helplessness, causes many indians on reservations to suffer. In the book The Absolutely True Diary Of A Part Time Indian, the main character struggles to get away from reservation problems like poverty, alcoholism, and drug use, by attempting to become more like a mainstream American. The social contract can only work if citizens and immigrants are willing to abide by the laws set in place by the government; people like illegal immigrants do not respect the laws of our country and so they should not be allowed to be in our society. These illegal immigrants "are illegal for a reason, because they themselves cheat and choose not to go through the legalization process" (Givi G). If people do not give up certain rights and don't follow laws for the good of society, the society will not work.


 * //Rule of law//**

The rule of law is part of what makes up the ideal American society. The rule of law is when all people are equal under law and no one gets exception from the law in any circumstances. The book Warriors Don't Cry is a good example of were rule under law could have changed the situation, if rule under law was enforced, all issues like the one in Warriors Don't Cry (Warriors Don't Cry, group 1) and other racist issues would never occur in a society with rule under law. A similar issue came around during WW2 when Japanese families were put into camps because Americans thought that they were “possible saboteurs or spies” (Mitch Nini's Timeline). Again rule of law could have prevented this and only true spies and saboteurs would have been imprisoned not the all Japanese Americas. The promotion of rule of law is one of the main goals of the United Nations in there worldly efforts today (UN.org). In all I think rule of law is for the best in a perfect society.

//**Call to action**//

Our vision is the best society because it is efficient and everyone has an equal opportunity to succeed. Social contract is used to create rule of rule which protects Meritocracy. It is crucial to include meritocracy in our vision of American Society because it helps create an efficient society and makes all opportunities of becoming successful equal. Rule of law is important to our society because it prevents our society from becoming corrupt and gives no one advantages. Social contract is valid in American society because it ensures that the rights and safety of the people as a society will be preserved, while those that wish to undermine the society will be punished.


 * Work Cited**

Nini, Mitch. "Japanese-American Internment Executive Order 9066." Wikispaces. Wikipedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

"United Nations and the Rule of Law." United Nations. United Nations, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

"Warriors Don't Cry, group 1." Wikispaces. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

Group 1. "The Secret Life of Bees." Rev. of The Secret Life of bees. BuchholtzSidorAmericanStudies.wikispaces.com. Wikispaces, 2011. Web.26 Oct. 2011.

Furlong, Gigi. "Booker T. Washington - Compromise Speech 1895 ."buchholtzsidoramericanstudies.wikispaces.com. wikispaces.com, 2011.Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

Oh-Wilike, Andrew. "Meritocracy v. Privilege In College Admissions." Wash Park Prophet. Blogger, June 2007. Web. 26 Oct. 2011.

John, Anthony. //Five Flavors of Dumb//. New York: Penguin Group, 2010. Print.

“Tribal Sovereignty Defined.” SAGCHIP. Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan, n.d. Web. 18 Oct. 2011.

Emma P., “1863 Fort Wagner and the 54th Massachusetts”. Buchholtz/ Sidor, wikispaces. Oct. 26, 2011

Garcia, Givi. "Undocumented Workers" //Buchholtz-Sidor American Studies Wiki.// 26 Oct. 2011. Masters, John. "1890 Massacre at Wounded Knee" //Buchholtz-Sidor American Studies Wiki.// 26 Oct. 2011. Alexie, Sherman. //The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.// Print.

•organize in extended power paragraphs •establish the credibility of sources with appositive statements •credit sources internally and with Works Cited •edit to remove mechanics and language usage errors

Position your caucus on the CONTINUUM


 * Significant ExclusionsSociety Today--- X -Significant Inclusions **