Sydney R. - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Response

This idea that America is founded on a creed is true, however, the strength and power of this  is not what it is believed to be.  It represents an ideal world but it does not unite in the way that we, as Americans, believe that it does or hope that it does.  American values are drilled into us from a young age in a "dogmatic" way, as stated by the prompt, but if one only looks a bit further behind the scenes of the American political system in particular, it is clear that we do not all agree and we are far from united.  

In the film, "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington", Mr. Smith arrives still firmly believing in the founders of the United States and the values that this country was built on.  Soon after, he starts to see the reality of how politics works and watches the pure American values he held dear crumble in the face of corrupt lobbyists and a corrupt system.  Although the characters surrounding Mr. Smith in the movie wanted his beliefs about the nation to be true, none of them had the strength to speak out and try to change the system to make it less corrupt.  This same sentiment of uncovering the truth of the American society is reflected in the reading as well.  Colin Woodard explains how Americans have been blindly following these ideals but also how we might all have very different definitions of what each of them mean.  This makes the goal of unity quite difficult to achieve.  It is important to understand the dialogue that occurred during the founding of the United States and how, even during that time, the Founding Fathers were divided on how to organize the country and many of them proposed ideas that would only serve their best interests.  Although the U.S. was founded on a creed, hardly any of these ideals have been achieved.  The country may seem greatly divided today but it is important to recognize that there has always been division.  This country was born out of division.  Unity is something that has yet to be found in the United States, not something that has been lost.



Comments

  1. Dr. BolzendahlJanuary 18, 2023 at 4:59 PM

    Nice job tying together then different elements. I wonder if, given Woodward's points, that the "creed" is one everyone agreed to? Does the creed serve people now or are people disillusioned as another student suggested?

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