Progress

The word progress has several different meanings. These definitions played a vital role in American thought. From the initial immigrants to the first government, progress was always on the American mind. Wars were fought on the grounds on progress. The first United States president represented progress. Everything America stands for is based on the progression of its people.

As people migrated to the new world, they were in search of a better way of life. That is just what they found. However, it was not easy to come buy. Americans stood together and built a government and a country full of potential that was envied by all. Internally, progress meant moving west. The expansion of the American way depended on discovering more territory. Once the United States was settled people began to travel overseas. This is when the real progress began.

At first only Americans knew of America. After the First World War much of Europe knew a lot about the United States. Following the war people began to travel back and forth from Europe to the United States. Americanization was on the rise. The British adopted American habits and culture, but they kept it to themselves. Americans, always thinking about progress, would not be satisfied with just England. Americans wanted the whole world to know who they were, what they stood for, and what they were capable of.

Progress was the kindling and the fuel for America's fire for advancement. Progress moved people to American soil because the people wanted something better, even if it meant starting over. Progress created the American people. The American people are nothing more than a melting pot of different cultures and nationalities. It took progress to allow these people to work together for a common goal. Progress pushed the American reputation. Progress is America.

The American political system is both monarchical and bureaucratic. The way democracy was disseminated caused this. America bureaucrats and British monarchists both had input on American democracy. This being so, it is only expected that the result would include input and compromise from both ideologies.

First of all, democracy can be defined as a government that speaks for the people; a government that addresses and fulfills the peoples needs. The government would consist of a group of people in the state who have the ultimate authority to act on behalf of that state. A democracy is a state in which citizens vote to choose the best candidate. Democracy derived from liberalism, which is the idea that individuals develop their capacities to the fullest. A democracy reflects the liberal value that individuals are responsible for their own choices. Citizens can be free to run their lives as they see fit. Democracy requires an attitude of mind, a belief that every citizen has the right to a hearing, and a sense that no doors are closed to talent and energy. Spreading this idea throughout America was not easy and was changed from a monarchical and bureaucratic perspective.

Now, from the monarchical point of view the authority should not be spread among groups of people. The undivided sovereignty or rule of a single person is the way to go. The term monarchy is applied to states in which the supreme authority is vested in a single person, the monarch, who is the permanent head of the state. This monarch has absolute power. The authority to dissolve parliament and dictate new laws lies in the monarchs hands. The British knew only of their monarchy and the British were in American. As the above described democracy was developed the British background was melded in. It would only make sense that if the British people had a part in the American democratic political system that the British Monarchy would show through.

Many of the people in America were there because they did not want to be under that monarchical control. They were tired of useless monarchs and impossible dictators. They were interested in a democracy with a bureaucratic foundation. Bureaucracy is simply defined as the "red tape" on the American political system. However, this red tape can further be explained as the life blood of the very structure. It is the dominant institution, the institution that epitomizes modernity. Bureaucracy is an organizational form of public administration. Bureaucracy has to be competent in order to be able to carry out the laws, and essentially; it can only be competent when its employees are competent, and competently led to do so.

America's democracy was both monarchical and bureaucratic. The president would represent a monarch with less power than that of a king or queen. However, the senate and congress and other important agencies represent the bureaucracy. Officials in America's democracy are both appointed and elected representing again ideas from both the bureaucratic structure and monarchical tradition. This evolved from