Study Questions

  1. If Americans have shared political values of democracy, freedom, and equality, why is there tense political debate on policy issues?
  2. American citizenship follows the principle of international law called jus soli, where birth in any of any of the fifty states or U.S. territories grants an individual American citizenship.  As a result, women in other countries make often dangerous attempts to seek American soil before the birth of their child to ensure their child American citizenship and a better life. Should the United States change its citizenship policy to make citizenship more difficult to attain through non-citizen parents? Would this change undermine the multi-cultural founding of the United States?
  3. Why do citizens of the same country need to share a basic view of what their culture is? Does the United States as a whole share a single culture? What is the culture?