A Nation of Immigrants

              There are two ideas of the American Dream. After studying about immigration I have found another American Dream. For many immigrants coming to America isn't easy, typically they are leaving everything they have no matter how much or how little and they are coming to America for what they hope to be a better life. When thinking about the dream they have, the main thing that they want is to make money and send for people that are close to them typically. They could also come to America to get away from persecution. This country is built off of not only freedom but it is built by immigrants. Everyone in America has a ancestor that immigrated, unless you are a native America and chances are you still have someone in your family that immigrated. So after studying immigration my new idea of the American Dream is this; go to  America or already be in America, get enough money to support your family or bring your family to America and then live out your days in a country that you have freedom and you are safe. Although many immigrants coming to America didn't reach this goal... and possibly never will, its the thought of the American Dream that drives them to live in America and do the best they can to get money and have their family close to them. The American Dream is hard to achieve but people like Carnegie and Rockefeller show that it can be done.

The Illusion of the American Dream

When I think of the American Dream, I think of a big happy family. They have money and a house with a back yard, that the whole family can relax. In the title I described it as an illusion for the reason that it is really hard to achieve. I think that a quote from a Miley Cyrus song fits here "it's the climb". I really feel that the whole idea behind the American Dream is the journey from whatever life you once had. If you came from Russia let's say, which my great-grandfather did, I feel the whole idea of the American Dream is getting to the comfort of the money and the house. Even though almost nobody achieved the American Dream that they thought of when coming to America. I feel that the American Dream was more for foreigners than people that lived in America previously. While the American Dream is a great thought, it is exactly what the name says a dream.

Religion: Good or Bad

As I started in High School 3 years ago I was fully Jewish. As I started to think about different religions in history class and just on my own I found that there are a lot of things in Judaism that I disagree with. For example the big thing is a God, obviously to be Jewish you have to believe in God, but through different events in my life I have not only stopped believing in God but also in Judaism. Some might say that I have lost my way but in my mind I have found it. When I was born I was given my name Josh, yet a week later I was given a Hebrew or a Jewish name. Why do I need 2 names? I found that when I was younger I was Jewish but not because me as a person was Jewish but because my parents told me I was. That being said I probably, if you asked me back then, would have said I am Jewish but that is because I hadn't become my own person yet. When I think about what religion has done to the world it makes me think, What would the world be like without religion?

Religion was originally formed to explain the unexplained. When things like the creation of the Earth or how humans were formed came up in conversation  people didn't know how to respond so people created ways to explain these events. However when you have 2 people that think a like there is typically friction and conflict, kind of like in science when you try to put 2 positive magnets together. In my personal opinion I find that when religion comes into things there is almost always a heated argument or an, agree to disagree either way it doesn't end well. Sometimes it turns into more than a heated discussion and causes war or persecution. For example, the Crusades or the "Holy War" (which really isn't that holy), in the Crusades the Christians basically forced religion on people and took land under "The Church". In the Holy War the Muslims did basically the same exact things, forced their religion and took land. I don't think that this was the exact purpose of religion. 

I am not saying that religion is completely bad though. I find that there are absolute benefits to being religious. You get to associate with people that you wouldn't necessarily know and you do get a enhanced education, plus some of the stories are pretty cool. Religion is a big part of any person but I feel like it is not exactly needed. If you didn't have religion than, what? If there was no religion there is not big side effect. I think that it is overly needed and not essential to life.  

I think that religion is overall bad and I think that it is overly used. Without religion I think that the world would be a better place and possibly less tense. I  think that I wouldn't have the inner turmoil of being agnostic if religion wasn't as big a part of me. I found that God hasn't really given me a reason to believe in him/her (whatever you believe) and I think that it is important for me to realize the fact that I am not religious. I understand that some people might have a problem with some of the things that I said, however you are just proving my point more. 

I am sorry if this offends anyone. 

The Role of Religion in America

Religious America



                The role of religion in America is quite a significant one. I think that religion can be good in some instances but when in gets to your government you have to be completley unbiased. When you run a country you cannot treat any religions differently, which in this country they do. For example on the holiest day of the entire jewish religion the government overlooks this and people still have to work, as opposed to one of Christianity's holiest days, Christmas. The government calls it a national holiday and everyone gets off work, school or anything else. I think that Christianity all but almost runs our country, even though we say there is religious freedom, you can't walk by a church without someone trying to get you to join, not to mention all of the annoying phone calls. The government made the rule that public schools can't teach anything about religion, which is a step in the right direction but they still do so many other things that doesn't neccassarily talks about religion but puts the idea in the heads of kids. Even our pledge of alligience  is religion based with the phrase "under god", this phrase strongly takes away religious freedom, and in public schools the kids have to say the pledge of alligience every day in school, that is hardly religious freedom and absolutely not seperation of church and state. I think that a country based on religious freedom as one of the bases of this country would be much less suggestive of Christianity or even religion in general. I am not saying that religion is bad, all I am saying is that until the kids are old enough to make there own choices the parents should decide whether to make the kid religious or not, it shouldn't be our government or our schools.

Hamiltonian America, Worshipers of Jefferson

"America Worships Thomas Jefferson and it is a Hamiltonian America"

           In my personal opinion I think that America doesn't fully worship Jefferson. Along with that I also don't totally agree with the idea that we are totally a Hamiltonian America. I think it is a very equal mix of both.   For example the Hamiltonian America wanted presidency for life, which obviously didn't happen but he also wanted a economy that was based off of trade and the way he wanted a national bank. However Jefferson also had a major role to play in every day american life. Jefferson wanted the states to have more control over the important issues, he also wanted to become very separated from Britain which eventually we did. 

         In my personal opinion we don't give enough credit to either, Hamilton or Jefferson. In Jefferson's case he is worshiped but in my opinion not enough. I think that he should be on a higher bill than the 2 dollar bill. He was a president and he wrote the arguably most important document in our nations history. Though he has a monument or a memorial he fully deserves it. I am not saying that Hamilton doesn't deserve recognition but I think that he isn't as deserving of Jefferson. A quote that describes the death of Hamilton is "the world mourned him with a fervor that is remarkable, considering the speed with which it proceeded to forget him." this is saying that America loved Hamilton but when it came down to it, he just  wasn't as important as Jefferson.