Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Research
Introduction
The United States of America (USA) comprises of a very diverse ethnic and racial population. However, the officially recognized people are the White, Native Americans, Asian, Black, Latino/ Hispanics, and people of two or more races. The Hispanics and Latinos make up the largest minority group while the White Americans comprise of the majority race in the USA. Race and ethnicity issues are significant concepts that determine the social-political philosophies of a nation. Therefore, it is imperative to carry out an extensive study to determine their relationship.
Discrimination of color, ethnicity, and race of an individual greatly influences the decisions during elections. Consequently, elections and campaigns have become volatile and unpredictable in the American politics. Hence, a steady rise in the number of minority leaders has been witnessed in the recent past due to an evolved political platform and increased minority population in America. Moreover, political stands in the history of America are divided more along cultural, religion, ethnicity, race, and personal values than in the economic lines. Therefore, this research intends to analyze America’s political changes, the need to propagate multiple identities, determining factors of a voter’s choice, immigration issues, and the amendments required to eliminate discrimination.
The Future Relationships of African Americans with other Minority Groups
The population in America has grown gradually with each year recording more numbers of African Americans in every state. The 2012 general election outcomes portrayed that the colored people are simultaneously increasing than their non-Hispanic white counterparts. Therefore, most election candidates have to ensure that they gain substantial support from colored people in the US. From the analysis, the colored people will be the American majority population in the future (Sleeper 125). Hence, there is a need to propagate good relationships between the colored people and the Non-Hispanic White groups because their votes will have an influence on the future politics. The colored people have always faced discrimination in America. However, constitutional changes and an emergence of different ideologies have significantly influenced their importance on political platforms. Moreover, they are consistently improving their social and economic standards. More youths are attending school and graduating with excellent results, consequently securing good jobs in the employment sector. Therefore, due to the influence that the economic status of an individual has on their eligibility to be in a political office, then it is clear that colored people have bigger chances of leading the political future of America.
The aim of propagating healthy relationships is because the tyranny of numbers will determine the political future of America. Hence, the votes from the major ethnic groups will determine the election outcomes. Consequently, due to the discrimination that the minority groups has faced in America, there is a need to foster a way of making them feel wanted. In fact, if something is not done, there might be a conflict, which may affect the social and economic status of a nation. First, the colored people may blindly vote for the corrupt leaders on a basis of ethnicity and race in a bid to fill up the gap left by centuries of inferiority complex (Carter 30). Hence, some of these mistakes may end up ruining an already grown economy because of entrusting the nation into the hands of inexperienced leaders. Therefore, the government should nurture ways of eliminating ethnicity because this concept will significantly affect the political systems that influence the social and economic status of a nation.
Changed Voting Patterns
In America, there have been important changes in the voting patterns. The outcome of an election is facilitated by the campaign strategies used to gather a substantial number of votes from the people. The old manual methods of gaining voter’s confidence have continually become outdated with most voters relying on digital sources to access and support their candidates. Besides, elections have proven to be unpredictable due to the mass usage of the digital platform. In modern America, the application of more volatile campaign strategies to win elections is on the rise, including analyzing and targeting supporters to come out during the polling day. For instance, the Obama campaigns used strategies such as data analytics and experimenting methods to table a winning coalition using each vote. This methodology was a celebration of technology where individuals could comfortably use their devices to participate in the electoral process. The targeting of an individual voter ensured that the campaign teams knew their supporters. The method allowed the candidates to formulate ways of molding their supporters into the electorates they needed during polling and election days (Gibson and Andrea 35). In addition, most candidates are using election sponsors whose job is to analyze the trends professionally and to determine the following factors. Who are leading? Who is lagging behind? Who is the highest gainer? Who is falling back?
On the other hand, voting patterns in American are gradually changing with more participation coming from the colored people. In the past, there were low voter turnouts due to non-registration, age, ethnicity, race, and education background, which were the factors used to analyze the voting demographics. However, this perception is continually changing with more colored people have understood that politics is a determining factor of their well-being and representation in America. Other useful methods are the partaking in successful fundraising and full media coverage to advertise and display the eligibility of a candidate (Sanchez 35). The media acts as a transparent platform where all citizens can understand this participatory process and engage in public debates. In addition, it impounds on valuable information about the parties, their policies, candidates, and the actual election process. With this kind of information, voters are bound to make informed choices. It also safeguards the transparency of the election process by acting as a crucial watchdog throughout these critical periods. Technology and the media have become important election ingredients because they not only serve as advertising platforms, but also enhance connectivity, transparency, and the unity of a nation.
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Importance of Nurturing the Growth of Multiple Identities to Eliminate Ethnic Links
The relationship between ethnic identity and politics is a representation of a particular people’s interest based on ethnic origin, religion, and legitimizing of individually relevant segments. Ethnicity revolves more around social constraints rather than liberalization; hence, becoming a continuous conflict propagator between different ethnic groups. The problem of confinement to different roots leads to the expansion of hostilities towards people from various ethnic groups. Besides, some ethnic groups often participate in uncompromising ways by sacrificing justice and peace to portray their superiority over other individuals. America has always faced persistent cultural problems due to ethnic diversities. However, a nationwide campaign to embrace multiple identities seems to be the solution to this challenge. Embracing multiculturalism is one way of enhancing unity, which will create a one culture nation (Vertovec 575). Hence, people from different backgrounds accept to co-exist comfortably and follow a single philosophy. Moreover, in political science it is suggested that the more individuals identify and link on the ethnic and racial basis the more they become active in the political matters. Importantly, most Americans have embraced multiple identities to suit different aspects depending on particular circumstances.
Various characteristics help an individual identify him/herself with a situation depending on the need to co-exist. For instance, an individual can identify as Mexican with their relatives, but becomes Hispanic at work and Americans when they travel overseas. The link between politics and a diverse identity is the aspect witnessed, especially during elections. Voters are expected to make informed choices based on the issues affecting the country rather than choosing incompetent candidates based on the ethnic links shared (Vertovec 580). Nevertheless, the US is subdivided along racial lines that have a negative impact on the political platforms. Republican candidates mostly comprise of white non-Hispanic individuals and the Democrats mainly include the colored people. Appreciating multiple cultures will significantly assist individuals to make informed political decisions in America because it is a nation founded on grounds of diverse ethnic background.
The Importance of Uniting and Choosing Leaders under the Issue Based Principles
Ethnic diversity in America has resulted in voting candidates into office candidates from the same races instead of selecting individuals who can deliver on real issues affecting the nation. Several factors capitalize voter choices during elections, including social identity, party identification, incumbent performance, policy issues, and a candidate’s traits. For instance, the social identity is inclusive of an individual’s class background, ethnic group, and religion of a candidate (Lazarsfeld et al. 175). However, the social identity principle has significantly contributed towards making uninformed voting decisions. The setback of choosing a leader because of their social credibility denies a more deserving candidate from becoming elected into the same office. Choosing a candidate because of the political party affiliations is also another factor. The democratic and republican parties dominate the US political platform. Hence, most voters are inclined to vote for party members affiliated with these parties. In fact, party identification is crucial because they function as mediators through which the information is passed to its members. The issue of incumbency mostly affects the independent voters who believe in rewarding candidates who have brought significant changes in the case of a re-election.
The policy issues factorization is also imperative. Some voters are inclined to elect an individual who has more productive agendas. Therefore, candidates always ensure that they adjust their positions on particular issues, which may earn them more votes. In addition, the traits of a candidate are the main factor affecting voter’s choice. The personality and physical attributes of a candidate are also considered at times, although by a smaller margin (Lazarsfeld et al. 178). However, it is important to note that the primary factors influencing a voter’s credibility are social identities and policy issues. In America today, there is a nationwide campaign to help people embrace the latter. The reasons why policy issues should be the dominant factor is because they have a personal touch on the problems affecting the citizens. Hence, once such leaders are elected to the office, they always have an obligation to deliver on the issues they promised their supporters.
The Impact of Absence of Stringent Immigration Laws
The American policies dealing with immigration issues have raised concerns because of the lack of a legal framework that would regulate the immigration. Considering the prevalent discrimination claims encompassing America, the government and policymakers are less concerned with issues concerning immigration. Consequently, the United States has experienced a significant entry of both legal and illegal immigrants. Moreover, the immigration policies are strongly shaped by the economic and political ideologies. Nevertheless, the statistics indicate that there is a consistent flow of colored immigrants into America. In fact, by 2043, the immigrants will no longer be the minority groups, but the reigning majority people (Heer 244). Consequently, they are of economic importance because of the contributions they make in providing both skilled and unskilled labor. However, they are a consistent threat to the political contributions since they are likely to develop an ethnic based legislation. The American people are afraid of facing a backlash from the colored people because of prevailing discrimination and racism that has become deeply rooted in the system. There is a possibility that the colored people will rise in the legislative structure and distort the political platform, which was previously based on the credibility of the voting candidate because of their eligibility rather than ethnic background. The government should enact more stringent and non-discriminatory policies to eliminate the adverse impacts that may arise from an increased minority group. Also, national awareness on the need to create a multicultural America should receive scrutiny in a bid to create the Motto of “one people one nation.”
Curbing Discrimination and Promote Political Unity amongst all Ethnic Groups
In the US, there are civic rights that should be upheld to eliminate any cases of discrimination. The issues based on race, religion, color, sex, disability, age, and national origin have become persistent despite measures to eliminate them. Although some of these injustices have significantly reduced, the ethnic, colors, and national origin issues have become a national crisis. However, the American legislation has done an impeccable job of eliminating discrimination. Still, there is a need for a better practical approach to these laws in a bid to enhance unity in this diverse nation (Bianco and Canon 550). It is important to emphasize on a co-existence policy of a color-blind society. Moreover, stringent measures of noncompliance should be introduced to the existing laws, and in the syllabus to help the learners understand the importance of a one-culture nation. Otherwise, if these suggestions do not receive the consideration required there will be more cases of discrimination between the white and colored people. The results will be a situation of disunity amongst the American people and vengeful groups faced with discrimination.
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Conclusion
Ethnicity and racism are the most contributing factors to weak political structures of any nation. In the United States, discrimination has consistently reigned on an ethnic basis. However, a need to correct this problem is necessary because of the gradual changes being witnessed in the US. In the future, the minority population, which is currently discriminated, is expected to become the majority population in the United States. Therefore, there is a need to create cohesion and unity because their decisions often determine the growth and productivity of a nation. Hence, is an issue that requires redress in a bid to prevent any further damages and crisis resulting from negative ethnicity and racism.
