The American Way of Life Is Non Negotiable?

All year we've discussed one major topic, the American Way of Life. Before this class I used to think that the way I lived was unique to me and had no influences other then friends and family, nothing else. What I soon learned was that my whole life has basically been planned by America itself. Our own former President Bush has said that The American Way of Life is Non Negotiable, that is not as encouraging as one might think due to the fact that America is not as great as one might think. The American Way of Life may not be negotiable to people who are ignorant to what is going on, but as Schoolhouse Rock once said, "Knowledge is Power".
If we are going to make the American Way of Life negotiable, you must understand that Capitalism plays a HUGE part in the AWOL. The definition of capitalism is "an economic and social system in which individuals can maximize profits because they own the means of production." In lesser terms capitalism is a market that doesn't have government influence. The basics of capitalism is that there is a "Invisible Hand" that really controls everything that happens in capitalism. The invisible hand is the theory that conservatives use to just let things happen in the world of capitalism, no one tells anyone how to run there business or what price to sell things, the invisible hand kind of "controls" all of that and it makes things happen. When I say make things happen I really mean that it forces competition between other business. That's a good thing for the consumer because it makes it so that the companies are making better products that are cheaper to buy in order to compete with the competition. Another good aspect of capitalism is that the government has no involvement so no one tells us how much to sell or how much to buy for. The whole idea of the “Invisible Hand” came from the article titled “I, Pencil”. The main idea of the story “I, Pencil” is that the author Leonard E. Read wanted to show us that it takes so much to build one little item. Not one person can make one object, it takes people and machines all around the world helping out when making products such as a pencil. The pencil is created by the natural forces (the Invisible hand) that controls people and things and makes people trade for goods/services. The deeper idea of the article, the main idea behind the main idea I believe is Capitalism. When the pencil speaks of the people that make it and the different materials needed to make it are all simple to the main factors of capitalism. The Labor in this story are all of the people (workers) mentioned in the story such as, the miners. The land in the story would be the tree, the seeds that plant the tree etc. The capital would be the saws, and the trucks. All of this is then provided by the household which then helps the factor market. The business makes more money because of the fact that the household is providing (through taxes) the cost of making all of these products (the pencil). While they're making more money they can make more of the product and then sell it to the household. In the story the person or thing that controlled all of this was the Invisible Hand. The hand can be construed as the Profit Motive, which is the chance for businesses to make more money. People buy into capitalism because of all the goods that come out of it.
At this point I saw that the American Way of Life was based entirely on Capitalism and thought that only had to do with stuff that involved buying and selling. Then we spoke about Birth in America and I found out Capitalism played a big role in that as well. My thoughts on the whole birth process took a dramatic turn after we as a class watched the Business of Being Born. After watching that I wanted my future wife and I to have a home birth and I thought I could do a good job convincing her.
The same way I thought about Birth was the same thing I thought about health care. I used to think that everywhere it cost money for health care and that it was just something we had to deal with. After watching most of Sicko, I realized that once again Capitalism is a part of everything and that its really hurting America. People not knowing about what it is like overseas and what it really is like in other places other than America , is what is making the American Way of Life no negotiable and that is what I am trying to get away from.
Capitalism is also effecting something so simple as food. The mainstream corporate way of eating food and just the way food is done is that it’s basically fast food, convenient, easy to cook food rather then food that takes time to prepare. On TV and in movies the kind of food that is always shown are burgers, cakes, candy, fast food chains, pizza and other "junk food". It seems as if the food that is the fastest and more convenient to make is the cheapest while the healthier foods are more expensive; and that is kind of messed up because it is basically saying that it is going to cost you to be healthy in America, while they end up making money of the fast food still because when you are unhealthy you have to go to the doctor which is going to cost money and if your insurance does not cover what ever your sickness is then its going to cost even more money. It is all just a big cycle of paying sustain good health.
When I came into this class I was as ignorant as the average American. I thought the way I lived now was different from everyone while in fact it wasn’t so different at all. After taking this class I am now able to be that different American I thought I was, I am able to really know what I am eating and make the decision of what to eat and what not to eat. I can make the decision to have a home birth or a home birth or have one in a birthing center because I know have that knowledge. I can also make the decision to really move out of America based on health care reasons because of what I know now. Making sense of the American Way of Life can really be as simple as knowing about Capitalism but can be so complicated that it may never be figured out.