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1.2: Who Is the User?

  • Page ID
    287251
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    If you are reading this, chances are you are a student in a course on American government at an American college or university. You may be a political science major just beginning your study of politics, or a major in some other subject for whom this is the last political science course you will ever take. Perhaps you love politics, can’t get enough of the news, and enjoy debating and discussing political issues with friends (or even enemies). Or perhaps you hate politics, wish you never had to think about it, and can’t understand why other people (especially people like those in the photograph above) get so worked up about it.

    No matter who you are, if you are reading this in the United States, you are a user of America. This is true even if you are not a U.S. citizen, for both citizens and non-citizens can and do benefit, in different ways, from the American political system. When President Abraham Lincoln, in his famous 1863 Gettysburg Address, described American government as “of the people, by the people, for the people,” he was referring to you. Whether you call this country your home temporarily or permanently, you are one of the people for whom America itself was designed, even if it doesn’t always seem that way. This user’s manual is therefore written for you.

    Knowing that you are a user of America raises another question: for what purpose are you using it? This question is a hard one for a user’s manual to answer, especially for such a versatile product. The user’s manual for your car will tell you how to drive but not where; the one for your cell phone will tell you how to contact someone but not whom. Likewise, America can be (and has been) used for many purposes. The first sentence of the U.S. Constitution (known as the Preamble) lists six: union, justice, tranquility, defense, welfare, and liberty. Ultimately, what you will use America for is your decision; this user’s manual is designed to help you make that decision by showing you what’s possible.


    1.2: Who Is the User? is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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