Analysis Of Emma Lazarus s The Melting Pot - 849 Words

Emma Lazarus’s iconic poem referring to the â€Å"huddled masses yearning to breathe free† conjures an image of an idealistic, accepting America welcoming refugees with open arms into the bosom of freedom and liberty. (Magleby, O’Brien, Light, Peltason, Cronin, 2008., p. 114) However, in contrast with this image, America has always been inconsistent with it’s acceptance and instead is frequently suspicious of any newcomers due to differences in religion, political ideology, skin color or any number of reasons that could potentially be suspect. Despite this suspicious and oftentimes ethnocentric nature American society also prides itself on its diversity, which is typically called the â€Å"melting pot†. Due to this diversity among the inhabitants of the country and the established political traditions that developed political identity is made up of a broad spectrum of characteristics that come together to create one’s ideology. Much of a person’s political identity begins with the beliefs and ideas absorbed in the home from parents and relatives, in school, and so forth, but regional differences, race, ethnicity, gender, family structure, religion and level of income are also contributing factors in how one’s political identity and ideology takes shape. (Magleby, et al., 2008., p. 115) Though there are overreaching national political traditions such as our two party system by virtue of manifest destiny, the United States stretches from coast to coast with each region having