Political culture in US: Lessons for Nigeria

Since the advent of democracy in the ancient Greek city state of Polis, various nations have adopted it as the best political system. Though, its practice has differed in terms of observing the basic tenets and principles in most nations of the world; its universal acceptable definition as propounded by Lincoln as "government of the people by the people and for the people" cannot be ignored. For the purpose of this work, I defined it as given by Lincoln primarily to strengthen our position on how the United States democracy has been anchored on pragmatic political culture which can be seen as the only guarantee for the sustenance of any democratic agenda.

Since the campaign for the 2008 presidential election in the United States among the possible occupants of the White House, programmes are being rolled out among the candidates on why they are best candidates for the United State’s top job. Second, citizens are allowed to vie for positions as long as their idealogical inclination notwithstanding. Third, citizens of the United States vote for candidate of their choice according to the persons agenda for the advancement of the course of the people of the United States . For instance, Mike Huckabbee, a Republican Party presidential aspirant and the 54th governor of Arkansas has stated that; he supports the on-going war in Iraq; second, opposes abortion and same sex-marriage; third, he is against gun control and supports death penalty. Supporting his stand on marriage, he said "There has never been a civilization that has rewritten what marriage and family means and survived". Huckabee indicated that he was against gays serving in the military, and did not believe that women should be allowed in combat. When asked about the issues of gays in the military during his presidential run, Huckabee said he would not change the "don't ask, don't tell" policy, which prohibits openly gay personnel from serving. "...you don't punish people for their attitudes," he said. "You punish them if their behavior creates a problem, and it's already covered by the Uniform Code of Military Conduct."

Obama Barack, a presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, 5th African American senator in United States history and the only African American in the current senate, since announcing his presidential campaign in February has been emphasizing on: ending the war in Iraq , increasing energy independence and providing universal health care as major priorities. Hillary Clinton, former first lady and senator from New York has been emphasizing reforms in mortgage system and health care as some of her programmes if elected president of the United States of America.

American politics is issue based; that is why best candidates do emerge from political parties’ primary elections as prospective candidates are allowed to sell their ideas, convictions, opinions, views, agenda, blueprints and whole ideological inclinations to candidates. For instance, most political analysts believed that Gorge W. Bush got re-elected into office as a result of his stand on war on terror and likewise, it is also widely believed by many that John Kerry lost in the 2004 presidential election as a result of his soft spot on gay movement and abortion related issues. The American politics is based first of all on individual responsibility before collective responsibility which is anchored on the party's support for an individual. Despite the fact that the ruling party produced the president in the United States , the Democrats swept the polls which produced Nancy Pelosi as the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Recent opinion poll among United States citizens shows that Americans split their support among many presidential candidates. While some are clamouring for experienced politicians especially on foreign affairs, others are calling for those who have new ideas. When Americans think of experience, they think of that person as commander in chief and leader of a free world. These among others are factors that have made American politics pragmatic in nature and until some of these features are introduced in Nigerian politics, our political-cum democratic aspirations are not in view.