Overview
- Post 3 facts regarding life in colonial America which you learned from this video that you did not know before.
- Write one paragraph summarizing the various issues discussed in chapter three.
- Which of John Locke's belief resonated with you most? Explain why this is so.
Please submit your answers as one assignment. HERE ARE THE LINKS TO READ https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/03/the-... https://www.vox.com/2018/4/27/17290610/paul-ryan-f...READ BELOW:
Module 2 LectureAt the core of social welfare lies the question of what the government's responsibility is to its people. Framed differently, it’s a matter of the rights and entitlements of the citizens vis-a-vis the government. The progressive and conservative perspectives present different ways of approaching answers to these questions. Before elaborating on the differences between these two political ideologies, it is important to first highlight that which unites them. Liberals and conservatives alike agree on the right of human beings to freedom and to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” as promised by the Declaration of Independence. The two camps diverge, however, when they attempt to answer the question of how to achieve the aforementioned rights.
Conservatives believe that we are all born into a level playing field and it is the responsibility of each one of us to pursue our goals and achieve that which we desire. According to conservatives, the government must provide its people with the freedom necessary to pursue these goals. It is not their responsibility, however, to ensure the success of that pursuit. Rather, they focus on empowerment of the individual to accomplish that which he or she desires. Essentially, they stand by the promise of the "American Dream," which claims that with hard work and determination, anyone can achieve success.
Progressives, on the other hand, have much more demanding expectations of the government in ensuring equality in society. They believe that individuals cannot control the life that they’re born into and therefore the government is responsible for guaranteeing equality for all. The government must step in to rectify social injustices, protect human rights, and guarantee that no one is in need.
These different political philosophies express themselves across the gamut of issues that society contends with, from questions about economics, education, reproductive rights, global warming, gun control, homeland security, etc.
The U.S. social safety net is a series of welfare programs meant to protect struggling Americans from falling into extreme financial hardship.
Throughout American history, the different social welfare programs and policies in effect were a reflection of the political ideologies of the administrations of those eras. The presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, for example, was a period marked by policy reform inspired by liberal ideologies. President Johnson declared a “War on Poverty” in 1964, which saw the creation of many social welfare programs under the Economic Opportunity Act, including Upward Bound, Job Corps, and Head Start, to name just a few. A year later, in 1965, Congress created Medicare and Medicaid, providing funding for a host of services to benefit older Americans, launched the Food Stamp Program, and set up the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Theoretical Foundation of our Social Welfare System
The following three theorists have helped form the theoretical context and framework for our social welfare system. Embedded within the thinking of Adam Smith, John Locke, and John Rawls are the basic concepts of US social welfare, the functions and roles of social welfare in society, social and personal perspectives and values that influence the policies and the politics of social welfare. Adam Smith was a great economist and political theorist who informed our founding fathers on how to make a capitalistic economy more humane and more meaningful. He identified 4 ideas about the world of work: Specialization; Consumer Capitalism; How to Treat the Rich; and the Education of the Consumer. In doing so, he outlined how human values can be reconciled with the needs of businesses. John Locke's greatness as a philosopher is based on his theories on childhood, his work on religious toleration, and his concept of the rights of citizens. He believed that the ultimate aim of the state was to promote the quiet and comfortable living of people in society. He helped to make us who we are by influencing our founding fathers. One of the most important elements of the struggle over social welfare policy is the difference in interpretation of the term “distributive justice.” Distributive justice” concerns the justified distribution of benefits and burdens in society. . . . The distribution of benefits and burdens is a cooperative social process structured by various moral, legal, ideological, and cultural principles” (Latridis, 1963).
Rawls attempted to answer the question of how is social justice connected to an individual's pursuit of the good life?
Rawls argues that when we think of how to create a just society, we need to imagine that we are all placed under a "veil of ignorance," where we don't know anything about the various advantages – social or natural – that we are born into.
From Poor Law to Welfare State
The basic tenets and programs of any social welfare system reflect the values of the society in which the system functions. Like all other social institutions, social welfare systems do not arise in a vacuum; they stem from the customs, statutes, and practices of the past. Therefore, one cannot understand current efforts to help the needy without first comprehending the foundations on which they were built.
Walter Trattner
Having spent some time discussing the origins of the philosophy of the welfare state, we will now begin our discussion of the history of the welfare state. Why is it important to learn the history of America's welfare society?
How did the welfare system evolve?
What beliefs is the system based on?
From the beginning of time, people have shown concern for one another. It is part of the human makeup and of every culture and society. Understand as well, that the term "social welfare" is a very broad one. It encompasses any form of assistance whether public or private that is intended primarily to promote the well being of individuals within a society.
In the first three chapters of Trattner's "Poor Law to Welfare State", you read about the humble beginnings of the welfare state, Colonial America, and the Industrial Revolution. In these chapters, Trattner attempts to show us that while America was growing and progressing, poverty and assistance were ever changing and evolving.
In chapter three you read about reasons for the rising rate of poverty in the 1700s. You also learn about the conflicting beliefs of the Calvinists and of advocates of the Enlightenment regarding those afflicted with poverty.
Introduction
History, as nearly no one seems to know, is not merely something to be read. And it does not refer merely, or even principally, to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. |
James Baldwin |
Originally, explorers in the 16th (and then colonialists in the 17th) century sought riches. Religious dissenters came seeking freedom of worship.
Presidential historian Jon Meachum has pointed out that Americans always lived with—and perpetuated—fundamental contradictions, and still do in the 21st century. Settlers brought with them captive African slaves which was the first chapter in the saga of American slavery—America's original sin. Europeans then set about removing Native American populations, setting in motion a long chain of events that continues this day. And so, while whites built and dreamed, people of color were subjugated and exploited by a rising nation that prided itself on the expansion of liberty. Those twin tragedies shaped us then and ever after.
For the American founders, Enlightenment thinkers such as John Locke and Adam Smith permeated the age with the hope that progress would be possible through inquiry, argument, and reform. Reason, religion, and capitalism were the tributaries that met to form the powerful river that impressed Europeans.
Michael Eric Dyson refers to our country as the “United States of Amnesia.” He says much of the past remains hidden or forgotten. We need to confront the darkest chapters of American History from the legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery, which was the dispossession of Native Americans from their land; slavery and its racist roots followed by Jim Crow, lynching, voter suppression, and mass incarceration; and biased immigration policies, which lead to forced internment camps and exclusions that remain until this day.
If we are able to own our past and claim internal responsibility for it, we won’t be condemned by it, and possibly we can be liberated by it. Consider this quote from Maya Angelou:
"History despite its wrenching pain, cannot be relived, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again."
Take a look at this cartoon. What does it say about the United States of Amnesia?The papal bull “Inter Caetera,” issued by Pope Alexander VI on May 4, 1493, played a central role in the Spanish conquest of the New World. The document supported Spain’s strategy to ensure its exclusive right to the lands discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1402. The bull stated that any land not inhabited by Christians was available to be “discovered,” claimed, and exploited by Christian rulers and declared that the “Catholic faith and the Christian religion be exalted and be everywhere increased and spread, that the health of souls be cared for and barbarous nations be overthrown and brought to the faith itself.” This “Doctrine of Discovery” became the basis of all European claims in the Americas, as well as the foundation for the United States' western expansion that was termed “Manifest Destiny.” According to a unanimous decision by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1823, American Indians had only a right of occupancy, which could be abolished at any time.