senior seminar

Essay text:

? William Jennings Bryan ? tries to co-opt populist party · Christopher Lasch ? died in mid 90's ? argues that Pop. Tradition goes deep into American history ? it has endured varying strength ? roots lie in Calvinist theology (especially Puritanism) ? key ideas from Calvinist: · Belief in human limits · Distrust of materialism · Belief in the power of the work ethic · Lasch, Tom Paine, Cabbett, Brownson, Ralph Waldo Emerson ? form of populist radicalism, highly democratic ? skeptical of capitalist notions of progress ? high value that comes from working the land ? accused of being "hayseed socialists" ? says it's most concerned with virtue of the small producer ? attacks capitalism not because it produces poverty or want to destroy ownership but b/c they think it destroys PRIVATE property ? undermines the regime of small producers (small farmers, mom and pop stores) ? not a form of socialism · Capitalism squeezes out all but the biggest fish in the pond · Socialism focuses on poverty on working class ? Populism more concerned with loss of independence · Lasch thinks consumerism is a big problem ? okay if we have enough money to buy cheap products · John Locke ? a lot of emphasis placed on work ? it makes you who you are · More concerned with comfort than freedom · "Culture of narcissism" ? self love to the point of pathology ? Lasch thinks it's a modern characteristic of Americans · Lasch ? "Revolt of the Elites" ? today elites are in many ways, worse than the robber barons of the nineteenth century · Elites ? like to think of us as meritocracy ? Lasch thinks it is part of the problem · Contributes to the decay of elites through social mobility ? legitimizes inequality and drains the natural elites out of the community that needs them the most ? it becomes an excuse not to help them or go back to them because "they could have made it too" 10/17 · "Think tank" ? oxymoron ? already have preconceived notions about what they should do · Democrats typically back Savings and Loans · All begins with deregulation ? 1970's ? Carter Administration ? wanted to deregulate banking so that they could compete ? take off some restrictions of loans ? do risky loans ? go into debt ? must be bailed out because it is ordinary people's money · Mechanisms corporations use were brought up by anti-corporate people · Mechanisms for popular support · Anthony Downs ? Economic Theory of Democracy ? rational actors in politics with limited information and time ? the rich and powerful teach them what they want them to know · Rational politics gets us in this situation to begin with · No one is looking out for the larger public interest · Populists usually know problems but don't know what to do about it · John McCain ? swayed by Savings and Loans · Greider ? cut off contributions from those that you have committee dealings with 10/22 Libertarianism · It is a radical version of liberalism, not very democratic · Goes back to when liberalism split ? property rights (John Locke) · Defense of property rights allowed Locke to attack the king and the aristocracy ? achieves desired political ends · 1700's ? key thinkers developed a liberal economic argument that grew from Locke's standpoint · Mid 1700's ? Physiocrats ? group of thinkers in France · Key Physiocrat ? Francois Quesney ? "laissez faire" ? let it be?hands off approach to economics · The reason for this was that they looked at how wealth was created · Set amount of wealth ? zero sum gain ? mercantilism · For someone to gain wealth, another would have to lose it · Quesney thought that wealth could be generated and increased · How is wealth produced ? Physiocrats ? agriculture ? goes back to Locke · Countries that promote agriculture will generate wealth internally · Physiocrats believed the gov't should keep its hands off the money ? keep it unimpeded · Adam Smith ? Scottish economist ? 1776 ? Wealth of Nations ? argues that economics works according to self-interest ? deliver goods for a lower price than their competition ? also works for the benefit of the public ? "not for the benevolence of the butcher that we expect our dinner, but their self-interest" · Individual self interest leads to public interest · An invisible hand is at work in the marketplace · When the gov't gets too involved, it undermines the invisible hand · Gov't should be limited to securing the law of trade and contract, provide for infrastructure, national defense, and public education ? some room to provide for the poor as well · American founders were sympathetic with these ideas · Defenders of agrarian life, not capitalism, pick up the laissez-faire ideas ? Jefferson and Madison pick it up, not Hamilton · It is a tool of equality · Happy when they are governed locally ? decentralizes power · Jacksonians liked laissez-faire economics ? very Democratic ? believed it was best for the American public · Everything changes with industrialism · Call upon farmers to ease conditions of the poor · Reformers wanted gov't to actively help the poor · Strong, centralized gov't · Defenders of capitalism begin to defend laissez-faire economics · 1870's ? Gilded Age ? wealthy industrialists oppose changes in the system · British thinker ? Herbert Spencer ? 1820-1903 ? "new Liberalism" ? radicalizes the concern for property rights ? the only truly important rights ? it becomes absolute · The Man Versus the State ? 1884 ? man born bad, possible to become good through evolution · Social Darwinism ? related to Spencer's ideas ? sometimes thought to be before Darwin · Spencer coined "survival of fittest" ? God separates the worthy from the unworthy · Economic marketplace is the survival of the fittest · Lamark ? evolution, occurred, animals adapted ? he just didn't tell how · Key differences: · Darwin works at the species level ? changes take place over a vast amount of time · Spencer concerned with individuals ? changes take place rapidly · Unit of analysis and time frame is different · Since it is God's hand, it is wrong to interfere with it · Spencer ? ant state aid to the poor is morally wrong ? it violates God's will ? property is the only measure of moral worth · Even private charity would be morally wrong · The rich are moral examples simply by being rich · Spencer ? "as for the poor, they will die?as they should" · Sumner ? Spencer's disciple ? professor at Yale ? talks about laws of nature ? gov't has two responsibilities: property of men, honor of property (?) · Spencer and Sumner ? both critical of democracy ? poor and the weak are dead weight and a burden on society ? middle class is not significant · Classes do not have responsibilities to another class, just with each other in their own class · Oligarchy · American business leaders pick up on these ideas · They think gov't should keep them out when necessary · Frederick Martin ? "we are the rich, we own America, we intend to keep it" · Carnegie defends philanthropy for the good it does for the rich ? why leave it to an ungrateful kid ? have a building with your name on it · Becomes dominant theory regarding American politics · 1890's ? becomes the primary constitutional doctrine ? idea that constitution was written to protect property rights ? laissez-faire principles ? gov't shouldn't interfere ? dominant ideology for a while in the Republican party (McKinley, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover) ? not Teddy Roosevelt · New Deal killed this doctrine ? things can have serious economic consequences (Depression) · Social Darwinism fades · Hayek ? Austrian economist ? teaches at the London School of Economics ? Road to Serfdom ? doesn't want economic liberalism back ? 1944 10/24 · Libertarianism ? radical, economic wing of liberalism · Socialism is the road to totalitarianism (fascism, communism, etc) · Socialism ? centralized, gov't planning · Pursuit of equality is not necessarily socialist · Nationalization of industry ? core of socialism · Externalities ? something that is not normally taken into account within marketplace relations · Environmental factors are externalities · Hayek will be occasionally pragmatic · Doesn't like redistribution, but he doesn't discount it · Believes in minimal gov't interaction for the poor ? not as calloused about the poor as Spencer is · Providing the poor with jobs and they reap benefits because they have individually and the choices they are able to make · Moral wealth isn't defined by wealth or the amount of property you own · Hayek never talks about evolution being part of the marketplace system ? no survival of the fittest · Hayek's understanding of laissez-faire capitalism is more compassionate than Spencer's that is why he is more compassionate to the poor · Not always sure he likes the term "laissez-faire" · Hayek likes John Stuart Mill · Hasn't witnessed the backlash of Communism at the time that he wrote this book · We have separation of powers in order to fragment power · Representative gov't in Britain and France ? advantageous to this · Hayek ignores practical institutions ? electoral process · Things like that tend to be self fixing · What does Hayek thinks defines the Nazis? Nationalizing business, taking away private property · Hayek doesn't mention them killing Jews, which we see as the core of Nazism · Collectivism ? Nazism ? When it's seen as a left-wing movement ? take away property · Free markets will stop Nazis, Hayek thinks · Once you begin giving up your freedoms, you become used to being dependent · Not individuals any longer, now collectivists · Cites Tocqueville for individualism, but Tocqueville was kind of wary about individualism · What line of thought does he place himself in? Liberal, not conservative · Kirk ? suspicious of libertarians like Hayek · Gov't protects conservatives privilege ? they want gov't interfering in the moral realm · His view of economics: · Why should we worry about monopoly when businesses fail? Hayek isn't worried about it · Rule of law ? how Hayek thinks to solve large businesses; rules of the game to ensure an open market · Hayek thinks there is really no advantage to being a large business · He said people create monopolies, not the corporations themselves · Hayek skeptical of democracy ? no such thing as public opinion ? there are only individuals · Are times when authoritarian gov't provide more freedom than a democracy 10/29 · John Stossel ? libertarian because he doesn't want gov't interference in anything (as long as it doesn't cause physical harm) · 1960's - began as economic laissez-faire and into the cultural realm · Had trouble justifying Vietnam · Libertarians believe in freedom of contract · Conservatives believe in transcendent moral order · Both believed in freedom of property (but for different reasons) · 1960's ? begin to see let-wing movements with libertarian sympathies · 1960's ? cultural force was the growth of rock and roll · Free and on the road ? unencumbered by responsibilities · Rules and limits are inherently totalitarian · Inhibition was seen as bad ? suppressed self expression · Gentle form of hedonism ? saw drug use as okay ? it could open the doors of creativity · Counterculture often merged with a group called the "New Left", which was somewhat socialist and radically Democratic · Counterculture more interested with dropping out ? Timothy Leary ?famous for acid experimentations ? drugs are the path to truth · Skeptical of social elites · New Left wants Democratic ? counterculture wants people to drop out of America's culture · Individualism, antiauthoritarianism, skepticism of power · Wanted to be left alone · Jeff Riggenbach ? turned it into a political movement ? 1979 ? In Praise of Decadence ? wrote it for the Libertarian Review ? choices are equivalent unless they do harm to others ? freedom of choice ? argues that decadence should be celebrated a that which opens up new possibilities for people to pursue - produces innovation and change · Left libertarians ? change is good ? tradition is a prison · Murray Rothbard ? geared toward liberal anarchism ? state is an unnecessary evil ? people basically good, gov't is evil ? evil comes from gov't · Rothbard ? people better off if they join private associations ? focus is on consent (goes back to John Locke) · But when did we consent to this gov't ? tacit consent by living in this gov't (driving its roads, etc) ? he thinks we need to actually consent to it ? gov't controls us by force and coercion · Libertarian party ? first convention in1972 ? statism ? great danger ? have never been able to break through as a major party ? minor party ? most are happy within the Republican party ? care most about property rights ? makes them reasonably comfortable as Republicans · Shouldn't have police powers or fire departments · Liked Madison's gov't ? some libertarians liked Jefferson due to his laissez-faire ideas · In opposition to libertarianism ? communitarianism · Also called civic Republicanism and civic humanism · Think American liberalism is too one sided ? too much about rights, not responsibility · Emphasizes public virtue and participation · Gordon Wood, Bernard Bailun, and John Pocock ? shaped the Republican revision of the American founding · Think John Locke given too much importance · Republican tradition ? Aristotle, Cicero, James Harrington ? "Republic is an empire of laws, not men" · Willingness to sacrifice private interests for public goods · Gov't should have balances in order to avoid corruption · Concerned with separation of powers · Liberalism ? private freedoms · Arendt ? most important political thinker of 20th century ? freedom during founding meant public happiness · 1980's ? this was picked up ? communitarianism movement · Thought liberalism undermined civic virtue · Alistair MacIntyre ? 1981 ? After Virtue ? which human virtues led to the good life ? emotionism ? it's all about how you feel ? wants a return to Aristotle ? what makes someone a good human being ? someone of character ? one who can exercise moral reasoning · Michael Sandel ? 1982 ? Liberalism and the Limits of Justice ? argues liberalism based in a false notion of human nature ? begin by assuming an atomized individual that existed before gov't (state of nature) ? said it never existed ? without society, one is not human ? they are situated self ? product of various social relationships that define us ? must understand individuals and their relationships to society · Liberals ? unencumbered self · Members of organizations t which we have obligations whether we consented or not · Must be concerned with citizenship ? must cultivate it · Gov't has an active interest in character formation in order to become a decent citizen · Most important virtue is citizenship 10/31 · Libertarians see the communitarians as soft fascists · Communitarians see libertarians as whiny teenagers · No such thing as an absolute right · We talk as if our rights are absolute · American Rights Dialect ? talk about rights out of context · Makes it difficult for us to come to reasonable decisions · American politics is, therefore, conflictual · "Mere assertion over reason-giving" ? politics over policy · Produce consensus and compromise · Locke ? good storyteller ? state of nature ? property is his key right ? wrote it to go against the absolute monarchy ? Americans took him literally · Argued that all men and women were property of the king ? Locke appeals to notion of self ownership · It existed before gov't ? he explains property as an extension of yourself ? delegitimizes the king · Therefore, we talk about rights in an absolute way · Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights ? no mention of fraternity or responsibility to others · Duties go along with rights · We got rights without the accompanying virtues · Individualistic and legalistic cultures today · Communal standards of morality are now restrained · Replaced by law are the reminder of obligations to others · Our court system is more adversarial than Europeans ? British go after truth ? we just want to win · A man's home is his castle · Thinks Americans confuse desires and rights · Trust democracy ? that is the answer ? full public debate · Libertarians put no faith in democratic bodies to make reasonable decisions ? they always run to the courts · As time has gone on, property rights were de-emphasized · Right to privacy emerged ? the right to be left alone · Paparazzi were the inspiration for right to privacy · 1965 ? Supreme Court gets involved ? Griswold v...