HIST-1302 Final Paper

.docx

School

Grand Canyon University *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

1302

Subject

History

Date

Apr 3, 2024

Type

docx

Pages

6

Uploaded by ElderMoose3634 on coursehero.com

Zoe Warmoth HIST-1302.WP1 May 12, 2020 CWID 100335530 Two-hundred and forty-four years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, America is still debating the benefits of socialism or communism over capitalism and portions of our society are willing to give up their freedoms in exchange for an artificial promise of equality. Our country was founded upon the idea of equal opportunity. While that does not guarantee equal outcomes, it does guarantee that one has the freedom to pursue the outcome they desire. America would never have achieved the prosperity and success it has without a capitalist economy. In this nearly two-and-a-half century ideological debate between socialism or communism and capitalism, Americans have been presented with a false choice that belies the fundamental truth that American’s frustration and discontent with capitalism is misplaced. In “The Central Truth”, excerpted from Henry George’s 1879 book Poverty and Progress , George asserts that land is a natural resource and should belong to all members of society (George 1879). He likened the system of property ownership to a serfdom in which a man becomes a bondsman to the property owner (George 1879). George, who diverged from Karl Marx only in the means by which socialism should be attained, spoke of the natural laws of the universe, implying that land, being endowed by the Creator, should be communal property, not private (George 1879). This is a denial of the fact that, Biblically, the Creator endowed land to individuals as far back as the Old Testament. This Marxist argument against property ownership flies in the face of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states that the government cannot deprive an American citizen of private property and sets limits on the practice of eminent domain. Our Founding Fathers, George Washington included, stressed the importance of property rights - both land and intellectual - to a free and just society. Drawing heavily on the philosophy of John Locke, they believed that private property and its ownership thereof was the natural result of the labor of man improving nature. As man labors upon the earth, he has a right to call that portion of the earth his own, creating wealth out of his labor.
Zoe Warmoth HIST-1302.WP1 May 12, 2020 CWID 100335530 Andrew Carnegie’s The Gospel of Wealth , written ten years after “The Central Truth”, sought to address the national outcry for a redistribution of wealth. Carnegie, a self-made man of considerable affluence and a prolific philanthropist, did not dispute the concept that the wealthy should give back to society; he disputed that government was the vehicle by which to redistribute that wealth. Carnegie asserted that the wealthy have an obligation to use their fortune to benefit the society in which they live (Carnegie 1889). He contrasted communism’s complete overthrow of the American economic system, which would hinder prosperity on nearly every level, and the redistribution of wealth by the government with philanthropy’s further evolution of the existing system, which has allowed prosperity to flourish, and the redistribution of wealth by the wealthy themselves (Carnegie 1889). The Gilded Age and the Industrial Revolution were times of phenomenal economic growth in America. The emergence of big business and successful businessmen such as Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller proved that the American experiment with a capitalist economy was successful. However, even in the face of these successes, poverty was rampant. There was a great chasm between the haves and the have-nots. Though the public outcry was valid, the replacement of a successful capitalist economic system with a communist system that had been proven to fail throughout history was not the answer. On March 4, 1933, three years into the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated as the 32 nd President of the United States of America. Seizing upon the widespread suffering and frustration of the American people, Roosevelt used his First Inaugural Address to call for sweeping reforms, greatly expanding the federal government and the power it held (Roosevelt 1933). Equating the task of rebuilding the economy and the nation to fighting a war, Roosevelt called for bold action, as he villified the investors and bankers that brought the United States economy to its knees, taking the life savings of hard-working Americans with it (Roosevelt 1933). He laid these moral and ethical deficiencies
Zoe Warmoth HIST-1302.WP1 May 12, 2020 CWID 100335530 at the feet of big business and capitalism. Roosevelt believed that America’s true destiny lie in social justice and social welfare, which would require a complete restructuring of American government, redistribution on a national scale, the nationalizing of goods and services and strict government regulation (Roosevelt 1933). As his answer to the excesses and corruption of big business, Roosevelt ushered in the era of big government. Roosevelt’s New Deal was the largest expansion of the federal government in the history of the United States at that point, setting a precedent for government interference in the economy and social welfare programs that continue to this day. Before taking the Oath of Office of the President of The United States, Roosevelt was the governor of New York. Always a staunch supporter of progressive policies, he implemented numerous new social programs during his tenure as governor. Using the suffering of the American people during the longest depression in American history as justification, Roosevelt brought his vision for big government to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. However, this widespread expansion of the federal government did little to alleviate the suffering of the Great Depression. It would take a World War to do that. When World War II ended in September of 1945, the American people were filled with joy, faith and relief. Good had triumphed over evil; the German Nazi regime had been vanquished and America was victorious. However, one year later, the American people had lost their faith and were now filled with despair, hopelessness, cynicism, doubt, fear and insecurity. Where they once had cheered the end of a global war and hoped to usher in a new era of hope and democracy, they now feared a world where communism threatened to take over. It was at this point in the history, one year after the end of World War II, that Kenneth MacFarland wrote “The Unfinished Work”. MacFarland, a prolific conservative commentator until his death in 1985, implored his fellow Americans to put aside the racial tensions that had been festering in America up to this point and come together to defeat the common enemy that
Your preview ends here
Eager to read complete document? Join bartleby learn and gain access to the full version
  • Access to all documents
  • Unlimited textbook solutions
  • 24/7 expert homework help