Government 1A Essay 4

“Describe Bastiat’s concept of the politics of plunder.”

Frederic Bastiat was an economist who defended and believed in the free market. In his essay called, The Law he explores the concept of plunder. What is plunder? Merriam Webster defines plunder as: “To take by force or wrongfully.” This is a very simple concept to understand. Someone has something they want and they will take it, or try to take it, whether it is morally right or not. When dealing with plunder there is a lack of morality going on in the assailants head, and it is greed that drives them to take action.

Of course, no society really defends thieves who come in and break into homes, or take which is not their own. However Bastiat points out the hypocrisy of some politicians who plunder for their own benefit. Bastiat believed that men have been given three things from God; liberty, personality and property. From those rights come personal safety, the right of labor and the fruits of labor. If any one of these freedoms go unrecognized, than your rights have been violated. Bastiat believed that the state is supposed to protect those rights, and uphold justice to those who have been wronged.

In this essay Bastiat said that two things are the source of destroying the rights of people. Naked greed and misconceived philanthropy. Naked greed is where someone desires to control as much money as possible. Misconceived philanthropy is when someone implements the welfare state at the expense of others. Bastiat called this, legalized plunder. Naked greed is the driving point and misconceived philanthropy is the action being taken. When the Government begins to “legalize” plunder, there is a disregard of the law. The respect that was held is no longer important, because morally, the compass is off. When the Government actively participates in legalized plunder, then we no longer have a free society, which Bastiat believed was the way to a happier Government and society.

English 4 Essay 3

“Was Bradford’s account a morality tale for future generations?”

Bradford wrote, Of Plymouth Plantation, to describe the Puritans escape for religious freedom from the Anglican Church. During the Puritans journey to America, they encounter many challenges and hardships that most people would conclude as problems from life. Bradford is adamant that these hardships are from God, and they should accept these challenges and continue trusting God. Bradford preached this as a way that alluded to these problems being pre-destined.

The early Puritan belief was that God has no love in him, no grace, mercy or patience, because God is looking for perfection. The Puritans believed that God is angry at you for being an imperfect, if you continue to live in rebellion against God, you will be thrown into the depths of hell to burn eternally. There is one way to salvation, that is God will deliver you through threats of punishment. If you then step out of God’s alignment, you are then forsaken from God. There is still a problem, people are still imperfect, so because of our imperfect nature we will be tempted by greed and sin. These temptations are too much for us too handle and we will indeed, be subject and cave into our sinful nature. When we sin against God, he will send a tragedy and we will realize that we need God and be humbled. The early puritan belief was that one had to live a perfect life, in order to please God and make it into heaven.

Bradford’s book is full of the early Puritan teachings, and Of Plymouth Plantation was, no doubt supposed to be a book that would continue the legacy of these teachings. The Puritan belief’s were very extreme. These are the type of teachings that make people scoff at Christianity. There was no actual consideration for humanity, the early Puritan belief relied on fear. Fear that God would destroy our lives if we did not live according to his will. This is not helpful to anyone, being constantly afraid that God will condemn us to hell if we disobey his teachings. In this belief system there is no hope for humans anyway, because we are bound to succumb to our earthly nature. If anything, I can only imagine that this would make future generations rebel even more because they have no hope.

Economics Essay 3

“Is it worth my time to get a part-time job at the minimum wage?”

Part time jobs are extremely popular for high school and college students, or for moms who need to bring in a little extra income. They can be flexible and work differently from person to person. However the cost for working a part time job is minimum wage. So if the job does not pay that much, why do people work if they do not get a lot of benefits coming from their job?

1. The first reason is people simply need a job to survive off of. If they do not work, they will not survive and depending on their situation and stage in life, they need to pay bills and eat. Some people work several part time jobs just to make ends meet.
2. People get experience from working part time jobs. You learn how to relate, work well and communicate with others. You can learn important life skills that will help your relationships later on in life. When communicating with fellow coworkers or a boss, it is important to know how to articulate your situations in a clear, professional manner. When/if you decide to get married, you need to learn to relate and communicate with your spouse. Life skills are something that people often overlook as benefits. People want something with instant gratification, and that is often, money.
3. Some people want extra spending money, usually if they are in high school, that is the motivation for getting a job.

There are always some cons in any situation in life, and part time jobs are no different. If you have some coworkers or a manager that are not pleasant to be around, it will make the work place tense. Customers might be difficult, problems will most definitely arise, and they are never fun to deal with, but they need to get done.

I have personally worked several “unofficial” part time jobs, from babysitting to cleaning houses to a research job, and oddball jobs that come every now and then. Is it worth it for minimum wage? Where I am at in life, yes. I am a high school student who is looking for any opportunity to make money and gain experiences. If an adult who has been in his/her career field for several years and is doing fine, then a minimum wage job is not worth their time.

Economics Essay 2

“If the state regulated garage sales, would poor people be better off?”

Garage sales have been around for a number of years. The benefits of having a garage sale include, getting rid of old junk and making space, to making a little extra pocket money. Garage sales offer a lot of things to buy, one might call them junk. Without many things to sell, there is not a lot of demand for buyers to come look and potentially buy your goods. Garage sales are set up by the owner of the goods, but what would happen if that changed?

If the state was in charge of setting up garage sales, it would look very different than how we are used to seeing them. An individual would have to ask the state to set up a place, time and day for them to sell their goods. The individual would then supply the goods to sell and one of two things would happen. The state would either convince the individual to sell them the goods for a lower price, then sell said goods for a higher price. Or the state, might, ask for a license to sell said goods. Then at the actual sale, the state would ask for a significant percentage of the sales. When someone can capitalize off of an opportunity, they will most definitely take it. At the end of the day, the individual looses and the government gets richer.

There are clearly many losses for an individual in this system, but what are the benefits of this system? Marketing. The exposure that the garage sale would have would be exponentially higher than if an individual were to put up signs on their neighborhood poles. There would be less stress surrounding the sale, such as wondering how you were going to set it up, how well it would do, etc.

There is an ultimate goal for an individual when having a garage sale and that is making money. The system where the state is in control is flawed and sets up individuals for failure, in that regard. It is safe to say that if the state was in charge of garage sales, poor people would stay poor, or end up poorer.

Government 1A Essay 3

“Online education is bad for society because it puts classroom teachers out of work.”

Schools have been around for centuries. The most common form of schooling in America since 1635, has been public school. This means that teachers have been employed for centuries. In recent times, with the invention and worldwide spread of the internet, online schooling has become an option for parents to choose from. However, this of course means that teachers that teach in public or even private schools loose those students that choose to learn from home.

At face value this does seem like a bad thing. Teachers are being put out of work due to this shift but we have to look deeper, rather than just accept what is just presented to us.

1. Teachers are still needed in order to teach online classes. Online school would not be an option if a teacher had not started it. A teacher that taught in a private or public school had to leave said institution and start their own school, keeping them employed.
2. There does not have to be, and in most cases there is not one teacher that teaches every single subject. In fact, online schools reach out to other teachers they know or respect and ask them to teach for their school.
3. Children come in waves just like they do in a public or private school. Even after there are children that have grown up and no longer need an education, it does not mean that younger children have that same knowledge. Online school is there for the teachers to stay employed.
4. In a classroom there is a limited amount of students that can fit, however online you can have countless students, which would support the teacher more than if they were in a classroom.
5. There is a level of convenience that public/private schools offer. Parents do not need to get involved or worry about teaching the child. Parents might have jobs, so sending them to school is their only option. Even if a percentage of children go to learn from home, there are enough parents that send their children to school for different reasons to keep classroom teachers employed.

Government 1A Essay 2

“Describe family government in terms of the five institutional characteristics: sovereignty, hierarchy (authority), law, sanctions, and succession. Offer an opinion on what the source of the family’s sovereignty is.”

Sovereignty: The Sovereign in a Government is the highest form of authority. The Sovereign in Family Government, are the parents. The parents have the responsibility of taking care of the children, up to a certain age, when the children are ready to go off on their own. Until that happens, the children are under the authority of their parents, who make laws for their children to obey.

Authority: Authority is where there is a higher power that has more authority than the “common people” but is not the ultimate power in the Government. I would argue that the oldest sibling(s) are second in command and hold authority, to some extent, over the younger children. With age comes a certain type of maturity and of course while not in everyone’s cases, the oldest is more mature and responsible. That is not to say that at some point the younger sibling will not hold that same type of maturity, but while the parents are not around, the older sibling(s) is put in charge of the younger sibling(s). This is very common in families, where as the age decreases so does the amount of power that they hold.

Law: In Family Government, the law is made up by the parents rules, guidelines, wishes or commands. Most times these laws have reasons, and do not exist because the parents want to enforce power over their children. Simply put, the law is what the parents have established as acceptable. A common law that parents have set up with older children is a curfew. Curfews are seen as important to a parent because they want to keep their child safe.

Sanctions: When the children rebel against the laws of the parents, there are consequences set up to punish the child. For instance, if a child breaks their curfew, the parents might have a consequence set up, such as being grounded from seeing their friends for disobeying the law. Punishments are set up so that the child does not rebel against the parents authority. Punishments are there to enforce a sense of hierarchy, that exists outside of the home as well.

Succession: When children follow the law there are rewards that a parent might give their child. When the child is young, it might be a small piece of candy, or a toy. As the child, or children get older, the rewards shift and change as well. The child instead might get money, or a small present. A piece of jewelry, or a knife, etc. This is there to encourage the child to continue following the laws, with the mindset that obedience creates positive outcomes.

Economics Essay 1

“If you were flying across country, would you rather sit in first class, or would you rather your parents gave you the difference between the first-class fare and the coach fare?”

When flying, the option of first class is an extremely exciting one. Not just because it is expected to be fancy, but because of the social status it implies. However, there are several considerations that have to be made in any situation. The first consideration is, of course, the cost. What is the cost and what are the benefits of paying for those costs? In this situation, you are paying extra money in exchange for comfort.

The second consideration is, what does the competition offer? The first class seat is competing against a coach seat, that does not have the benefits of flying first class, but it’s availability cost wise is much more affordable. Due to this fact, people usually exchange their comfort, to save their wallet.

The last consideration I have is, what is the goal? Ultimately the goal is to travel from point A, to point B. You may have other motivations and goals as well, but there is an ultimate goal. This means that the ultimate goal is the top priority to complete. If you can complete the ultimate goal and you do not care about any of the luxuries, than the coach seat is more than enough to satisfy your needs.

Personally if there was an opportunity to fly first class and I could afford to pay for it, I think it would be fun to fly first class. Ultimately, if I could not afford it, I would rather exchange my comfort in order to save my wallet.

American History Essay 1

“Why do you think the information that I have covered in the first ten lessons is not covered in American history textbooks in high school or college?”

In the society we live in right now, media controls the narrative, whether it is right, wrong, or good, we can’t deny the incredible impact that social media has on our opinions and mindset. The varying opinions and discussions had on the internet makes it difficult to be heard if the majority is so overwhelmingly loud that it cancels out different voices and opinions. This is the same in any society. If you have a differing opinion from the majority, than you are either wrong, crazy or put to silence. We can see this happening on social media everyday.

So why haven’t people heard of the stories that prove Columbus and even the Vikings weren’t the first people to discover America? I believe that there are several reasons why, and the first is that people have a certain agenda they want to put out. People always have an agenda that they want to push, they have a story or a statement that they want to be heard. If something does not match with their agenda they will try their hardest to push their agenda and silence others who do not agree with them, whether or not they are in the wrong for doing it. Finding the real truth and the real facts is something that most people don’t care about anymore. People are too caught up in yelling out their opinions, that they don’t consider listening to the other side.

People have pride and no one likes being knocked down from their pedestal. People are stubborn. The most common reaction is to keep pushing their personal agenda. They might know they are wrong and not care, or they might convince themselves that they are right. Others hear of this opinion and believe it. This is how false narratives are made, maintained, and believed.

People are attracted to like-minded people. In a circle where everyone thinks the same way, and believes the same thing, there isn’t as much of a threat of facing conflict. When everyone is telling each other they are right, there is no reason for change. If someone comes and challenges their beliefs, they have not been prepared to deal with this difference of opinion. So dismissal is common, and when majority rules, it is hard to have your voice heard.

As a result of the things listed above, people simply do not know that there is a differing opinion to their own. People are teaching what they have been taught, and people are believing what they are being taught. Because in their mind they have the facts and they must have the truth. The majority of the people who know about the truth, want to keep pushing their own agenda, so they are simply quiet because they can not disprove the facts.

If we look at it simply the reason that this misinformation has been spread for decades, is because of greed. The greed of wanting to be right. Once you have believed something for a long time, it is hard to accept anything else as fact. I believe that the only people to blame are the ones who continued to push a false narrative, even while knowing the truth.

English 4 Essay 2

 “Which book was more memorable, Cabeza de Vaca’s or Las Casas’s? Why?”

A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, was written by Las Casas about his experience as a priest in the Indies. He writes about the several different trials that the Spaniards imposed upon the Indians. There were several accounts of the Indians being enslaved, beaten, murdered and tortured by the Spaniards. Las Casas discusses his distain for these unholy acts, because he knew that you could not force a person to convert faith by force. Not only was it a violation of the Bible but also of human rights. These encounters that the Indians had with the Spaniards made Las Casas’ job much harder. The Indians were not open to accepting the Christian faith because they believed that hell would be better than eternity with the Spaniards. Why would they think any different? Throughout history it has become very clear that you can not convert faith if you genuinely do not believe in it, no matter how much force is applied.

In Las Casas book there are many accounts that are questionable. The details in the accounts seem either extremely exaggerated, or completely made up. There are documents where there are millions of Indians being enslaved at a time. While at the time the Indians did occupy most of, if not all of the land, how did the millions of Indians get enslaved in one single area? And if there were millions of Indians enslaved by a few hundred Spaniards, why didn’t they fight back? Las Casas was clearly exaggerating but his actions are understandable. He was one of the first people to try and change the stigma that the Indians were “savages.” Las Casas’ belief in freedom and respect is something that should be admired.

Between the two books, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, by Las Casas and Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America, written by Cabaza de la Vaca, they are quit different. Not only their experiences but their writing. Vacas writing was clear, precise, expressive and informative. When reading his book, you could place yourself into the location from the description and the amount of detail written in his book. Not only was it immersive, but fun to read. After reading Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America you didn’t feel like you had been drained. With A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, it was hard to read at times. It was not my favorite book that I have ever read, simply because of the writing style. It did not pull me in the way other books have. I never felt like I wanted to continue reading, not because of the gore or brutal details, but because I was uninterested. When trying to gain sympathy, that is not a good thing. In all A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies, is a book that talks about an important topic in history, however the execution could have been better.

Government 1A Essay 1

“Is the Family a Legitimate Form of Government?”

What is Government at it’s core? In order to determine if Family is a type of Government, we should understand what Government actually is. Here is what Merriam Webster defines Government as.

1. “The body of persons that constitutes the governing authority of a political unit or organization.”
2. “The organization, machinery, or agency through which a political unit exercises authority and performs functions and which is usually classified according to the distribution of power within it.”

Government at it’s core, as Merriam Webster defines, is considered to be an institution of a person/people who has control and power, meaning they have the authority to make rules or laws that control and effect the lives of the individuals living in that society. The people that possess this power are considered the “god” in this society. A “god” in a society is simply the highest form of sovereignty. This is what Government is without the gears, politics, and personal thoughts and feelings. Government is a power dynamic between people.

What is Family? A Family is generally considered to consist of two parents, and any number of children. In this dynamic, the parents are considered to be the people holding the power, because they are responsible for the child/children’s lives up to a certain point. Therefore, in this institution we have a “god(s)” that possess power over a certain group of individuals.

In conclusion, I believe that Family is a form of Government, but it is certainly not the highest form of Government. The parents simply have power over their responsibilities and they have the right to make rules for the children, making them the “god” in this society.