Inequality views and proposal from various scholars
Question one
Kennan came up with ideas that hugely influenced foreign policy during the reign of Truman. He came up with a document that he named X Article. In the document, he tried to describe the elements of a policy that the USA should use toward the communist, the Soviet Union. He poised that, ‘the policy must be of long term, it should be pertinent yet firm as well as vigilant containment of the expansive character of the Russia” he advocated for counteracting of the pressure of the soviet union against the free institutions of western European countries. He pointed out that this can be done through skilful and tactical use of counter-force and series of the constant shifting of the geographical as well as the political points that agree with the changes and manoeuvring policies of the Soviet Union policies. He observed that such a policy would lastly lead to break up of the soviet or gradual decline of the soviet’s power.
On the other hand, natural security came with another idea that seemed to gain acceptance compared to the idea of Kennan. NSC 68 advocated for the radical enlargement of the USA budget meant for the military. NSC 68 also proposed that the containment should be expanded to capture the entire world instead of the defence only focusing on the major centres of the industrial power. The NSC 68 document in quote says that “under the existing power polarization, any overthrow of a free institution at any place a defeat in all the places”,
Joseph R. McCarthy also like Kennan did not support communism. He had a negative dislike to communism to the extent that he accuses some members of the government of being loyal to the communist. However, after investigations, his claims turned out to be false.
Inequality views proposals from various scholars
William Schumer and view of inequality.
William Graham is one of the earliest persons who championed the idea of inequality in society. He was a sociologist who started as a priest and later became one of the prominent scholars in the history of the united states of America. He is credited for coining words like folkways and ethnocentrism. Besides, he was a big advocate of ant-imperialism and a person who was much opposed to the Spanish and American war.
During the realm of economic philosophy, William came up with what has been widely seen as a controversial and lasting influence. He wrote a book that he title, “what the social classes owe to each other?” He went ahead so say that nothing that any class owed the other. While it was argued that there were no social classes in the USA, Schumer believes that the social class exists in all the society.
He rubbishes the proposals that had earlier been proposed that the government should give support to the poor and make their life easier. He rejects all such perspectives and says, “It is not the responsibility of the government to make people happy”. He also goes ahead to suggest that even the poor should make themselves happy using their own means and taking a risk.
Schumer admired the rich, and he proposes that they should not be criticized but rather should be applauded. He proposes that the Wall Street stock-jobbing and hypothetical gains should not be restricted. Also suggests that the investigative commissions, increases in tax and criticizing the rich on what they own should be avoided.[1]
Andrew Carnegie
He wrote an article that he titled “wealth”. He is a person who believed in the ideal equality. He believed that wealth inequality in society was a big problem that needed to be addressed. He held the opinion that wealthy people should solve the inequality problem by distributing surplus wealth to the less endowed people within the community. Andrew points out that those who are very rich should look for a public institution and give surplus wealth to them.
While he advocates for the rich to give out the surplus wealth to the less fortunate, he is of the opinion that it doesn’t have to be given directly to the poor. Instead, it should be given to the institution that will help the poor get knowledge, skills, and good habits to enable them to create their own wealth. In the book, and I quote, “the rich should not offer money that exhibits a pauperizing tendency to the recipients”. This can imply that the wealthy should not give money to the poorer that they have not worked to earn.
In addition, Carnegie held the view that the money he had was given to him by God. This, therefore, requires the rich to use their wealth in promoting good habits among the poor in society. In my view, he is trying to convince those that are rich to offer a surplus of their wealth to charity rather than giving to the families. From my analysis, he really feels that inequality in society is a problem, and he would be more contented to have ideal equality among the people in society.
Henry Demarest Lloyd
He wrote a book about wealth against the commonwealth. He was concerned with the monopoly that was happening in the country and how the resources were under the control of a few people leaving others in very poor states. While he was a vulnerable person, he believed that the country could be changed through the use of politics. He supported free trade and really fought hard for the rights of the workers. He believed that the workers should not be manipulated by the rich or the wealth who controlled the means of production in the country.
He observes that the world is made of many people. Furthermore, those people are hard workers and also thinkers in society. In addition, the worlds also offer lent for everyone to unimaginable levels. However, there are syndicates who cannot be trusted because they want to take over everything for themselves alone without considering other people, even the less fortunate in society. He goes ahead to say that, the cartels despite having more and more for themselves, they want to further control means of production and consumption of the people.
In my view, he is concerned that the rich are using all means possible to control resource and without minding the inequality between those who have and those who do not have. He sees this as the cause of inequality and needs to be addressed. Therefore, one can easily conclude that he was fighting for ideal equality because he believes that it’s the way a society should be. In his view, the inequality or the country can be redeemed from that situation through politics where one is elected and joins the government and fights against inequalities in society. He joins politics but does not succeed.
Henry George
He is remembered in the history of the USA because of his role in addressing inequality. While the USA was experiencing great progress in the industrial output and wealth creation, unrest and poverty among the people were also on the workers were on the rise. Many politicians and the intellectuals were disturbed and were trying to find the root cause of that problem. The course of the problem. It is during then that he published a book where he criticized laisssez –faire capitalism as the cause of the problem and tried to explain how it was a big threat to traditions of republican and the people.
He suggested that the traditions of the republican should be protected in order to solve the problem. She was of the view that few individuals should not be let control the resources and the means of production in the community. He suggested that there should be a single only single tax that should be paid on the land values. Therefore, he is a person who believed in equality and sees inequality as a big problem that should be addressed. His ideas became very useful in solving inequality among people in society.
Conclusion
While Schumer sees that inequality in a society is not a problem and says that those who work hard should be left to enjoy their wealth, he also suggests that the poor should not be assisted by the government. However, on the other hand, Andrew, henry George and henry Demarest holds contrast opinion that inequality is a problem that needs to be addressed for the community to live harmoniously. Many conflicts in the world today are brought by inequality in the societies, I also believe addressing those inequalities can help the people to live and have a good life in society. However, agog environment should be created for everybody to have an opportunity of succeeding and not direct giving of money to the people.
Work cited
Stephanson, Anders. Kennan and the art of foreign policy. Harvard University Press, 1989.
Thomas, John L. Alternative America: Henry George, Edward Bellamy, Henry Demarest Lloyd, and the Adversary Tradition. Harvard University Press, 1983.
Wells Jr, Samuel F. “Sounding the tocsin: NSC 68 and the Soviet threat.” International Security 4, no. 2 (1979): 116-158.
Johnson, Michael P. American Promise. Vol. 1. St. Martin’s Press, 1997.