The Power of the Market Poli 110J 5.2

The Power of the MarketPoli 110J 5.2 “The armor of a righteous cause”

Midterms • Hooray! • Due START of class, Wednesday, Feb. 10 • 5-7 pages • Prompts posted at course website: adamgomez.wordpress.com

Midterms • Your paper must have: • A thesis statement • One to three sentences, in the first paragraph • Clearer is better. Thesis should be argumentative: • “In this paper I will discuss the causes of the Civil War.” -- NOT a thesis statement. • “Slavery was the primary cause of the Civil War.” -- Acceptable. • “The primary cause of the Civil War was slavery, which produced economic, political, and moral conflicts between North and South that ultimately could not be resolved by peaceful means.” -- Better.

Midterm • Paragraphs. • Seriously, you have to have paragraphs. • Also, no swearing or text abbreviations. • For heaven’s sake, people. • Citations • Ok to cite lecture. Refer to it by lecture number (for example, 5.2 for today) • MUST cite & quote the texts appropriate to your chosen prompt. • Page numbers, sections, articles, issue numbers, etc.

Midterms • While grammar is not a major element in your grades, it does matter. • If your grader does not understand what you’re saying, your grader does not understand what you’re saying. • Papers will be submitted to turnitin.com • Class ID: 3115920 • Enrollment password: power

Midterms • Your graders: • Alan Ward • award@ucsd.edu • Office hours: Fridays, 11:45-1:45. SSB 348 • Steve Jung • sejung@ucsd.edu • Office hours: THIS WEEK: Friday, 12:00-2:30; OTHER weeks, Wednesday, 1:00-3:00. SSB 349

Midterms • 1. ‘Lincoln’s vision of the United States is in blatant contradiction to the arguments laid out in Paine’s “Common Sense”.’ To what extent is this statement true, if any?

Midterms • 2. “Positive liberty” is present when an individual has the power and ability to fulfill his or her full potential, while the term “negative liberty” refers to an absence of restraint. To what extent is each of these concepts present within the Federalist and Anti-Federalist papers?

Midterms • 3. It has been argued in this course that the definition of the political community is in itself an act of power. How does O'Sullivan define the American political community, and what are the consequences of this definition for his political thought?

William Jennings Bryan • Lawyer • Populist orator, the Great Commoner • Spoke for the rural people of the midwest & west, massively popular • Democratic presidential nominee 1896, 1900 and 1908 • Peace activist & anti-imperialist • Wilson’s Secretary of State • Scopes Trial • Bryan vs. Clarence Darrow

Bryan • The money question: should the dollar be backed by gold or by silver? • Big issue in late-19th C. American politics • Gold: stable, “Sound Money” • Backed by the banks, industry, landlords • Silver: inflationary, “Free Silver” • Backed by debtors, farmers, workers

Bryan • Themes of the ‘Cross of Gold’ speech • Equality • The people = farmers, laborers • The State should serve & protect the people • America belongs to the common people, not to elites • Major business interests are capturing the government

Bryan • “We object to bringing this question down to the level of persons. The individual is but an atom; he is born, he acts, he dies; but principles are eternal; and this has been a contest over a principle.” • A matter of ideals, which are more important than even life • What is the principle in question?

Bryan • What is that principle? • Equality • To the charge that silver will disrupt business, “We say to you that you have made the definition of a business man too limited in its application. The man who is employed for wages is as much a business man as his employer; the attorney in a country town is as much a business man as the corporation counsel in a great metropolis” • Power in language

Bryan • To whom does America belong? To "the idle holders of idle capital” or to "the struggling masses, who produce the wealth and pay the taxes of the country”? • What is here the appropriate role of government intervention? On whose behalf should it act? To whom does it belong?

Bryan • “There are two ideas of government. There are those who believe that, if you will only legislate to make the well-to-do prosperous, their prosperity will leak through on those below. The Democratic idea, however, has been that if you legislate to make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up through every class which rests upon them.”

Bryan • The principle of equality means for Bryan that the state should act to preserve and protect those who are the most numerous and at the same time most vulnerable.

Bryan • “You come to us and tell us that the great cities are in favor of the gold standard; we reply that the great cities rest upon our broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic; but destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in the country.”

Bryan • The rural people are the base of the American way of life • Morally • Economically • The producer of wealth seen as prior to the aggregator of wealth • A matter of justice

Bryan • “You shall not press down upon the brow of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold.” • What is called to mind by this imagery?

The Power of the Market Poli 110J 5.2