Thomas Hobbes
Position on spectrum: Right
Beliefs:
- Humans were naturally evil and needed to be controlled or else would be harmful.
- Ideas on social contract: people may be able to overthrow the government.
-His CONCERN was due to the horrors of the civil war. He saw humans as internally selfish, and that if they were left unchecked humans could be harmful.
Quotes:
“ It is not wisdom but authority that makes the law”
John Locke
Position on spectrum: Right (modern Liberal)
“father of liberalism”
BELIEFS:
- Freedom for the exchange for protection
-He believed that the government should be directly accountable to the people.
- People are born free with natural rights and freedoms.
How I will remember: “father of liberalism”
Quotes:
“Where law ends tyranny (power) begins”
(don’t need to know for test)
Montesquieu
He is the principal source of the theory of separation powers. He is the one responsible for the branches of government (Executive, Legislative, and Judicial).
BELIEFS: He believed strongly in the worth of an individual, the equality of individuals and the accountability of the government.
John Stuart Mills
Place on Spectrum: Right
BELIEFS:
- *He believed that the only limitations that should be placed are those that would protect the liberty of others. Therefore everyone can live peacefully knowing that no one can strip them of their rights and freedoms.
- ** INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS AND FREEDOMS
- Wished to help people understand politics that would lead to a more equal division of profits. Kinda helping people be competitive.
- (Basically) you can have all the rights and freedoms but their is a line drawn so you or others don’t have the ability to deprive others of their freedoms.
- Believed that minority groups had equal abilities and could also contribute to society if given the oppertunity. (feminist sorta)
- He is a classical liberl however he has progressive viewpoints that would complement the vies of a modern liberl.
Quotes:
“Freedom is pursuing our own good, as long as we dont try to deprive others of theirs”
Adam Smith
Position: Right
He was a key figure during the scottish enlightenment and pioneer thinker for the political economy.
BELIEFS:
- **He believed that if people worked first and foremost for themselves, everyone, including the estate everyone would be better off. He believed through self-interest and individual motivation would equate to economic growth as well as a stable society because individuals are getting their needs met as well as making a profit. He believed that Heavy amounts of government intervention would disrupt the effectiveness and productivity of the society, through legislation such as taxes that left individuals with less money to put into the economy. Even Though Adam Smith wanted less government in the economy he saw the benefit of the government being accountable for the people.
Invisible Hand theory (important) = That the private sector could bring up the economy through independent business and corporations . The free market economy could result in economic growth as well as everyone’s demands being met. Individuals demands are met due to the fact that business owners and operators are motivated by prosperity and success, so they will naturally meet the needs and desires of the people in order to make money.
- More productive as an individual
- Competition would keep prices down
-Basically everyone for themselves
Robert Owen and how was he connected to utopian socialism.
Robert Owen believed that the harshness of capitalist life corrupted human nature so he supported the hope for better working conditions implemented by the idea of Utopian Socialism.
Jean - Jacques Rousseau
Position on spectrum: Left (true communism)
Summary of Beliefs:
- Believed that capitalism corrupted people into being selfish and act un-naturally. Believed that competition made people harsh and shallow so he believed in a society that would eliminate the risk of that.
- He believed in the general will and utelaterism
- People were naturally good and compassionate
-* Property should be owned publicly so no one would have to be corrupted by capitalism.
- Wrote social contract (obeying natural laws and social norms) between govt and people.
- *Ideas inspired socialism
“Man is born free but everywhere he goes there is chains”
Meaning everyone is born free but they are held back by class, poverty, and enslavement (all factors of capitalism)
- Believed capitalism was corrupt but still didn’t want government to have complete control.
“I prefer liberty with danger rather than peace with slavery”
How to remember: Communal everything, his ideas sparked communism (public owned)
Edmund Burke
Position on spectrum : Right
Beliefs:
- Believed established institutions should be runed by educated people of society, which was necessary to control the irrational decisions of uneducated people
How to remember: Not everyone can be a Brain surgeon, we let the smart people do those jobs.
Karl Marx
Position: (far) Left
Beliefs:
- Predicted that capitalism advanced the ownership and wealth of industry would fall into few hands
- Didn’t want anyone to gain too much power.
- Believed capitalism (private) would cause depressions nad system would collapse.
How to remember:
- Paranoid people would gain too much power so went full communism (true communism where everyone lived collectively like a big happy farm family).
Gandhi
- Peacefully protested against the tax on salt imposed on India by Britain. Gandhi and his supporters marched along ways to collect salt water to make their own salt.
- He believed in peaceful protesting and that if it wasn’t peaceful he didn’t want to be apart of it. Believed in social welfare and could be aligned with modern liberalism.
Nelson Mandela
- Protested against white supremacy.
- Resisted against apartheid and helped establish the ANCs military wing
Became key figure in the dissolving of apartheid.
Martin Luther King Jr.
- Protesting racial injustice sand was a key figure throughout the civil rights movements.
As well as focusing on poverty and housing intervention from the government. - Leader of civil rights movement and had intentions of non-violent protests even though they were met with violence.
Civil rights act was eventually passed so the peacful protesting worked.
Malcom X
- Violence protesting for Black Americans rights
- Believed that black voters should only vote for candidates who will promise to stand up for black peoples rights and if they didn’t violence would be an acceptable form of retaliation.
Edward Snowden
American who leaked controversial information that revealed the united states intense global surveillance programs.
Also revealed intricate devices and technology the government has used to track individuals. These devices has a variety of different uses including intercepting phone calls, retracing private messages, microphone recording and much more that are imbedded within personal devices such as our cell-phones.
Margaret Thatcher
Wanted to reduce government intervention within the economy.
Friedman
- Believed that amount of money issued by the central bank should be linked to current inflation. For example if inflation was getting to high then the banks need to limit the amount of money being lent out.
- He believed that central banking should be responsible to stabilize pricing in society
Monetarism = The money supply would be controlled through central banking (amount of money being lent out as well as withdrawn)
Harding
President of the united states who promised the “return back to normalcy” by valuing
1) isolation
2) Nativism
3) a reduction of government intervention
Hayek
- Hey said Hay to Adam Smith because he liked what he was doing.
- Believed that the free market (capitalism) was the only way to balance supply and demand.
- He believed that you couldn’t have substantial amounts of government intervention and meet the specific demands of the people.
(would have agreed with Adam Smith’s invisible hand - because he also believed that supply and demand was a great way to fulfill the individual needs of society while also promoting economic growth)
Coolidge
Wad cool about laissez faire society model where the government would keep their hands off the economy.
What was Obamacare or The Affordable Care Act
- Act promoted by Barack Obama that gave individuals protected and more accessible healthcare.
What were the Main goals of Barack Obama’s Democratic Party (elected 2008)
- Associated with progressive (social and political reform/change) policies
- Supported social and economic equality, therefore favoring government intervention to help with distribution of wealth
- Promoted the idea of universal health care through the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare.
