Lesson 7 Blog Essay: Great Depression

                I think that the Great Depression was hurt more than the government rather than improved by the government. Government intervention played a big role in turning the economy for the worst. Some of the programs dropped the economy and raised taxes which put a toll on businesses and people in America. The economy was not saved by government intervention. The NRA and the New Deal both made the economy suffer even more. The NRA caused the cost of business to go up by 40% which was something the economy didn’t need for recovery. Benjamin M. Anderson said “NRA wasn’t a revival measure. It was an antirevival measure.” The NRA raised wages and lowered industrial production by 25%. Another program that hurt the economy that was put on by the government was the New Deal. Albert Nock described the New Deal as a nation-wide, State-managed mobilization of inane buffoonery and aimless commotion.” In 1932 it hiked up income tax rates to 63%. The New Deal was responsible for prolonging the Great Depression. In this long economic down-turn the government’s best bet was to stay out of the way and let the market correct itself. However, it intervened and caused things during the Great Depression to get worse and to last longer. Therefore, saying that the Great Depression was resolved by government intervention is a myth.

My City

            If I were to create my own city, then I would have to make sure that there would be room for it to grow. Economies flourish more when there are rights and laws to help protect markets. In the I, Pencil, Leonard Read said “if you can become aware of the miraculousness which I symbolize, you can help save the freedom mankind is so unhappily losing.’ For, if one is aware that these know-hows will naturally, yes, automatically, arrange themselves in creative and productive patterns in response to human necessity and demand-that is, in absence of governmental or any coercive master-minding—then one will possess an absolutely essential ingredient for freedom: a faith in free people. Freedom is impossible without this faith.” If we can create a free-market society, then we won’t have one dominating way of developing our economy. In a free-market society we are able to explore, invent, and share with our own free agency. Along with a free-market society comes property rights. With property rights we are able to keep what is our own and we are able to use it how we wish. Entrepreneurs need a free-market society and property rights so that they can flourish. When we have a creative and wealthy society entrepreneurs are able to expound their ideas. When there is economic freedom entrepreneurs are inspired by the invisible hand and able to strive to solve problems and increase our standard of living. In my city the laws of the U.S. constitution would apply. The Constitution is a big reason as to why we are so successful as a country. The Constitution limited the federal government from intervening in the economy. Therefore, if the government can’t intervene, then free agency and creativity can take place and our economy can grow and develop. The Constitution was also able to create a large landmass and allow trade to flow freely. If I had the Constitution, I would be able to establish trade and allow markets to trade and develop more knowledge. And if the city was created, there would have to be competition. If there was competition, then entrepreneurs and other businesses would strive to beat the other. A little bit of greed is good in a developing economy. When a little profit is offered it motivates people to do better and greed can make people work together. All in all, as long as people have their agency and are being motivated, then economy can grow and develop off of people trying to be better and trying to better society.

Can Men Govern Men?

                James Madison says, “In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”  I think that he is saying that even though we appoint our men to govern men, they can’t govern each other because it raises other issues. As a government we depend on the people as the primary control of the government. Men aren’t angels so they can’t govern themselves without laws and other things to hold the government back from using all of their power. We as the people choose our leaders and we tend to choose leaders and we choose the men that are honest. However, even though we choose men, they still have a lot of power, therefore, there are auxiliary precautions are needed.

                For example, the separation of powers is a much needed auxiliary precaution. It allows each of the three branches of government to oversee what the other branch is doing which allows powers to be equally spread. Another example is the division of powers between the national and state governments. They both have a lot of power, but to prevent the national government from having too much power the state government has issues that the national government doesn’t deal with: marriage laws, same sex marriage laws, education laws, and welfare, social security, health care, minimum wage, and discrimination laws. This is called federalism. Federalism allows a balance between the two governments so that one isn’t overbearing.

We no longer have control over the other. Men who govern men have different interests and opinions, so if they don’t agree, then there is a power struggle there and the government almost stalls. The auxiliary precautions help and the laws that are passed are enforced keeping control over the government and its people.  Men may not be the best at governing men, but so far the constitution and things like the auxiliary precautions has kept our government one of the best in the world today.

Inspired Constitution?

The Great Fundamentals of the Constitution were inspired. The Bill of Rights were inspired by our Founding Fathers, the separation of powers, the division of powers, popular sovereignty, and the rule of law are all inspired.  There are different pieces of evidence that point to the Constitution being inspired. For example, our country was chosen to be the free country by God so that the gospel can be restored. During “A More Perfect Union” Ben Franklin even stood up and said that they should all pray at that moment. The founding fathers were enough evidence to tell us that the constitution was inspired. It wasn’t only what they did to prepare for setting up the Constitution, it was how. They studied different governments, met together with one goal, to change the country forever. They were willing to give up everything; they sacrificed their own time to meet together for their meetings. They were men of action and not just words. God chose these wise men to come up with a government that worked for the free country. He chose them because they were willing and they would come prepared and they were humble. God chose to have this land be the land where freedom reigns and He chose the right men for the job.

Morally Justified Essay

Are the Colonies Morally Justified?

The colonists becoming independent from Great Britain was a long, but motivating procedure. I think that the colonists were morally justified. They had to go through so much just to gain back their freedom from a higher power that was greedy. Great Britain had control over the colonies for many years and it took many uprisings to lose control of it.

One of the reasons that the colonists were morally justified was the fact that Great Britain violated the natural laws given to man. King George III wanted to increase his power as a monarch. He wanted to take away the liberties of being a person with natural rights. He said, “Every man may reign secure in his petty tyranny, and spread his terror and desolation around him.” King George being power hungry took many things away from the colonists, life being one of them. A group of British soldiers hatched a plan to assassinate Adams, Hancock, and Warren on the fifth anniversary of the Boston Massacre.   When the soldiers came into the meeting house on March 5^th, 1775, Adams offered them the seats in front of the meeting house. He didn’t want any trouble; he just wanted to hold a calm meeting. The British kept trying to raise up a fight. A group of soldiers broke into Hancock’s mansion and tried to vandalize his furniture and shatter his windows. He wanted them to leave so they did, but not without stating that they were going to claim his mansion and stables first. The British don’t believe in the rule of law. They believe that they are above everyone else and if people don’t follow their laws and taxations, then people are tried for treason and sometimes hanged. The Seven Years War was fought for England and not for America. It seemed that Great Britain was gaining control of everything and fast.

The British believed in taxation without representation. They taxed everything. Adams thought that the economy would collapse if America was over-taxed and he was right. The Stamp Act, Tea Act, and the Declaratory Act all tax the American Colony in an attempt for the British to boost their economy and to gain all the power that they can. With the Declaratory Act Britain decided that they could tax the colonists anyway that they wanted to. The British were almost asking for a revolt.

The way that the colonists revolted was morally sound and it was innocent. With the British “bullying” the American colonies, the colonies almost had no choice; they had to fight back. Adams and the colonists who revolted had a process to their revolt. This was very civilized and had organized revolts. The leaders of these revolts cherished what was most important in their lives.  For example, in the Samuel Adams Father of American Revolution it says, “Samuel cherished his heritage and understood that his ancestors made a great sacrifice for the freedom he enjoyed.” The British had a demagogue for a leader and so Britain was very prideful. As for American colonies, they had leaders who respected God and wanted to protect the natural rights to man. Samuel Adams didn’t want to change a whole society, he wanted to give America back the rights that we already had, which are the ones that God wanted us to have in the first place. Adams even thought that Americans took their freedom for granted. It is very humbling to know that one of our founding fathers had the moral compass to use and step back to think that we need to remember to thank the person responsible for giving us our freedom rather than being prideful and trying to gain more power.

The British tried to use Parliament to their advantage. They applied a law in 1719 that held directors personally liable for losses and cited another all-but-forgotten statute extending England to the colonies. The colonists’ natural rights were being poked and prodded constantly.  Adams wanted to do something about all of this, so he organized things such as the First Continental Congress. It set forth the rights of the colonies and emphasized the abuses of the British. Whenever Adams organized a revolt he always had order to them. He had petitions signed to make sure that revolt had enough people and that it was something he could make sure was right to everyone and not just him. The 1767 Townshend Acts were duties on imports like tea. They were designed to raise revenue and to raise taxes on tea. The colonists wanted things to be fair for everyone and the East India Trading company was a monopolistic company, so they organized a revolt known as the Boston Tea Party. By organizing this revolt they were going to stand up to the British. The colonists believed that the Tea Act violated their right to be taxed by their own elected officials. The British appointed leaders without having the people vote. The British violate the law of liberty.

Great Britain was a powerful empire that hovered over the American colonies. With Great Britain being so big, all the Americans could really do was take a stand for what was right. The British were not morally justified in any of their laws that they established. In some way each one was violating the natural laws given to us from our creator. When God created us he had hopes that we could figure things out and help create his kingdom here on earth. The colonists were men that followed God’s laws. They understood that all men are created equal and that we have rights for our life, liberty, and property. And when you take one of those away you are already going against God. All of the colonists’ revolts were orderly and followed God’s law. Most of the revolts were successful and that shows that you can have something organized and civil and stand up for what is right. I believe that the colonists were morally justified and I think that if anyone looked at what the British were trying to accomplish, then they would agree with me.