History // Is America becoming more unequal?
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Is America becoming more unequal?
During the progressive era, the modern consumption of consumer society emerged. It characterized with the civil service reformation that demands for “eight-hour day, woman suffrage, vice and temperance reform, nonpartisan balloting, factory inspection, trust-busting, preservation and conservation of natural resources, tax reform, ending child labor, creating more efficient local government, and railroad regulation” (Piott 133). In this period, reformers faced fundamental problem of unequal bargaining power within the markets and within labor markets in particular (Shook & Hull 2101). The crisis in social welfare was evident on workers’ inability to be compensated on standard living wage and received benefits, which are experienced by contemporary workers.
Implementation has turned out to be something but an obscure or atypical event. During the progressive years, white workers, women, and children gained rights but most of the freed slaves of the south remained in poverty and were excluded from political and social realms (Segal 34). On the political front, for instance, there are a number of important issues to settle decades of years passed, but usually the opposition’s policy proposal are ones to be neglected often, which in turn resulted to least execution of policies. Such that, it is no longer questionable why there are appearing inquiries of who will be the advocates of constituency to support the measures complimentary to them. Perhaps, if there is politician in politics, working sectors are most likely to represent by labor unions, stands the measures constructively to the nature of policies they support.
Reformers invariably support one viewpoint that constructively put their members in the process that is relatively nonobjective. Ultimately, the support for accounts of subjective well-being must come from the constituency or subordinates of the unions in full democratic process. And though they may see dramatic impact on the way of societies function, the effective outcomes of meeting the welfare needs and improving the quality of life workers is the less highlighted in formulating public policy decisions. The persistence of unmet needs and policy of the people lead progressive reformers to institute the welfare of people and focus in the decision-making and implementing of actions. In other words, reformers significantly force policy-makers to formulate public policy decisions that would accord to fair dealing and unbiased implications not just for white men but also for black workers.
Among the existing highly charged in socio-political area over the years is civil rights policy which is considered important in American politics. Its climate reveals the dynamism of political conditions that significantly influence the thrust of government in institutional setting of political agenda, shaping the society in myriad advantages. The civil rights policy in the context of political platforms of Democrats and Republicans initiating their respective agenda.
Basically, when there are two are more factions in the society that compete for people’s choice, the interests of general public are highly searched and regarded. That over the years, presidential actions regarding civil rights policy are not apparently initiated. But through political parties they are involved with, the civil rights realm is called upon. For instance, when considering the racial equality, Democrats consistently exhibit liberal standing while Republic is more likely be nonassertive and conservative. Democrats were much more likely to indicate encouragement from a country chair or other party committee member as their most important consideration in seeking their position. The party elite theory of democracy is supported by the finding that significant numbers of blacks and women are active in the Democratic Party. That is, the outcome of Voting Rights Act of 1965 passed by Congress to outbreak the violence of discrimination in right to vote of African Americans has boosted civil rights cause (Shull, 6). In this view, it is considered that the movements of women and blacks have opened the door in paving the path for Democrats to further swiftly move in eradicating discrimination.
The advantageous regards in Republican Party was principle to preserve voters to struggle for equal rights for all American citizens. Much of the platforms that had been made was the women’s suffrage in 1970s, in which associated with the Republican Party in the early part of the twentieth century (Shull 30). In addition, Republican feminists formed the Women’s Task Force, the positive action efforts of the state parties. In the mid-1960s, during the period of sharp rise in the black movement, even the Republicans on the right were forced to mask carefully their true attitude toward the black civil rights movement. Notably, in their platform during 1964 there was the triumphant declaration that they would attain a justified widening of the civil rights amendment of 1964 (Donohue and Heckman 1607).
Republican political agenda shifted the substantial civil rights in response to athwart mass protests of various judicial politics which have become important in civil rights policy formulation. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 dropped the voting rights component of the Civil Rights Movement in return for the status of tax exemption (Rodriguez and Weingast 1452). For simple aim of civil rights policy that is to aid the bettering of conditions of concerned individuals, it has become more of dirty tricks of politics. The desirability of affirmative action in operating a highly complex and interrelated civil rights policy program turned out to stop the economic gains of black. Recent evidence provides the impact of black schooling gains indicates that educational gains cannot give credit to the extent of economic progress since mid-1960s. Hence, this result obscures the movement’s significance of today’s conditions; it disfigures the nature, intentions and activities of the masses of ordinary black people who struggled its battles, together with the extensive egalitarian democratic agenda; and it sets aside forces unreceptive to the movement’s purposes to simply suitable and embezzles its ideas. As such it undermines the goals of civil rights policy in enhancing America’s equal economic and social gains.
Works Cited
Piott, Steven L. Daily Life in the Progressive Era. California: ABC-CLIO, 2011.
Rodriguez, Daniel B. and Weingast, Barry R. “The Positive Political Theory of Legislative History: New Perspectives on the 1964 Civil Rights Act and its Interpretation.” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 151 (2003): 1417-1542.
Segal, Elizabeth A. Social Welfare Policy and Social Programs: A Values Perspective. Cengage Learning, 2010.
Shook, John R. & Hull, Richard T. The Dictionary Of Modern American Philosophers, Volume 1. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2005.
Shull, Steven A. American civil rights policy from Truman to Clinton: the role of presidential leadership. New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000.
Donohue, John J. and Heckman, James J. “Continuous Versus Episodic Change: The Impact of Civil Rights Policy on the Economic Status of Blacks.” Journal of Economic Literature, 29.4 (1991): 1603 -1643.
2017/5030
