What does it mean to understand history’s place in society? Does simply knowing about important individuals, events, and statistics show aptitude? Although important as starting points of analysis, these facts and figures are only as effective as the contextualization that situates them in history and society. The documents for this Monday’s class, especially those concerning the carceral state, explain the importance of historical analysis. The current state of black culture is often, and dangerously, associated with cultural and personal deficiencies. People who make such comments without any qualification offer the retort to criticism that they are supported by facts. In this case, the facts do show that black crime rates are much higher
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He explains how American policies have been crafted to the benefit of wealthy Americans, including tax rates, regulations, and the lack of antitrust enforcement. All of these pieces explain that the more organized and empowered interest groups in America, ranging from the wealthy to middle class moms, determine policy. Although the ideal evaluation and determination of policy should be accomplished through impartial analysis, that is an idyllic scenario. Politics and policy in the United States are driven by special interests, whether they are big businesses or those interested in working class mothers. Because money has become increasingly powerful in the political environment as seen with the Citizens United decision in 2010, so to has the power of those with money increased. This means that groups that represent interests of the poor and vulnerable have less sway. While their message might be moving, the long-term trend has clearly been towards the moneyed-interests. Even in President Obama’s administration, no major bank employees have been sent to jail, no major corporation has been broken up, and the effective tax rate payed by the top 400 or so Americans has fallen from 20.9% at Obama’s inauguration in 2008 to 17.6% in 2012. As inequality has increased, wealthy Americans are progressively isolated from their fellow citizens, further producing a divergence in policy priorities between them and non-wealthy
He explains how American policies have been crafted to the benefit of wealthy Americans, including tax rates, regulations, and the lack of antitrust enforcement. All of these pieces explain that the more organized and empowered interest groups in America, ranging from the wealthy to middle class moms, determine policy. Although the ideal evaluation and determination of policy should be accomplished through impartial analysis, that is an idyllic scenario. Politics and policy in the United States are driven by special interests, whether they are big businesses or those interested in working class mothers. Because money has become increasingly powerful in the political environment as seen with the Citizens United decision in 2010, so to has the power of those with money increased. This means that groups that represent interests of the poor and vulnerable have less sway. While their message might be moving, the long-term trend has clearly been towards the moneyed-interests. Even in President Obama’s administration, no major bank employees have been sent to jail, no major corporation has been broken up, and the effective tax rate payed by the top 400 or so Americans has fallen from 20.9% at Obama’s inauguration in 2008 to 17.6% in 2012. As inequality has increased, wealthy Americans are progressively isolated from their fellow citizens, further producing a divergence in policy priorities between them and non-wealthy