Borrowed from the textbook, available at the AmericanYawp.com
Working on homework for history class. Essentially learning that between 1820 and 1850 as more (white) non propertied men got the vote the system became more democratic (the founding fathers did not like democracy and were flat out against it for the most part) and at the same time more divided and raucous. Kind of like today’s politics.
Supposed to be evaluating a painting made at that time, showing a politician named Bingham on the stump. At first I did not see what the professor was looking for. But, after reading my own description of the painting I realized that the politician was dressed as a well off, propertied man might dress. In other words, one of the (white) “elites” who were in the process of loosing some power. At the stump he was above the crowd, which would seem normal if he wanted to see everyone. But, being above a crowd sends a message of one feeling a little more than equal than those whom you are speaking to. The body language of the politician was that of an adamant man (I think). But, is he talking down at the people or is he talking to them as if they are equal?
I suddenly discovered that if he is dressed like an elite then he probably is, which means he’s probably taking a paternalistic attitude, which in plain English means his speech probably had a lot of “shoulds and aughts” in it, as he looked down on the hard working people below him. The final question on this particular piece is who does Bingham represent, Democrats or Whigs?
The way I ended up was saying the man favored Whigs. The Whigs are today’s Republican Party — the conservatives and the Christian, THE RIGHT. And it has dawned on me through this one line of questioning that I (and I am probably not alone) feel that the Right is getting pretty preachy and trying give us lot’s of shoulds and aughts in a very paternalistic way (McConnell really comes to mind here). This country today is supposed to be about compromise, freedom, which allows for creativity in all things. I see now the history of the Right and the Left and how the Right especially has trickled down through time. The “elites” are just trying to take back the power — and a whole lot of people are want to hang on to those coat tails. No one on the left is trying to stop democracy or freedom. And NO one has the right to tell a woman what to do with her body.
We are all allowed to have our opinions but we are not allowed to force them on others. It is the same with religion — the reason our country came to be for the most part. We have a lot of arrogance in this country when it comes to religion. We have no rights to judge Muslims… our national slate if far from clean — we have got plenty of blood on our hands.
And yes, I still say America was already great despite that. Mr. Davis from a previous post got me somewhat riled. Probably why I made all these connections… I have always felt that Trump represents the ‘elite’ and he shows his willingness to provide for that sector by taking away from all of us what is ours, including our environments’ protections in nature and in the market place (giving big oil, who doesn’t need anymore of our money, the rights to drill in some beautiful places where NO business should be). He supposedly does all this for our good, which is a totally paternalistic attitude.
I have, in my old age, grown tired of the paternalistic. Most of us have a few brain cells, and we have a tendency to use them or we would not have made it this far in life. There is no way we can sustain this massive population on our planet without rules for everything unfortunately. Let the rules protect the majority which in the world view is NOT the (white) elite and does include our children and grandchildren. Government is not about corporation, in the United States it is supposed to be about the people, for the people, by the people. (Lincoln was Republican, but the parties did a flip/flop there for awhile). (Note the lack of people of any color in the painting? There were some blacks who actually could vote until those rights were finally taken away by 1850).
