Today begins with a quiz on the Foner section -- hopefully these daily quizzes are helping students to read carefully!
We then shift from money in politics in the late 19th century, to money in politics in the early 21st century, by looking at this article. Make sure to watch the short video first!
Once you have watched and read, make a comment on this blog post. Make sure that your answer hits all of these questions.
1) Does money in politics matter? Why or why not? Is money in politics beneficial to democracy? Harmful? A mixture? Why
2) What similarities do you see between the Gilded Age and today's political scene? Are there differences? Try to be as specific as you can.
3) For further consideration read one or both of the following: A Second Gilded Age at Last?; Why We're Not in a New Gilded Age. How do these frame or change your response to #2 above?
1. Money in politics makes a difference for the candidates who are in short supply of it. Candidates like Trump who have an abundance of money do not need anymore, whereas candidates like Sanders would benefit. Money can be harmful and helpful in politics because it gives politicians without money a more fair chance, but it also can sway others into voting on people they do not believe in.
ReplyDelete2. Today´s politics and the Gilded age both involved outside corporations using their money and influence to interfere and corrupt politics. In the Gilded Age, people were paying for parties, but we cannot do that today.
3. The first article does not change my thinking much if at all because I do see many comparisons with this age and the Gilded Age. There are corporations interfering with politics, and there is still corruption in politics today
1) Money in politics matters because of the influence money has over peoples opinion. Money is harmful to democracy because it can sued how people think so instead of knowing the truth people only believe the candidate with the most money because they get the most air time and advertising.
ReplyDelete2) This is similar to the Gilded age because both now and then politics are controlled by the media and large companies and money. The differences are is now people have more rights like working conditions and their is less of a gap between the rich and the poor.
3)The article A second Gilded age changed my opinion from question two because it shows how their is beginning to be a large gap between the rich and the poor and politics are still being controlled by the rich
By: Marissa G
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. I noticed that in this article, money and time have been wasted which could have been used for something important. Money is very important in this topic because getting rid of tax incentives and subsidies for the rich should be our presidents first priority.
ReplyDelete2. This is very similar to the Gilded Age from what happened with William M. Tweed. This is because we live in a capitalist economy but most of our programs are socialist.
3. My opinion is not changed from either article because in both articles, it has the same main idea that power doesn't corrupt (which is what "everyone" thinks).
I think that money does matter in politics because it can have a lot of impact on many people in the country. For instance, the fact that the money can be used to sponsor the use of non-renewable resources in production. This is harmful and it increases the carbon footprint of the U.S.. However, the money can also be beneficial because it can be used to help those in poverty through various organizations. Based on these two examples, I think that it is a mixture.
ReplyDeleteI see a significant correlation between the Gilded age and the PAC in politics today. In both of these times, money is concentrated in the hands of people with a lot of money and they get to make the big decision of where that money will go and who/what it will it support. For example Darwin Deason who chose to finance Ted Cruz in his election campaign for this year. Another examples would be Crédit Mobilier during the Gilded Age.
I think that the article "A Second Gilded Age at Last?" placed a significant importance of the dire situation we are in at this time. It reinforced the severity that was unclear in question 2.
Claire
DeleteMoney in politics does matter because if no one knows who your candidate is then they can not win the election and you need money to advertise your candidate. Without money, it is nearly impossible for someone to get their beliefs and ideas across to the public population. I think that money in politics is a mixture of good and bad. It is bad because sometimes the amount of money used in a campaign may outweigh the amount of skill a person has in being a leader. But money is also good because people will donate to which ever candidate they see is best fitting for the job which will allow that candidate to advertise more, get their message to more people, and potentially get more votes.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Gilded Age, money and corporations played a huge role in politics. Large corporations and millionaires were able to impact the presidential race more than the average person was. One large difference is the amount of people who actually vote. During the Gilded Age, voter turn out was extremely high but during our current time it is extremely low.
The article does not really change my thinking about the similarities between the Gilded Age and the present. It helped reinforce the idea of extremely rich people using their money to influence politics. It also talked about a low working class and a shrinking middle class which also happened during the Gilded Age. The second article talks about how during the Gilded Age workers tried to close the gap between the rich and poor and that people currently are not doing it so we are not in a second Gilded Age. In the present, people are trying to close the wage gap. There are many people pushing for raising the minimum wage which would better the lives of millions of people and close the gap between workers and owe
Money in politics does have a large impact because those who have money will have power, and if they take a side with one party then they will have a much larger impact that a poor person. It is not beneficial because regular people who should have just as much power as anyone become overshadowed by the rich who have the power to donate money and influence the election. All citizens should have the same amount of power.
ReplyDeleteDuring the Gilded age there became a very significant difference between the rich and everyone else. We see this today because the rich have much more power when it comes to politics because they have the ability to use money to their advantage. In both eras we see that the rich can have much more power than the poor which seems unfair because as citizens they all should influence politics in an equal way
I read the article arguing that we are on the verge of a second Gilded age. The poor are becoming more separated from the rich and the middle class is shrinking which would put us into a similar class system that existed during the Gilded Age. The rich have great power now. The most significant example is Donald Trump as our future president. He has had no background experience in politics but he is a well known businessman who has given himself great power in the social eye because of his money. We are forming a society that puts many inferior to the few who are rich and this is not good. We are showing signs of another time where the rich have great power and this will worsen our country.
1. Money in politics matters because it provides the candidates with the money to use for advertising, traveling, and other important ways to win the race. I think money can be beneficial and harmful because it can help the government protect and provide for the American people, but it can also be used in a bad way.
ReplyDelete2.The similarities show that the money concentration is very extreme and it makes a difference in who wins the race. There are differences because there are many PAC's rather than the few their were in the Guided age.
3. The article made me see more similarities than differences within the Guided Age. Americans believe we are in this age, so they wanted a change in office. People made a stand for wanting a change and they got the outcome that they wanted.
Ashley
Benjamin
ReplyDeleteMoney in politics is very important. The politicians, once elected, will listen to the people that donated major sums of money to their campaign over the people who didn't donate at all. This is a very bad thing for our democracy. The people will money will have more influence on the powerful figures running our government. This can lead to bias towards the ultra-rich, and less attention paid to the poor.
In the Gilded Age, there was a lot of competition in politics, similar to today. Little focus on the lower classes is an example of another similarity to the Gilded Age.
After reading these articles, I don't think that we are in a second Gilded Age. We are in a great economic position and our lower classes are becoming more and more successful.
1)Money affects politics drastically, because the campaign that is most funded will have a more likely chance of winning than a campaign that is poorly funded. And this affects democracy negatively, because we are allowing rich donors to control politics rather than all the people.
ReplyDelete2)This is similar because in this generation politics seemed to be corrupt like the Gilded age, however it is different because now, the politics are controlled by rich donors rather than the whole nation, and during the gilded age there were many self governments. And these rich donors fund Super Pacs that will improve their lives rather than the whole country which is similar to the Gilded Age because most of the politicians were farmland owners and rich men so they created laws to improve their lives.
3)All three of these articles show that the people of America want and need change, they see that the government once again is corrupt, and that money does affect the democracy, and the poor are starting to become more separated from the rich, and we are in a second Gilded Age.
Jake
I believe money does matter in politics, because without money one cannot be in the position they are in and politics revolves around the economy. If one were to run for president without money, there is a 100% chance they will not end up being president. Politics also revolves around the rich and those with money. Money is a way we measure value, so it is needed, however it causes humans to be more greedy and selfish. Majority of the time money plays a harmful role. An example of this would be the issues with the poor and the rich.
ReplyDeleteThe Gilded Age and today's political scene both deal with with the poor and the rich in some ways. They both deal with immigrants and attempts to make America a better place to live in. Racism is still a big thing today, however I feel as though the Gilded Age focused more on the poor than the colored.
Reading the "Why We're Not in a New Gilded Age" I remembered that movements were apart of both eras, such as black suffrage movements and labor movements. We are also much more advanced today regarding technology and development than were were in the Gilded Age. Both deal with corruption in the nation's economic system.
- Traia
Haley
ReplyDelete1. Money in Politics does matter because the use of money allows for awareness of campaigns and fundraising. Money impacts politics because it can effect the outcomes of elections. Money is harmful because politicians can take advantage of money and how they use it. Using money to stop front runners in elections is an example of how it is harmful. However, it is beneficial because money creates awareness for problem that politicians want to try and solve. Politicians use money for awareness and donations. 2. The Gilded age and today's political scene are similar because the last time wealth was concentrated was in 1896. Corporations were helping the Republican candidate outspend the Democratic. Politicians still use money as another form of competition. There are not really differences between the two because corporations still get involved with politics and still independently spend sums of money on politics.
3. Although there may be many ways today is fundamentally different from the Gilded Age there are still many problems that are still present. The numbers of voters have still decreased and we have adopted a more Democratic system. My response was framed by these articles because today the political system revolves around money and there are still many problems that show that we may be in the second Gilded Age.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMoney is what helps spread politicians' ideas and visions for the country. Without money in politics there wouldn't be infomercials or people calling your house to deliver the politicians message. It has a mostly positive effect because money for the most part is given to people so they can have jobs and to spread the politicians word. The similarities I see between us and the gilded age is that there is a large, uneven distribution of wealth inside these elections. The only difference I see is that today we understand that we are maybe in a gilded age whereas back in the 19th century they didn't. This changes my response because it shows that we are improving as a nation and slowly getting where we need to get. It stated in the text that we are shifting towards a more labor favored era which in my opinion is a good thing because the laborers are more important than the 20 richest people who already have more money than 152 million of the poorest people.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. Money does matter in politics because it can help put someone in power, even in the white house. This harms democracy because it lessens the importance of the voters opinions and votes. In our country today, money can control almost anything.
ReplyDeleteToday and the Gilded Age both have very corrupt political systems. These issues were originally fixed in 1907 when corporations were banned from donating to federal campaigns, but since 2010, corporations could spend unlimited amounts of money on politics. This was also an issue that was present during the gilded age.
These articles don’t change my view, Today, we are not in the exact situation as the Gilded Age, but we do face many of the same problems that were also present at the time.
John
Money in politics is a huge issue. Even though super PACs cannot directly donate money to a campaign, they can spend unlimited amounts of money on ads and other political activities. Democracy does not mean spending as much money as is possible to make the public vote for a certain candidate. If a voter has the choice between two people who are running for the House Of Representatives, for example, and that person has seen multiple ads in favor of one candidate, and very few for another, then it is likely that the voter will vote for the person who has had more positive advertisements about them. Money in politics has a huge influence over who gets into office. This era is similar to the Gilded Age in that money influences politics and that people generally are hoping for some sort of societal change, but of course there are differences as well. In the present day, there isn't as much unrest from workers as there was during the Gilded Age, and not as many people are questioning the system of capitalism itself. One thing that is consistent in the Gilded Age, the present day, and all of American history, is that people are striving to make America better.
ReplyDelete1-I think that money in politics does matter. Say a person running for the Senate in Illinois does not have a lot of money. This means that they can't put out advertisements, have reps for themselves,and people usually listen to people with more money, because money seems to go hand in hand with power. I think money is both beneficial and harmful for the same reason-people can be persuaded with the use of that money mainly through advertising.
ReplyDelete2-Right now, to both people outside and some inside the United States, we are the greatest country ever. We have everything, everything is good here, and this is where I will have the best life. People in the Gilded Age and now are brainwashed to think that this is the perfect country. In reality, politicians are corrupt, our government is not great, and in certain respects, our country is falling apart. There are so many ways that both now and the Gilded age are similar, but there is one way that it is different. Though there are those bigger companies that have more power, there are no really monopolistic companies out there.
Does money in politics matter? Why or why not? Is money in politics beneficial to democracy? Harmful? A mixture? Why
ReplyDeleteBrian Baker stated “Campaigns need message and manpower. You need the money to fund those two things, and I think people fundamentally understand that.” So yes because in order to educate people on the issues and person they are voting for you need the money to advertise. At the same time, they are saying Trump didn't put much into the PAC's but he still won the presidential race. I think it is harmful to democracy because it give a bias.
2) What similarities do you see between the Gilded Age and today's political scene? Are there differences? Try to be as specific as you can.
Some people have all the money in the world and others do not. There is a gap between the people who actually have a say and the ones that can't afford to say anything. Gap between wealthy and poor. The inequality of people still is going on. Also large coorperations still dominate over politics and the economy.
3) For further consideration read one or both of the following: A Second Gilded Age at Last?; Why We're Not in a New Gilded Age. How do these frame or change your response to #2 above?
I still see the gap between the poor and the wealthy but I also see a connection between the unrest of the lower classes.
Nicole Himel
1. Money in politics allows some candidates an advantage over others. The money also influences voters opinions. The money leads to advertisements and voters who see more of one candidates advertisements are more inclined to vote for that candidate. The money in politics is harmful to democracy because people can have their opinons shifted.
ReplyDelete2. In the Gilded age, there was a lot of corruption all over the place. The Credit Mobilier was an example of political corruption. Today, there is not as much corruption as there was in the Gilded age. Politics is still heavily influenced by large sums of money. A candidate who is wealthy and receives large sums of money are able to advertise more and persuade the voters for their votes.
3. After reading this article, I have realized that politics is more corrupted then I originally thought. I think the main difference now is the living conditions and working conditions of people back then compared to now. People have a much higher quality of life then they did back then.
Zach Ofner
Sarah
ReplyDelete1. Money matters in politics because it makes a impact in campaigns. It can help a candidate if they have more ads. Super PACS can be harmful because they can sway the opinion of voters making it less like a democracy.
2. In the Gilded Age, corporations were banned from donating money and now they can donate unlimited money, but not to a specific party. The two time periods had totally different ways to go about political money.
3. Today is like the Gilded Age because there are less voters and people want it to be more like a democracy. Bernie Sanders reflects politicians in the 19th century because his doesn't like super PACS and wants to redistribute wealth.
1. Money in politics matters a decent amount. To me, in some cases it won't matter too much because in the end it's about who has the best policies and who has persuaded the people, but money can also help people have bigger funds to make bigger campaigns that could sway people.
ReplyDelete2. The Gilded Age was very thrown around by powerful people will all sorts of social power and money being able to make people do things for them for the money that they have. However, the Gilded Age did have a really big influence on politics, and the idea of the Gilded Age seems to do so today, but in the actual Gilded Age, power was exchanged even while the president was in office.
3. The articles didn't influence me THAT much, however the second one did bring up, like I originally thought, that it may seem to be very similar, but there isn't as much of a battleground like the old days, this is almost purely money into politics and not as much of the aggressive fighting and eating up of other companies.
Matt
ReplyDeleteThis article explains how aspects of the gilded age are still relevant today. Although super PAC's are not supposed to interfere with politics, they money can affect a politicians campaign greatly and force an opponent to drop out. This is helpful and harmful to a democracy because it implies that anyone can help support a candidate but people who have more power (i.e. industry leaders) have much of the control. It takes hundreds of small donors to equate to 1 donation given by a CEO from an industrial powerhouse. This is similar to the gilded age the top donors or the wealthy class is able to help sway the election. This in a sense gives them some control of the government which was a problem during the gilded age. I don't think they have as much control as they do now-all they do is fund super PAC's as opposed to controlling the election-but I think that the purpose of everyone begin able to support a campaign they enjoy is lost. The second gilded age supports my argument by explaining other factors occurring in our society similar the gilded age such as an increasing income gap, shrinking middle class, etc. It also talks about how Bernie Sanders would have tried to fix this issue if he was elected which shows a solution our country can have
Money in politics does matter because it helps each of the candidates make a difference in their campaign. Donald Trump's money made him look like a king to people in the nation helping him look like a role model to people who are uneducated and do not really know what he is saying and will do to this country.
ReplyDeleteBoth ages were pretty similar in the way that politics was very competitive and very close each year. In the Gilded Age 3 out of 5 presidential electionsm the margins were less than 1 percent. This year the presidential election was won by Trump who lost the popular vote.
1) Money in politics does have an impact because it influences people's opinions. The more money a candidate has, the more they are known across the nation. However, money can be unfair in politics because it give the candidate with less money a disadvantage. Candidates like Trump who already have money for advertising and campaigning don't need as much financial support as someone with less funding.
ReplyDelete2) Similar to today, money and corporations in the Gilded Age had a significant impact on politics. The more money someone had, the more well-known they were which helped their campaign. Today, less people vote in the election than during the Gilded Age. Also there are more laws and rights which create less of a gap between the rich and poor than during that era.
3)The article didn’t change my thinking of money’s impact in the gilded age. It reinforced the idea that money and politics had a lot to do with each other. Even though today we have advanced as a nation, the same conflicts regarding corruption, money, and politics exist that were in the Gilded Age.