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Caleigh Sowder
Composition 1301 Sec 286
Professor Dziadek
30 Nov. 2015
Multiple Perspectives Essay
One of the many concerns for any political typology group
is the concern of who is running the government. Many things can
affect this, but one that especially does is the distribution of
wealth. Although democracy is based on the participation and
concern of all citizens, distribution of wealth has determined
who will participate in politics as well as who will be
receiving the most out of the government. One example of this is
the rich having more and more say to candidates just because
they are the ones more often than not funding their campaigns.
One particular perspective on this situation is how one
political typology group views it, the Young Outsiders.
The Young Outsiders are one of many political typology
groups defined by the Pew Research Center. As defined by the
Oxford Dictionary, a typology is, “A classification according to
general type…” (Oxford) Therefore, a political typology is just
a general grouping of different people and their political
views. Based on this, the Pew Research Center conducted a survey
and from the answers they received, they created a quiz for
anyone to take online for you to find out your best fitting
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political typology group. Each typology group represented a
different belief or view towards the government and all of its
workings, the Young Outsiders being one of them. Young Outsiders
have a varying view on government, but especially feel a strong
dislike towards it. With the Young Outsider’s view on
government, the Pew Research Center said, “They are skeptical of
activist government; a substantial majority views government as
wasteful and inefficient.” (Compare Political) Young Outsiders
already view government itself as wasteful, but adding now the
increasing hunger for more money powered has caused them to
start shifting from seeing all citizens as the same. Young
Outsiders support for a limited government is starting to be
overlooked in favor for the talk of money. Coupled with this is
the growing unfairness of the government.
Young Outsiders believe full-heartedly that the economic
system is becoming increasingly unfair. In Pew Research Center’s
article, “Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology,” Pew
dissects their survey to see how each typology group views
controversial and current issues occurring in our country today.
“Beyond Red vs. Blue,” said a few statistics, one of them being
that 88% of the Young Outsiders believed, “…too much power is
concentrated in hands of few large companies,” and that 69%
believed, “…economic system unfairly favors powerful.” (Beyond,
Section 3) These statistics shows their strong belief that the
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power of our economy is becoming too available to the few
instead of the many. This is not something that has only been
occurring recently, though. Problems with distribution of wealth
have been occurring in our country for a very long time.
With wealth being available more to the few than the many
has not been a new idea in our history, nor the idea of it
affecting the government and politics. In an article written by
G. William Domhoff, he stated, “Numerous studies show that the
wealth distribution has been concentrated throughout American
history, with the top 1% already owning 40-50% in large port
cities…” (Domhoff) This shows that the concentration of wealth
has already been to just a few, and is therefore not a modern
occurrence. With this, it has always also had an influence on
politics.
In the book, “From Wealth to Power,” written by Fareed
Zakaria, he dissects how wealth has often lead to the attainment
of massive powers throughout the United States’ history, as well
as the world’s. He stated, “Throughout history, few events in
international life have been as regular or as disruptive as the
arrival of a new great power on the world scene.” (Zakaria, pg
1, par 1) Changing of political power was something that was
occurring often because many people were coming in and out of
wealth. This also shows that distribution of wealth not only
affects politics in small areas or a country by itself, but also
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effects countries political interactions with each other as a
whole. Countries falling in and out of wealth has changed all
throughout history, meaning that the politics has changed along
with it. Zakaria also quoted a British politician by the name of
Lord Shawcross, who said, “’use political power, commensurate
with their economic strength.’” (Zakaria, par 15) With the
growth of countries economic wealth came the growth of their
politic powers and political influence, especially when
concerning their military which can later lead to more conquests
and more power. This further proves the belief that you have to
have wealth to be able to control politics and power. There are
always varying perspectives on this issue, especially when
looking directly inside our country.
Many different classes in the economic system have a
varying view on politics. Each one has a different view
especially because they all have varying influence or power
depending on what class or level they are at. There are the main
three economic classes in the United States: the poor, the
middle-class, and the rich. Each one has their own opinion and
belief on the distribution of wealth and the effects. The ones
especially affected by this topic are the poor.
The poor have varying views, but especially view the
distribution of wealth of having a negative connotation when
talking about politics. This has stemmed from many different
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things, one of them being the unfairness and inequality in
politics and especially political issues.
Tyler Cowen, a
professor of economics at George Mason University, wrote an
article for NY Times talking about how people who have money are
affected by politics as well as people who don’t have money are
affected. Mason gives an example of the poor needing better K-12
public school education, but they keep getting more of an
instant patch than an actual reform. (Mason) He goes on talk
about how the rich do not concern themselves as much with
problems of the poor because, “…well-off families want to keep a
system that has done very well for them.” (Mason) This has
created a snail pace for the poor on political reform issues,
causing them to give up more and participate less in politics.
The middle-class, which participates more, has just as little
influence.
Because of money and the effects of it, the middle-class is
the in-between ground on a lot of issues concerning distribution
of wealth and politics. However, since they are not the top 1%
of the country, they tend to have just as little say when
concerning some parts of politics, but have just as much in
others. The middle-class is just as concerned about politics,
but feel they have little say in the processes because of their
status. So they look for candidates to represent them and their
ideas.
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Rosie Campbell and Philip Cowley did a survey on the
British public to see how they viewed political candidates.
Political candidates are chosen by all of the public. Their
studies showed that voters shied away from people who had money
and looked more for candidates who had money, but earned it
themselves (Campbell & Cowley) The middle-class knows that their
stance in the economy effects their influence, so they look for
someone else to still keep their best interests at heart.
However, the good candidates that would represent them are not
always available. Martin Giles, and published author, wrote an
article about the representation of people and how it is
directly tied to money. He dissects the great cost of campaigns,
and how because they have become so expensive, few good
candidates are becoming available. (Giles) Michael Lerner also
wrote an article on the same topic, stating that politicians are
now having to spend a great deal of their time swaying other
people to pay for their campaigns. (Lerner) This means that they
are also losing sight of why they really started to campaign or
want to run in the first place. The middle-class are concerned
for everyone as a whole, but are starting to feel more lax
because of the wealthy’s influence on politics. The wealthy are
starting to dictate politics more and more just because they
have money.
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The distribution of wealth has been a great favor for the
1%, giving them more dictation and rule on politics. Ari Berman
wrote an article on how the wealthy have been dictating and
undermining politics, especially when concerning voting rights.
He talks about how the wealthy have put up different obstacles
to achieve their wishes, such as spending money selectively on
the issues that they want corrected or fixed, without thinking
of everyone as a whole. (Berman) Surtirtha Bagchi and Jan
Svejnar also stated that wealth created from politics can have a
negative effect on economic growth. (Bagchi, Svejnar) However,
the wealthy do not care about how their actions affect the
economic growth of others.
There are multiple perspectives on the issue of the
distribution of wealth. Some of them include countries, poor,
middle-class, and wealthy. Distribution of wealth has many
issues, but one of them especially being the effect of it on
politics. Through this research, hopefully it has opened your
eyes to the growing problem of distribution of wealth and the
things that we can do today to fix it.
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Works Cited Page
Bagchi, Surtirtha and Jan Svejnar. “Does Wealth Inequality
Matter for Growth? The Effect of Billionaire Wealth, Income
Distribution, and Poverty.” Journal of Comparative Economics.
43.3 (2015): 505-530. Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
Berman, Ari.
“How the Wealth Primary Is Undermining Voting
Rights.” Nation 300.23 (2015): 12-16. Print. 31. Oct. 2015
“Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology." Pew Research
Center. 26 June 2014. Web. 31 Oct. 2015.
Campbell, Rosie and Philip Cowley. “Rich Man, Poor Man,
Politician Man: Wealth Effects in a Candidate Biography Survey
Experiment.” British Journal of Politics & International
Relations. 16.1 (2014): 56-74. Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
Cowen, Tyler. ”The Blurry Lines Between Makers and Takers.” New
York Times 13 Oct. 2012. Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
Domhoff, William G. “Wealth, Income, and Power.” Who Rules
America? 2005. Web. 31 Oct. 2015
Gilens, Martin. “Descriptive Representation, Money, and
Political Inequality in the United States.” Swiss Political
Science Review. 21.2 (2015): 222-228. Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
Lerner, Michael.
“Get Money Out of Politics.” Tikkun. 28.1
(2013): 7-12. Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
“Typology”. Def. 1. Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford Dictionaries. Web.
29. Nov. 2015.
"Young Outsiders." Pew Research Center. 26 June 2014. Web.
31 Oct. 2015
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Zakaria, Fareed. “From Wealth to Power: The Unusual Origins of
America’s World Role.” Princeton: Princeton University, 1998.
Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
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Annotated Bibliographies
Bagchi, Surtirtha and Jan Svejnar. “Does Wealth Inequality
Matter for Growth? The Effect of Billionaire Wealth, Income
Distribution, and Poverty.” Journal of Comparative
Economics. 43.3 (2015): 505-530. Print.
Results were taken from the Forbes’ magazine listing of
billionaires and they were used to compare wealth
inequality and the effects of it on the economy. Surtirtha
Bagchi and Jan Svejnar are both well versed in studying the
economy, having both written many articles on the economy.
There is a difference in the effects on if the wealth is
politically connected or unconnected. This study has shown
that when people become wealthy because of politics, it
actually creates a negative effect on economic growth. On
the other hand, wealth that is not created from politics
has little to no effect on economic growth. With all of
these findings, Bagchi and Svejnar advise that people
should be focusing on the distribution of wealth, rather
than the distribution of income. I found this source
through the Mary and Jeff Bell Library online search
engine.
Berman, Ari.
“How the Wealth Primary Is Undermining Voting
Rights.” Nation 300.23 (2015): 12-16. Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
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Ari Berman has written several articles for “Nation”,
especially focusing on voting rights, such as this article
goes over. “Nation” is a periodical that focuses on
politics, economic, and social issues. This article
discusses how wealth has been influencing elections and
creating obstacles for elections. These obstacles include
spending money only on certain projects the wealthy want
done, inadvertently turning everything into an oligarchy.
The article also goes on to talk about how the wealthy are
having even more of an influence than ever on candidates in
elections because of the cost that elections are today. You
can tell Ari Berman is definitely against having the
wealthy so involved in politics because of the domination
they end up having over the decisions made and the
candidates. I found this article through searching online
at the Bell Library.
Campbell, Rosie and Philip Cowley. “Rich Man, Poor Man,
Politician Man: Wealth Effects in a Candidate Biography
Survey Experiment.” British Journal of Politics &
International Relations. 16.1 (2014): 56-74. Print. 31 Oct.
2015.
This was an article written about an Internet survey done
on the British public to see how they would react to
candidates for political elections who were wealthy or who
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were not wealthy. These results gave an inside view into
how the public viewed political candidates. Rosie Campbell
and Philip Cowley are both well written authors of various
articles that mainly touch on social issues with politics.
Campbell and Cowley both look at these survey results with
a very critical eye, taking account for all of the data
they collected. The general consensus from the survey
results was that voters shy away from candidates with money
and look for candidates who have made themselves a
businessman, or have generated their own finances. I found
this source through the Mary and Jeff Bell Library online
search engine.
Gilens, Martin. “Descriptive Representation, Money, and
Political Inequality in the United States.” Swiss Political
Science Review. 21.2 (2015): 222-228. Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
This article talks about how representation for people in
politics seems to be based all on money. It goes on to
state that the affluent are more likely to participate
politically than people with a lesser income. However,
Giles also mentions that the middle class and upper class
participate almost the same, the upper class still holds a
greater influence. With this comes the greater inequality
in representation. This article also talks about how much
campaigning these days cost, as well as over half of the
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members of Congress are millionaires. Gilens has written
many articles on economic inequality and politics for
several different journals and has even written a book. I
found this article on the TAMUCC Mary and Jeff Bell Library
online search engine by using the key terms, “Money and
politics.”
Lerner, Michael.
“Get Money Out of Politics.” Tikkun. 28.1
(2013): 7-12. Print. 31 Oct. 2015.
This article goes on about the effects of money on politics
and why it should be taken out of politics. Michael Lerner
is writer and creator of Tikkun, which is a bi-monthly
magazine of his critiques on politics and society. Lerner
talks about how money does greatly effect politics and how
it has become a major factor in politics. Lerner also
explains how this has caused limitations on our democracy,
such as politicians now having to spend a great deal of
their career swaying others to invest money in them. He
also gives examples of how money has even undermined
politics. At the end of his article, he also gives examples
of how we can get money out of politics, such as creating
and joining together in a campaign. I found this article by
using the TAMUCC Mary and Jeff Bell library search engine
and using the key term, “Money and politics.”