Author: WyattPitts

Which book was more memorable, Cabeza de Vaca’s or Las Casas’s? Cabeza de Vaca’s book is Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America. If you have time to, then read my other essays that I put a link to and skip this paragraph, but if you don’t then read this very short overview of his book. 49 years after Columbus found America 400 Spaniards and 80 horses set sail to go there. The ships were hit by a few storm and landed at a Florida bay. The governor was on one of these ships. The governor wanted to go inland and Cabeza de Vaca said no, but his idea was overthrown. While they were going they were attacked by Indian tribes, A third of them got sick, then they reached a river. They build small boats there to get inland faster. Down the river they found Indians to trade with. Soon they reached the Mississippi river, but they couldn’t get across because of the current. The governors boat was separated from the group and others sank. Cabeza’s ship capsized when they reached an island, so they went home with a group of Indians that found them. A lot of Spaniards died from cold and when they reached the tribe a lot of Indians died from the Spaniards diseases. They blamed the Spaniards and killed some of them. A different tribe helped them escape and there they healed people. The Spaniards started healing people from different tribes as they kept going. At one tribe they found a man who had a Spaniard belt buckle. They asked him where he got it and he said that he took it from a Spaniard who killed two Indians. Cabeza went to the place where the Spaniards where they wee enslaving Indians and convinced them to stop. They went to Mexico to get a ship to go back to Spain and only 4 out of all of them survived. That is the very brief overview of the story. 

Now for Las Casa’s book A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. This is more of an account of the horrific things that happened in the New World. Things like murdering Indians, enslaving them, taking them to Europe to serve as slaves, and much other horrific thing like this. It was the summary of all the thing happening in the New World. That may not sound horrific to you, but imagine that it was your family that was being enslaved. 

Which book was more memorable, Cabeza de Vaca’s or Las Casas’s? I think that Cabeza de Vaca’s book was memorable. I enjoy survival more than torture. 

Would I rather sit in first class, or have the choice between the first-class fare and the coach fare? I bet that I already know what your answer is. First class. First class seats in America are usually around $1,300 dollars, which is very expensive due to inflation/price control. Is $1,300 dollars really worth a few hours of luxury. According to Business Class Experts, “First class is great, and can make long flights luxurious and enjoyable. However, the price that comes along with all the fabulous amenities is a lot of the time, less than desirable. The truly luxurious first class cabins are available only on limited routes.” So the ride is better, but the price is terrible. Now what about Coach fare? Coach fare is not as expensive as first class, but it’s still more expensive. According to Longman Business Dictionary, “coach fare American English a standard air fare that costs less than the first class fare but is more expensive than the cheapest fares. Most business fliers travel on full coach fares that are readily acceptable for travel on any available flight.” So if you haven’t already chosen, What do you choose now? If price wasn’t a problem, I’d chose first class. But since it is I would prefer Coach fare. It’s only a few hours, so I can suck it up. It’s better to spend less money and have a not to good time than to empty my bank account and have a few hours of luxury. 

The most memorable story or moment in Cabeza de Vaca’s book, Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America, and why? Who was Cabeza de Vaca? I’m sure that your wondering this so I’ll start this essay telling you who he was. Cabeza de Vaca was a Spanish explorer exploring the New World. His book Adventures in the Unknown Interior of America is an account of his adventures in America. This is really amazing, because while he was in America he didn’t have a pen or paper, so when he got back to Spain he had to write it all from memory. That means that it is very possible that Cabeza de Vaca may have gotten some accounts incorrect or missed something, but I guess we’ll never know. 

Before I tell you the most memorable part of the story, let me recap the story. Forty-nine years after Columbus found  America, when almost all the different people groups wanted the New World. The story begins with 4 ships with 400 men and 40 horses set sail. They were his with two storms and landed in Florida. The Governor was on one of these ships. The Governor wanted to march inland, but Vaca advised against it, but was overruled by the Governor. 300 of the men marched further inland including the Governor and Vaca. For 25 days the were in an empty land and were getting attacked by different Indian tribes. Soon one-third of their group became sick. They built 32 foot-barges to get on a river to get further inland, then a storm hit. Down the river they found Indians that they traded with. Soon they reached the Mississippi river where the current was so strong that they couldn’t get to land. The Governors barge was separated from the others during a storm and another one capsized. Soon Vaca had the only boat left and reached Galveston Island. There was an Indian tribe on the island that gave them food and drinkable water. The boat capsized so they went home with the Indians. Along the way they found the crew of another barge that had also capsized. Then men started to die from cold and disease  until there were only 15 of them left. At the tribe half of the Indians became sick and died so they blamed it on the Spaniards (It was their fault brining diseases with them). The Indians killed three of them. They escaped and another tribe helped them. There they healed people. Soon they left and kept going west. Along the way they kept finding Indian tribes where they healed people. Word got out and soon tribes were expecting the Spaniards to came and heal them. These tribes paid them to heal people. At one tribe they saw a Indian that had a Spaniard belt buckle. They asked him where he got it and the Indian told them that he took it from a Spaniard who killed two Indians. The Spaniards were enslaving Indians, so Vaca, his men, and 600 Indians went to find the governor. The governor wasn’t there, but the man who was acting Governor preached to the Indians and the Indians became Christians. The captain swore that he would not invade. Then Vaca went to Mexico city and then to Veracruz City to get a ship to go to Spain. Only 4 of the men survived. 

What’s the most memorable story? The fact that The Spaniards could heal the Indians perfectly overnight. This got the Spaniards food, water, and shelter until they got back to Spain. 

What did Professor Hasnas mean when he claimed that the idea of the rule of law is a myth? According to Wikipedia “The rule of law is a political ideal that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. It is sometimes stated simply as ‘no one is above the law’.” What does Professor Hasnas mean by no one is above the law? According to taylorfrancis.com, “This chapter begins with what is intended as an entertaining reprise of the main jurisprudential arguments designed to show that there is no such thing as a government of laws and not people and that the belief that there is constitutes a myth that serves to maintain the public’s support for society’s power structure.”

Professor Casey claims that the idea of political representation is an empty one. How does he defend this argument? Political representation is when politicians represent the citizens and act in the best interest of the citizens. How did he defend this idea? He said that “representation is insufficient to cover the brutal fact that despite our sophisticated modern states, the elegant rhetoric, and persuasive propaganda, some rule, and others are ruled.”

How was the standard of living affected by the Industrial Revolution? According to Wikipedia, “Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available, generally applied to a society or location, rather than to an individual. Standard of living is relevant because it is considered to contribute to an individual’s quality of life.” Many people say that nothing changed during the Industrial Revolution, but they are wrong. It actually had lots of positive effects. It increased the standard of living, production of goods, wealth, and more that I do not know. 

The New Deal was a wise series of government actions that healed the problems afflicting the economy. It didn’t really help. The economy was already healing before the New Deal was a thing. The New Deal just made it go a bit faster. It was not very wise though. According to the National Archives (.gov), “Roosevelt’s “New Deal” aimed at promoting economic recovery and putting Americans back to work through Federal activism. New Federal agencies attempted to control agricultural production, stabilize wages and prices, and create a vast public works program for the unemployed.“

Different African government successes for different African economies. One of these was Zaire under Mobutu Sese Seko. There were big copper mines in Zaire, but most of the money that came out of selling the copper went to Mobutu. He spent big amounts of money building monuments and statues of himself. He made all these thing that people could and couldn’t do like wear western clothing. He drove out Asian merchants and Belgian technicians and businessmen. In the 1980s the copper prices fell. Because of this Mobutu had to call back the Asian merchants and Belgian technicians and businessmen, and cause high price inflation. 

Another African government was Kenya under Jomo Kenyatta. His government had a one party rule. He didn’t tax people too much and there were no mineral deposits. The land was not very substantial for farming, but he still did better then Mobutu did.  He even encouraged tourism! These two were extremely different with their government. 

Arguments advanced by the Public Choice school of economics. According to Wikipedia, “Public choice refers to the behavior and process of what public goods are provided, how they are provided and distributed, and the corresponding matching rules are established. Public choice theory expects to study and influence people’s public choice processes to maximize their social utility.” According to Econlib, “Public choice economists make the same assumption—that although people acting in the political marketplace have some concern for others, their main motive, whether they are voters, politicians, lobbyists, or bureaucrats, is self-interest.“

Front-loading and political engineering. According to the dictionary, front-loading means to “distribute or allocate (costs, effort, etc.) unevenly, with the greater proportion at the beginning of the enterprise or process.” Political engineering is when a military spreads a project around to different infirmities to make sure that the job gets done. 

Marx’s criticisms of capitalism and how I would respond to them. According to the dictionary, capitalism is “an economic and political system in which a country’s trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit.” This is what the USA does and it works wonderfully! I’m sure you know who Karl Marx is, so I’ll save you time in getting to the point. According to Econlib, “Marx condemned capitalism as a system that alienates the masses. His reasoning was as follows: although workers produce things for the market, market forces, not workers, control things. People are required to work for capitalists who have full control over the means of production and maintain power in the workplace.” How do I respond to this? I would change my job, wouldn’t you?

What Is To Be Done? This is a novel written by Vladimir Lenin. According to Wikipedia, “In What Is to Be Done?, Lenin argues that the working class will not spontaneously become political simply by fighting economic battles with employers over wages, working hours, and the like.”

New Economic Policy. According to Britannica, “The New Economic Policy reintroduced a measure of stability to the economy and allowed the Soviet people to recover from years of war, civil war, and governmental mismanagement. The small businessmen and managers who flourished in this period became known as NEP men.” 

Ukrainian terror-famine. this famine was actually a man made famine. According to Wikipedia, “The Holodomor, also known as the Great Ukrainian Famine, was a man-made famine in Soviet Ukraine from 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians. The Holodomor was part of the wider Soviet famine of 1930–1933 which affected the major grain-producing areas of the Soviet Union.”

The primary values of fascism. According to World101, “Many experts agree that fascism is a mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism, and the supremacy of both the nation and the single, powerful leader over the individual citizen.” Fascism doesn’t sound like something that I want to happen today, but what are the primary values. According to Wikipedia, “Common themes among fascist movements include: authoritarianism, nationalism (including racial nationalism), hierarchy and elitism, and militarism. Other aspects of fascism such as perception of decadence, anti-egalitarianism and totalitarianism can be seen to originate from these ideas.” 

What was life like for the businessman in Nazi Germany? Not very good. For one they had price control. This means that the government decides how much you can or can’t sell something for. They also lived in a socialist society under HitlerAccording to the dictionary, socialism is “a political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.” . 

What is the idea of a “living Constitution”? A living constitution is a constitution that can be changed. This isn’t a good ides, because one day your right could include having guns, but the next day you’re not allowed to have guns. People could also change the law to fit their standards and be against others. A living constitution isn’t a strong constitution. A living constitution doesn’t protect your rights. 

What is nullification? According to Wikipedia, “Nullification, in United States constitutional history, is a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify, or invalidate, any federal laws which they deem unconstitutional with respect to the United States Constitution. There are similar theories that any officer, jury, or individual may do the same.”

What are the compact and nationalist theories of the Union? According to Wikipedia, “In United States constitutional theory, compact theory is an interpretation of the Constitution which holds that the United States was formed through a compact agreed upon by all the states, and that the federal government is thus a creation of the states.” According to Wikipedia, the nationalist theory is “It holds that each nation should govern itself, free from outside interference (self-determination), that a nation is a natural and ideal basis for a polity, and that the nation is the only rightful source of political power.”

Can smaller political units contribute to the cause of liberty? Yes. Most of the time smaller political states have more freedom economically. Just because they do not have a large military, doesn’t mean that they always lose battles. some can be won with economic power.