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What are some of the problems with the concept of public goods? Public goods are a service or commodity that are provided to the public by economics. These public goods are most likely bought by taxes, Some of these public goods are national defense, fresh water, and law enforcement. A problem that relates to public goods is the free rider problem. According to Study.com, “The free-rider problem arises when individuals who benefit from a public good avoid paying for it. Because consumers have the inducement to be free riders rather than purchasers, the market will not generate an efficient outcome and hence market failure.”

The process by which the market economy tends toward an improvement in the standard of living. Economic growth. According to CK-12, “Growth in an economy is measured by a continual increase in the production of goods and services. As a result of economic growth, the standard of living improves, meaning people are making more money, the population is able to grow, and education levels rise.“

Does the state have the right to redistribute wealth from some people to others? Obviously not. If you rented out houses for a living, would you like it if the government took one of your houses and gave it to a homeless person? Sure it helps that homeless person, but the government would be taking away your property! They don’t have the right to take your property. The government doesn’t have more rights than the people. If they can take someone’s things, that means we can. If the president told you to give him a million dollars, would you? I wouldn’t. I wouldn’t give money to someone unless I trust them, or I’m willing to loose that money. Never lend something that you are willing to loose. 

In what ways did revenge figure into the strategies of the countries fighting in World War II? First, here’s an example of revenge. America wasn’t really a part of the was until the bombing of Pearl Harbor. America declared war on Japan for revenge. If Pearl Harbor wasn’t bombed, how would the war have turned out? 

After World War I Germany was forced to do things like keep small military, claim they started the war, lose territory, and pay reparations. Hitler became in charge and started breaking all of these laws. He created a secret military and stock up on weapons. when Hitler believed that Germany was ready, he began taking revenge on countries. These countries got revenge back on Germany and this was the outbreak of World War II. 

Revenge held the war together. If one country didn’t get revenge on the country that attacked them, the war might have never ended. If America didn’t get revenge on Japan they might have never joined, which means they would have never bombed Japan and end the war. 

Difference between negative and positive rights. According to Saint Clara University, “Positive rights, therefore, are rights that provide something that people need to secure their well being, such as a right to an education, the right to food, the right to medical care, the right to housing, or the right to a job.“ Negative rights don’t require anyone to help you. 

Is there a right of free speech? Yes. If someone said that the president is dumb, why would you arrest him/her. There’s most likely people saying things much worse. If this were the case then everyone would be arrested. The government  knows everything that we say. They spy on us through our electronics! Many people violate the right of free speech and that’s wrong. 

Did World War II become more brutal as time went on? First of all, if you don’t know what WWII was, here’s a hint. It came after WWI. Yes the war did get more brutal as time went on. Why? First off, as time went on more and more countries joined which meant more deaths. Secondly, the countries that were fighting were getting their supplies bombed because they can’t survive without food and their war machines can’t work without the right tools. At one point in the war a country had to bomb the middle of France because the train station was in the center of it. They were trying to cut off Germanies supplies, and to do that they needed to get rid of the trains, although they killed hundreds of people in France. The war ended when America bombed Japan’s citizens, which was pretty brutal and not necessary, although I might have done the same thing. What would you have done?

In the 11th grade online Ron Paul online class I have been told to write a 2,500 word paper with the title “How important has the theme of optimism been in the development of Western literature since 1493? ” I will break this questions in multiple parts, then I will explain them one at a time. I will start with the word optimism. 

According to the Dictionary, optimism is the “hopefulness and confidence about the future or the successful outcome of something.” In my own words I think that if your optimistic you are happy and almost nothing can disappoint or annoy you. It is like the half-empty half full scenario. If your optimistic you would say that the glass is half full, but if not then you would say that the glass is half empty. 

In 1493 Western literature was published and up until now the theme of optimism has been very important. I am going to put some important works of literature in this essay. I will describe where and how optimism is in these works of literature. 

The first work of literature I will talk about was written in 1517 and it is called Martin Luther’s 95 theses. According to Wikipedia, “The Ninety-five Theses or Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences was a list of propositions for an academic disputation written in 1517 by Martin Luther, then a professor of moral theology at the University of Wittenberg, which was controlled by the Electorate of Saxony.” The 95 theses were originally written in Latin and published on October 31, 1517. Now what does Martin Luther’s 95 theses have to do with the theme of optimism? In these 95 theses Martin Luther Explains that if you follow the Godly standards in his 95 theses you will have eternal life in Heaven. 

The next work is a book called Candide, written by Voltaire. This book is mainly about an optimistic man named Candide going through some highly improbable (not likely to happen) events to find a New World. According to Lit Charts, “Candide pits the optimistic doctrine of Pangloss—that we live in the “best of all possible worlds”—against the long and senseless series of misfortunes endured by Candide and the other characters. Candide begins the novel as a faithful student of Pangloss, but painful experience prompts him to reconsider his views….Candide suggests that the struggle of human life—an endless cycle of optimism and disillusionment—might in fact be preferable to a static faith in the “best of all possible worlds.” A the end of the book Candide realizes that the New World is the same as the Old World. There is just as much evil, war, and sin. Candide began to wonder ” If there was a God, then why would he let bad things happen.” He argued with a man named Gottfried Leibniz who was a mathematician and philosopher. The man said that evil existed because God was using it to bring about an ultimate good.

The next work of Literature I will write about is one you most likely know. It is Robinson Crusoe written by Daniel Defoe. Here is a recap of what I have read. First Robinson Crusoe leaves his home on a boat in search of an adventure, but he comes upon a storm. After this storm is over the boat is still floating. A couple days later another storm hits the ship and the ship sinks. Robinson Crusoe and a few other men escape in lifeboats. Later in the book Robinson Crusoe is enslaved in England for a few years. When he gets a chance to escape on a small boat with another slave, he does. After a couple weeks they come across a Portuguese ship. The man in charge buys Robinson Crusoe’s boat and takes them to South America. Robinson Crusoe builds a plantation there and becomes wealthy, but he wants more money. His friend asks him to take a ship to Africa and get some slaves. He tells Robinson Crusoe he’ll get paid so Robinson Crusoe accepts. On the way there a storm hits and Robinson Crusoe with the other men jump off the ship thinking that it will sink. Robinson Crusoe swims to an Island and when the storm is over the ship is still there, but all of the other people drowned. Robinson Crusoe swims to the ship and builds a raft so he can bring helpful things back to the island to help him survive. For the next few days he brings things from the ship to the island. This includes a dog and some cats. One night there is a storm and the ship sinks. A few months later the ship reappears and is much closer to shore. Robinson Crusoe goes to take more things off the ship. After about 28 years an English ship comes to the island and takes Robinson Crusoe back to Europe. This book has many parts with optimism, for example when he escapes slavery, then he becomes rich on a different continent, he survives four storms, and escapes an island after being there for 28 years! 

The next book is called Utopia, which was written by Thomas More. This book is about a perfect society where everyone lives in perfect peace. In the book there are six thousand houses in each city, sixteen adults in each house, and ninety-six thousand people in each city. These cities build up an army, but they never need to use it because they never start a war. If a war breaks out they are ready, but they don’t start a war. It’s funny, because Utopia literally means “no place”. The optimism in this book is that everything is perfect, which doesn’t exist on earth, but one day Jesus will return and everything will be perfect again. 

I think that you know who William Shakespeare is. If you don’t, I will give you a recap of his play Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet meet each other at a party, but they’re families are rivals. Romeo and Juliet secretly get married, because they know their family would hate if the did. Romeo goes on a trip and while he’s on this trip, Juliet’s father arranges for her to get married. The pope that married Romeo and Juliet gave Juliet a potion that will make her seem dead. The pope sent someone to tell Romeo of this scheme, but of course the man was late.  Romeo heard of Juliet’s death, bought poison, went to her grave, and killed himself. When Juliet wakes up and sees that Romeo is dead, she stabs herself. The families are now extremely angry, so the pope finally tells them about the marriage. In the end the families unite. So where’s the optimism? First, the families only unite after it looks like Romeo and Juliet killed each other. Second, the pope could have saved the two if he had just told the families, but instead he let them die first.

William Shakespeare also wrote Taming of the Shrew. This is about a very wealthy man who has two daughters. The youngest daughter is beautiful, kind, and easy to love. The older daughter is beautiful, harsh, and has a sharp tongue, No one wants to marry her, but no one can marry the younger daughter until the older one is married. A man comes to marry the older one and does, but has a hard time when he does. The man teaches her to obey him and to control her tongue. She learns to obey him and he even makes bets with other men to find out which of their wives are more obedient, he wins. Where is the optimism in this story? The man plans to make money off having an obedient wife, even though he doesn’t know if he can train her. Like most story’s,  things turn out well even though no one knows if it will. I don’t know if all of Shakespeare’s plays have optimism, because I only read a few, but these do. 

I have read many books in my lifetime. Some for school and some for fun, but I’ve realized something over the years. Almost every book that I’ve read ends with a happy ending or a cliffhanger. I don’t know about you, but over the years all the happy endings have gotten on my nerves. I want to read a book with a sad ending for once. People like books with optimism because of the happy endings and so do I, but I want to read a book with no optimism and se if I like it. Although, I think that every book has at least a  little optimism in it. There are many more books that I can right about, but I don’t know If you would like to read much more than this, so I kept it short. I hope this essay helped you and please read more. 

What does John Locke mean by self-ownership? According to Wikipedia “John Locke was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the ‘father of liberalism’.” According to Cambridge University Press and Assessment, “For Locke, initial full self-ownership thus expresses absolute original independence from human authority as well as rights of civil and political self-determination. It is not expressive of unlimited rights in our life or body—the ultimate owner of which is God.“

How does the Age of Discovery provide an opportunity for Spanish thinkers to reflect on the idea of rights? Rights are the ability to do something without anyone stopping you. Each human has three basic rights. Life, liberty, and property. The right of life gives you freedom to live your life the way you want to. The right of liberty gives you the freedom to be free or have the religion of you choice. The right of property means whatever you own, no one can take it from you, even the government. A lot of people get needs mixed up with rights. A need is just something that you need to survive like food, water, and shelter. A lot of people also get wants mixed up with needs and rights. Wants are just something that you want. The age of discovery is when Europeans came to America to explore and discover. When they were there they found natives, which they killed, burned their property, and enslaved them. They were taking away their rights to life, liberty, and property. How does the Age of Discovery provide an opportunity for Spanish thinkers to reflect on the idea of rights? This caused people to realize that it doesn’t matter which religion or people group that your from everyone has rights. 

What is one of Kipling’s copybook headings that applies to recent public opinion? According to Wikipedia, “Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. Kipling’s works of fiction include the Jungle Book duology, Kim, the Just So Stories and many short stories, including ‘The Man Who Would Be King’.” One of Kipling’s copybook headings is The Gods of the Copybook Headings. According to Poem Analysis, “‘The Gods of Copybook Headings’ by Rudyard Kipling was published in 1919. The speaker of this piece is interested in “copybook headings.” Now mostly unknown, copybook headings were short phrases written by teachers at the top of a piece of paper. These sentences were then copied by students, over and over, in order to improve their handwriting. Generally, these phrases were expressions of traditional wisdom about life.” 

What problems from World War I helped contribute to the outbreak of World War II? First, after the war Germany was forced to sign the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty said that Germany started the war, they lost territory, they have to pay reparations, and were forced to keep small military. There was also the Great Depression. This is when Germany’s economics were shrinking, economy was failing, unemployment was rising, banks failed, prices fell, and businesses stoped. The people were looking for a political leader to help them, so they voted Hitler. Hitler claimed that he would help them, but he started to build a secret military and make more weapons. Then Germany invaded Czechoslovakia. France and Britain weren’t prepared for war so they let it slide. Then Germany invaded Poland. This time France and Britain were tired of Germany breaking the treaty, so they declared war and World War II started. 

 

(1) Historian Richard Pipes wrote, “Soviet Russia was the first society in history to outlaw law.” What did he mean by that? This meant that Russia was letting people who knew nothing about the law were aloud to become judges. These people never went to law school, they just had to rely on their own personal morals. 

(2) What was the Russian government under Lenin like? According to Wikipedia, the Russian government under Lenin was like “Formation. Traditionally, the executive part of a government is directed by a council of ministers nominated by a ruler or by a president. The Bolsheviks considered this to be a bourgeois institution, and wanted to create what they believed was a new government made up of a ‘soviet’ of workers and peasants.” What kinds of tasks did it attempt to achieve? According to Wikipedia, “From his Marxist perspective, Lenin argued that this Russian proletariat would develop class consciousness, which would in turn lead them to violently overthrow tsarism, the aristocracy, and the bourgeoisie and to establish a proletariat state that would move toward socialism.”

(3) What are the primary differences between Marxism and Marxism-Leninism? Marxism predicted a revolution, while Marxism-Leninism forcefully demanded leadership lead by a vanguard party of professional revolutionaries.