Month: October 2023

In what ways was Penn an advocate of middle class morality? According to Wikipedia, “William Penn was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonial era.” Penn is best known for being the founder of Pennsylvania, and for being one of the first ever champions of expressive freedoms in the American colonies. In fact, the name Pennsylvania is actually derived from “Penn’s Woods”. This term refers to William Penn’s father, Admiral Sir William Penn, a British naval officer. Founding Pennsylvania was actually Penn’s greatest accomplishment. He was also one of the most important people to influence religious freedom in the states. William Penn also wrote a book of aphorisms called “Fruits of Solitude”.

What is middle class morality? According to Wikipedia, “The term middle-class values is used by various writers and politicians to include such qualities as hard work, self-discipline, thrift, honesty, aspiration and ambition. Thus, people in lower or upper classes can also possess middle-class values, they are not exclusive to people who are actually middle-class.“

In what ways was Penn an advocate of middle class morality? In his book the “Fruits of Solitude”, he includes numerous aphorisms with several themes, such as ignorance, pride, luxury, truth, discipline, apparel, promising, knowledge, master, servant, respect, passion, patience, religion, and several others. Aphorisms are usually short and memorable, so you can easily remember them. They are also clever and must sound plausible to the reader. And they usually always have a moral lesson to them, however, in Penn’s “Fruits of Solitude”, this is unfortunately a rare occurrence. Some of his so-called aphorisms follow some or even none of these rules. It is rare when there is an aphorism that we find in his book that is a true aphorism. Penn’s evidence of living in a middle class morality is manifested through his book “Fruits of Solitude”. In this book, he makes it perfectly clear that he is fully content with taking “the middle path”. He encourages the reader to achieve satisfaction by taking “the middle path” for all goals in life. He gives examples around the themes I mentioned earlier. He tells us to chose to be in the middle between rich and poor, luxury and rags, things like that. He tells us these things so we want to choose the “middle path” so that we can have a healthy balance in life. In fact, one of the themes regarded in this book is ‘balance’.

He was a Quaker leader, so he took religion very seriously. Religion actually took up the longest section of this book. He recommends a lot of spiritual advice to his readers, which all ties into his spiritual outlook, which was majorly Protestant. He urged his readers not to ‘stuff’ themselves, which concerned all aspects of middle class Puritan life. He thought the middle road to be the safe road in life. This idea of middle class morality was constant throughout his observations. He truly believed the middle road to be the best and safest road to be on in life.

How can private-property rights help solve environmental problems? The kind of environmental problems in this essay are pollution, like air pollution, sound pollution, etc. Now, as you can probably tell, pollution is not a good thing. The title says “How can private-property rights help solve environmental problems?”, and here is how. According to World Health Organization, “Air pollution is contamination of the indoor or outdoor environment by any chemical, physical or biological agent that modifies the natural characteristics of the atmosphere. Household combustion devices, motor vehicles, industrial facilities and forest fires are common sources of air pollution.” How can our right to private property reduce pollution? Since air pollution can travel anywhere, it can be in your yard, or other place that’s yours. Now, you have a right to your property, and this air pollution is a violation of your right to property, which is why air pollution needs to stop, but that is not the only reason air or other types of pollution need to stop. These problems can cause all types of other problems for the environment, and they all need to stop.

What have been some of the problems with the federal prohibition on certain drugs? Prohibition basically means that people can not manufacture or sell certain drugs. What were some of the problems with prohibition? According to DocsTeach, “Prohibition was enacted to protect individuals and families from the “scourge of drunkenness.” However, it had unintended consequences including: a rise in organized crime associated with the illegal production and sale of alcohol, an increase in smuggling, and a decline in tax revenue.” The attempt at this prohibition was an economic failure.

Do I have what it takes to become an entrepreneur? First, lets take a look at what an entrepreneur is. According to the dictionary, an entrepreneur is “a person who organizes and operates a business or businesses, taking on greater than normal financial risks in order to do so.” Now we know what an entrepreneur is, but how do you become one? According to Wix, ten easy steps to becoming an entrepreneur, “Find a business idea. Get to know your target audience. Test your idea. Use a business plan template. Create a website. Hire great partner(s)Build your network. Plan your finances. Develop a strong brand. Create value in your market.” There are other methods to becoming an entrepreneur, but this is just one of them. To get started, all you need is a great idea, and the money to make happen (or maybe you do not need money at all, depending on the idea). Being an entrepreneur could make you a lot of money, and if your idea is really good, you could become rich. Being an entrepreneur would be a good idea if you know what to do. So, looking at different ways to become an entrepreneur, I think that I have what it takes to become an entrepreneur, and I have tons of good ideas. I just need to put them into motion. Remember, anyone can be an entrepreneur, anyone, even you. So if you have a good idea, and you have money, put your idea into motion.

Factors contributed to rising health-care costs in the United States. What are some of these factors? According to People Keep, nine reasons why healthcare is more expensive, “1. Medical providers are paid for quantity, not quality, 2. The U.S. population is becoming more unhealthy, 3. Newer healthcare technology is more expensive, 4. Many Americans don’t choose their own healthcare plan, 5. There’s a lack of information about medical care and its costs, 6. Hospitals and providers are well-positioned to demand higher prices, 7. Fear of malpractice lawsuits, 8. Inflation’s impact on the economy, 9. The U.S. population is growing older.” These are all plausible explanations for why healthcare is growing more expensive, and I totally agree with them.

“World War II was a time of great prosperity in the United States.” Is this true? Was World War II was a time of great prosperity in the United States? Yes and no. Let me show you what I mean.

During the war, there was an economic boom. According to The American Prospect, “During the war 17 million new civilian jobs were created, industrial productivity increased by 96 percent, and corporate profits after taxes doubled. The government expenditures helped bring about the business recovery that had eluded the New Deal.” So the War was good for the economy, but what about the people? With more products being spent on military equipment, there was less for the people to buy, and with people working for the military, there was less people to work at regular jobs. So the war may have been good for the economy, but not for the people.

In this essay, I will give the views of these three people, Cotton, Winthrop, and Rowlandson, regarding the Puritans’ errand in the wilderness. Lets look at them one at a time, shall we?

1) John Cotton: He wrote and was the well known speaker of the famous sermon “God’s Promise to His Plantation”. In this sermon he spoke to the Pilgrims who were leaving for America, and in this sermon he tells that the Pilgrims that going to America is God’s will. He also said that The land will be free fro settlement once the Pilgrims got there. He elaborates on the several many ways that God has lead the Pilgrims to starting their own colony. Cotton’s reason for leaving was mainly for better business opportunities for the Pilgrims, for the Pilgrims to plant their own colony, better employment, and to have the freedom to have their own form of worship and religion, different than what the Parliament was forcing them to follow back in Europe. He specifies numerous different Biblical passages and quotes them, as was done in Puritanism. This leaving England and going to a different country is just like what happened in the Bible, when the Israelite’s departed for Canaan, leaving a country where they were not allowed to freely worship, to move to a different country so that they could worship, just like the Israelite’s.

2) John Winthrop: He was another great influential figure of this movement. Winthrop actually served as governor of the colony for some time. He also wrote a speech for the departing Pilgrims. He too, wrote in several Biblical passages into his speech. His account is set up in an odd kind of question and answer format. In this ‘different’ account, he tells of the struggles of not knowing what to look forward to in this place where they were setting up this new colony. His hope was that the Puritans would work together to build a strong working body, but it did not turn out as hoped. Many Puritans disobeyed laws and grew further from the reason they even set foot in America in the first place. This is also just like the Israelite’s departure for the land of Canaan.

3) Mary Rowlandson: A minister’s wife, would have been expected to be devout, submissive to her husband, quiet, and even hard working, just like any other wife during that time. In this colony, feminism could destroy the patriarchy, and were not allowed to make other women to differentiate from the group, but she wrote an account of Indian captivity from her own personal experience. While she was in captivity, she experienced the harshness of the wilderness. She was dragged around by her Indian masters and was forced to live in extreme hunger. However, she kept returning to her belief that God had kept her alive and was sustaining her, and that it was Him that caused her to be rescued, and that He caused her to be brought through the trial of Indian captivity to bring her closer to Him.

What has been the most significant contributing factor to the abolition of child labor? First, this topic refers to child labor in the 1800s, not today, in case you were confused. According to History Channel, “Through the first half of the 1800s, child labor was an essential part of the agricultural and handicraft economy of the United States. Children worked on family farms and as indentured servants for others. To learn a trade, boys often began their apprenticeships between the ages of ten and fourteen.” In the 1800s, child labor was not a bad thing. Children worked at factories  or farms or other places in order to earn money to help their family, because some families in the 1800s were not earning enough, so children had to work to earn extra money for the family. So what led to the abolition of child labor? According to History Channel, “Nineteenth century reformers and labor organizers sought to restrict child labor and improve working conditions to uplift the masses, but it took the Great Depression—a time when Americans were desperate for employment—to shake long-held practices of child labor in the United States.“

What is the problem that Ludwig von Mises identified that a socialist economic planning board faces? According to Wikipedia, “Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises was an Austrian–American Austrian School economist, historian, logician, and sociologist. Mises wrote and lectured extensively on the societal contributions of classical liberalism and the power of consumers.” According to Wiley Online Library, “In 1920, Ludwig von Mises claimed that rational economic calculation could not occur in a complex, socialist economy. He argued that an economic system that lacked private property rights in capital goods prevented the emergence of prices based on relative scarcities.” In his mind, the socialist experiment, he thought could only lead to dictatorship and chaos.

How does making a budget reduce impulse shopping? Now, some of you reading this may not know what budgeting is, so here is a reliable definition: according to Consumer.gov, “A budget is a plan you write down to decide how you will spend your money each month. A budget helps you make sure you will have enough money every month. Without a budget, you might run out of money before your next paycheck.” Budgets are extremely helpful if you have a job and you have to pay for different thing. Here is an example of a way to budget that some people might use: These people ,every month, cash in their paychecks and divide the cash into different piles for different things they need to pay for. They then put the different piles of money into different envelopes each labeled after the different pile of money put into it. For example, the pile of money labeled Bills goes into the Bills envelope, or the Groceries pile goes into the Groceries envelope, or the Savings pile goes into the Savings envelope. Some people do this, except online. I think that this type of budgeting woks best for me. Maybe one of these other forms of budgeting works best for you. Some other forms of budgeting are the zero-based budget, best for tracking consistent income and expenses; the pay-yourself-first budget, best for prioritizing savings and debt repayment; the envelope system budget (what I just explained to you), best for making your spending more disciplined; the 50/30/20 budget, best for categorizing “needs” over “wants”; and the no-budget budget, best for lowering and avoiding debt. You can chose the best way to budget for you depending on where you are in life.

What is impulse shopping? In my own words, I think that impulse shopping refers to buying something because you like it. According to Verywell Mind, “Impulse shopping involves buying items that a person was not planning to purchase.” Both of these definitions are true. For example, you could be at a store buying groceries, and then, all of a sudden, you see something that you like, and you end up buying it. You bought because you liked it, but you were not planning on buying it. That is impulse shopping.

How does making a budget reduce impulse shopping? What I think, is that a lot of people impulse shop, but what if you impulse shopped so much, that you did not have enough money for you bills that you have to pay for? If you budgeted (lets use my envelope example used earlier) and you put your money into the several different envelopes, when you go shopping, you know how much money you are able to spend. You may even have an envelope labeled Impulse Shopping, and that is the total amount of money you can use on impulse shopping, and that is fine. But if you budget, you have a better chance of resisting impulse shopping, which can quickly deprive us of our money.

How did Cotton and Winthrop view the emigrating people’s connection with the Old Testament? According to Wikipedia, “John Cotton was a clergyman in England and the American colonies, and was considered the preeminent minister and theologian of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He studied for five years at Trinity College, Cambridge, and nine years at Emmanuel College, Cambridge.'” and “John Winthrop was an English Puritan lawyer and one of the leading figures in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the second major settlement in New England following Plymouth Colony. Winthrop led the first large wave of colonists from England in 1630 and served as governor for 12 of the colony’s first 20 years.” John Winthrop is best known for being the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and for being a leading Puritan founder of New England. One thing that these men have in common is that they are both authors, and they both have books on the emigration to New England in America from Europe. They sailed to America to resist forced religion coming from the Parliament. When they left for America, they did not know what to expect, but thought it was worth it to start their religion with their fellow Puritans.

Cotton is the well known speaker of the famous sermon “God’s Promise to His Plantation”. In this sermon Cotton explained that leaving Europe and emigrating to America was part of God’s will and said that the land in America would be free for settlement for the Pilgrims once they arrived. It is still debated today whether this sermon was spoken before the departure from Europe, or during. Cotton’s reason for leaving was mainly for better business opportunities for the Pilgrims, for the Pilgrims to plant their own colony, better employment, and to have the freedom to have their own form of worship and religion, different than what the Parliament was forcing them to follow back in Europe. I think that this departure for America is very similar to the Israelite’s departure for Canaan in the Bible. Both groups had no idea what was laid ahead of them, but were willing to risk everything in order to make the journey. Cotton also quotes many Biblical passages in his sermon.

Winthrop was in charge of the Puritan fleet going to America. His account is set up in an odd kind of question and answer format. In this ‘different’ account, he tells of the struggles of not knowing what to look forward to in this place where they were setting up this new colony. This is kind of like the account of the Israelites. His hope was that the Puritans would work together to build a strong working body, but it did not turn out as hoped. Many Puritans disobeyed laws and grew further from the reason they even set foot in America in the first place.

Cotton and Winthrop spoke about a lot of Old Testament commandments and regulations that they put into their accounts that they spoke to the Puritans. You could tell that despite their lack of knowledge of knowing the future, they were confident that is was in God’s will to go to America and set up a new colony.