Wednesday, April 29, 2009

About The Political Compass™

In the introduction, we explained the inadequacies of the traditional left-right line.

If we recognise that this is essentially an economic line it's fine, as far as it goes. We can show, for example, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and Pol Pot, with their commitment to a totally controlled economy, on the hard left. Socialists like Mahatma Gandhi and Robert Mugabe would occupy a less extreme leftist position. Margaret Thatcher would be well over to the right, but further right still would be someone like that ultimate free marketeer, General Pinochet.

That deals with economics, but the social dimension is also important in politics. That's the one that the mere left-right scale doesn't adequately address. So we've added one, ranging in positions from extreme authoritarian to extreme libertarian.

Both an economic dimension and a social dimension are important factors for a proper political analysis. By adding the social dimension you can show that Stalin was an authoritarian leftist (ie the state is more important than the individual) and that Gandhi, believing in the supreme value of each individual, is a liberal leftist. While the former involves state-imposed arbitary collectivism in the extreme top left, on the extreme bottom left is voluntary collectivism at regional level, with no state involved. Hundreds of such anarchist communities exisited in Spain during the civil war period

You can also put Pinochet, who was prepared to sanction mass killing for the sake of the free market, on the far right as well as in a hardcore authoritarian position. On the non-socialist side you can distinguish someone like Milton Friedman, who is anti-state for fiscal rather than social reasons, from Hitler, who wanted to make the state stronger, even if he wiped out half of humanity in the process.

The chart also makes clear that, despite popular perceptions, the opposite of fascism is not communism but anarchism (ie liberal socialism), and that the opposite of communism ( i.e. an entirely state-planned economy) is neo-liberalism (i.e. extreme deregulated economy)

The usual understanding of anarchism as a left wing ideology does not take into account the neo-liberal "anarchism" championed by the likes of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and America's Libertarian Party, which couples social Darwinian right-wing economics with liberal positions on most social issues. Often their libertarian impulses stop short of opposition to strong law and order positions, and are more economic in substance (ie no taxes) so they are not as extremely libertarian as they are extremely right wing. On the other hand, the classical libertarian collectivism of anarcho-syndicalism ( libertarian socialism) belongs in the bottom left hand corner.

In our home page we demolished the myth that authoritarianism is necessarily "right wing", with the examples of Robert Mugabe, Pol Pot and Stalin. Similarly Hitler, on an economic scale, was not an extreme right-winger. His economic policies were broadly Keynesian, and to the left of some of today's Labour parties. If you could get Hitler and Stalin to sit down together and avoid economics, the two diehard authoritarians would find plenty of common ground.
Your political compass
Economic Left/Right: -3.00
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: 1.33
Show graph on separate page for printing
Andrew Foster

Editor

The Shield

University of Southern Indiana

Evansville, IN 47712


Dear Mr. Foster

There is a strong disregard of the homeless in the Evansville area by the Evansville population and the USI student body alike. I will be presenting the issue of the homeless plight in Evansville, the local ten year plan to end homelessness in the Evansville area, and trying to get USI students to get involved by volunteering their time at homeless shelters. I will be posting fliers on campus billboards and speaking publicly between the hours of 8:00am and 9:00am on the campus in front of the liberal arts building.

Enclosed you will find a copy of the two fliers I will be posting. The first is to make people aware of the magnitude of the homeless situation in Evansville, IN. The second flier lists a few agencies that need volunteers to assist them in reaching their goals.

You may E-mail me at after 5:00pm if you have any questions about this project.

Sincerely,


Allen N. Wolf
The Rise of the East the Fall of the West

Evansville, Indiana, a mid size city, is slowly dying because of its small town philosophy. Evansville is a city of 115,738 people, in 2006, down 4.8% from 121,582, in 2000, a rapid decline of almost 5% in only six years. This is due to loss of many jobs including Evansville’s big name manufacturer Whirlpool; which is teetering on the verge of collapse. The only saving grace of Evansville is the diversified economy that is not dependent on manufacturing as a back bone of our economy, the biggest employer groups are sales and the service/medical industries, according to the 2000 census.

Even with a declining population, Evansville has one of the lowest unemployment rates of the state of Indiana. The state average is 9.9% unemployment with Vanderburgh County at only 8% unemployment. While Evansville has two major colleges, USI and UE, and a community college, Ivey Tech; the unemployment has very little to do with higher education. Evansville, the third largest city in Indiana, is failing to keep up with the two bigger cities as far as higher education is concerned.

As higher paying industrial jobs move out of Evansville the vacuum is filled with lower paying service jobs. This trend is leaving Evansville with one of the highest poverty rates, of a large city, in the state. Evansville has a 13.9% poverty rate which is higher than the Indiana average of 12.5%. If Evansville is to survive in the 21st century economy, more citizens will need at least a bachelor’s degree to bring higher paying jobs to the city. As our education level is now, only 16% of the population has a Bachelor’s degree or higher and the majority, 53%, only having a high school diploma or lower. There is no wonder why Evansville’s economic stability is based on lower paying jobs and not the higher education, high paying jobs. While all the citizens of Evansville cannot be doctors and lawyers, there needs to a radical move to get the population into the higher education system.

Local high schools, training students for higher education, often find themselves at odds over which schools have the highest SAT scores and best college placement numbers. The two catholic high schools, Memorial and Mater Dei, on the competing ends of Evansville constantly compare standardized test scores and the number of National Merit Scholarship recipients. The rivalry between the east and west continues to this day.

It is public knowledge that the western part of Evansville used to be a separate town named Lamasco. It was annexed by Evansville to much lament of the population of Lamasco, who wanted to remain independent of Evansville. The border, as it is sometimes called, is Pigeon Creek. On the Westside of Evansville they still hold on to the long gone pride of those days, as most Southerners still hold onto the dreams of the Confederacy. Some still see Pigeon Creek as a border line only to be crossed in extreme emergency. I grew up in a very rare family; both my parents grew up on the West side, but moved to the East side of Evansville. Both sets of my Grandparents scarcely came to visit us growing up. My Grandparents, whose families were some of the first French to populate Indiana in the late 1600’s, only cross Pigeon Creek to visit the hospital. This sense of a divided community is no more evident than when a Westside high school plays an Eastside high school in football. There is a bigger rivalry between the Eastside and Westside high schools than between Evansville and Newburgh high schools.

While the mythical battle of the East and West side rage, the center of Evansville is rotting from the inside out, like an apple with a decaying core. What is sometimes known as the Southside of Evansville, 47714, has the highest individual poverty level of 4,215 people nearly 1,000 more than any other area, zip code, of Evansville; like the city is waiting for the Ohio River to wash the rotting flesh of the Southside away.

There is a North side to Evansville also, like turtles they keep their heads in their shells and their money in their pockets, where we find our more affluent of Evansville citizenry the old money, high paying jobs, and their “I am not getting involved” attitude. Though culturally inept and lacking all but the basics in services of our city they remain there as the rot from the center, of Evansville, slowly creeps their way. The 47725 area code, the North side, has the lowest poverty rating in the county with only 91 individuals below the national poverty level. This allows our fellow citizens on the North side of Evansville live without a thought of the rest of the city.

As the center of Evansville rots into decay, we cannot over look the spreading and evolving far Eastside, 47715 zip code, where both the affluent end of the Lloyd Expressway and the prosperous Interstate 164 collide into a mass of steel, brick, and glass buildings. This is where you will find most of the upwardly mobile people in Evansville. The intersection of the Lloyd Expressway and I 164 boasts the premier shopping hub of the Tri-State area along with a brand new state of the art hospital and one of the most profitable Wal-marts in the United States of America. This central hub of commerce in Evansville is constantly devouring land that I remember as corn fields and farms. One interviewed farmer, when asked how he felt about his land being bought and turned into a business district, said “Now I farm some of the time and count my money the rest.”

This attitude reflects most of Evansville’s attitude on development of new property. Apparently instead of fixing the sewers of the Southside, 47714, we need a new stadium downtown. This project is another attempt to “revitalize” the downtown area like the Casino Aztar was supposed to do. Without any local teams, I see little advantage to a new multimillion dollar stadium. How much “revitalizing” can the downtown area get at the expense of the rest of the city?

Now this brings us to the far Westside and the USI boom area, 47712 area code. This is the failing Westside attempt to compete with the Lloyd/I-164 area. This area boasts a Super Wal-Mart, which USI students need, and a couple hotels, which we do not need except when parents come to visit, and many chain restaurants making it the jewel of the Westside. All is not well in the area though; this area still has the average of 2,438 individuals below the poverty level. The poverty level in this area is because of the areas high percentage of low paying service jobs brought to the area by the franchises of the local USI shopping center.

Evansville, Indiana is not a very ethnically diverse community. The total population of Evansville is 113,627 people with only a small minority base. There is an even smaller percentage of foreign born people in the Evansville area. Like most cities in the mid-west we are not a cultural melting pot.

Evansville was settled mostly by German immigrants and farmers. The city of Evansville still boasts a large percentage of people claiming German roots. Even now 31.1% of the population still maintain their German heritage. German Americans are followed loosely by both Irish and English Americans at 13.4% and 10.6% respectively. There is also the group of 17,145 people who claimed to be of American ancestry, 15.1% of Evansville, I believe these people did not understand the ancestry question on the US Census form at all; this goes back to education and higher learning or the lack of it.

There is also a very small percentage of Italian Americans in the Evansville area; only 1.7% or a total of 1,960 people. This is why I cannot get a decent Seafood Alfredo and the only Mafia influence in Evansville is The House of Como on Kentucky Ave and I-164, which is rumored to not only be Italian Mafia owned, but to also have the best steak in Evansville. I believe this rumor is perpetuated by the other rumor that The House of Como only takes cash.

The foreign born population of Evansville is only 2,464 people or 2.2% of the total population. With only one good Indian Restaurant, The Taste of India, it makes it hard to get a decent ethnic meal other than the run of the mill oriental buffet. Evansville would benefit culturally from a more diverse population that would bring realism to the limited mindset of the population.

Evansville is a unique if undiversified city. What it lacks in ethnical diversity it makes up for in personality and history. With the largest none costal shipyard, during WW II, to the unique art displayed downtown by local artist in the warm summer months. Evansville also boasts many famous people from Don Mattingly, a baseball player, to Ruth Siems, the inventor of Stove Top Stuffing. In Evansville it has been my experience that we take the good with the bad and everything in between. This is a city I was not excited to come home to, but it was home none the less.
Rhetorical Analysis of Letter From Birmingham Jail By Rev. Dr. M. L. King Jr.

Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. portrays himself not only as a fellow clergyman, but also as the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He qualifies the conference as “an organization operating in every southern state”, which makes it sound omni-present in southern society. He goes on to qualify it as having “some eighty-five affiliated organizations across the south”, and identifies one of them as “The Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights”. This one he says invited him to Birmingham, Alabama, because of ties with the larger parent organization.

The audience is, I am guessing, are the white clergymen of the Birmingham, Alabama, area who apparently challenged his authority and involvement in nonviolent direct action in their city. Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. first attempts to qualify himself as a fellow clergyman. Then trumps them as a civic leader of a great organization by referring to himself “as President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference” attempting to show he wields more authority than his “fellow clergymen”. This is intended to instill awe in his “fellow clergymen”.


The purpose of the text, in my opinion, is to instill in the local population that his way of direct nonviolent action should be preferable to the alternatives.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. tries to gain support for his actions through this letter to the clergy of Birmingham, Alabama with the basic idea that non-violent direct action is preferable to the alternative. In the text “…it is even more unfortunate that the city’s white power structure left the Negro community with no alternative.” He tries to get the idea across that there was no hope for the negro community to keep the status quo.

His logic for their support of his non-violent direct action is that it could be much worse if the black community adopted “…black nationalist ideologies—“by this he means violent out breaks during peaceful protests. In this statement he makes a hasty generalization relying on the fear of the white community that the black community will in some way rise up and take control forcefully creating “…a frightening racial nightmare.”

He establishes most of his credibility at the beginning of the letter, as the President of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He also states “Seldom do I pause to answer criticism of my work and ideas…,my secretaries would have little time for anything other than such correspondence…” this is intended both to establish his importance and make him seam a busy man to the community thereby making his being there in Birmingham all the more significant.


Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. plays on the fears of the white community in this letter. The white community’s fear is of a violent uprising of the black population of the south. They would prefer to keep the south as is at the time but, the fear of a violent black uprising has been lingering over the south since the first slave owning plantation uprising where white masters were killed. For the white community keeping the Negro in his place has been the ongoing theme of the southern culture since the first slaves were brought to the south. Again and again King plays on these fears with statements like “The Negro has many pent-up resentments and latent frustrations, and he must let them out.” This plays on the fears of every southerner owing to the repercussions for the last two hundred years of persecution brought on by them against the black community.

Dr. King Jr. first establishes himself as a great social leader fighting for all oppressed people. Then all the way through the letter he uses the basic fear of violent civil conflict throughout the south as a means to get them to accept, or at least tolerate, his vision of the right way to conduct social reform. He uses many fallacies in this letter, mostly sentimental appeals, scare tactics, and hasty generalizations to attempt to sway his audience’s acuity of the issues at hand. The Letter from Birmingham Jail is a masterpiece of creative writing in an attempt to sway the thought of the day to come to terms with the equal rights movement in the United States of America.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

flier 2

--HOW YOU CAN HELP--
END HOMELESSNESS
VOLUNTEER
GET INVOLVED


Contact any of the following:

Aurora Inc. 428-3246
Homeless outreach team connect@destination-home.info

United Caring Shelter 426-9960
Day shelter, Single men emergency shelter, and Transitional housing

Goodwill Family Center 424-4663
Family-Oriented Transitional Housing (Non-emergency)

United Caring Shelter 426-9960
Emergency shelter for men

House of Bread & Peace 425-6754
Emergency shelter for women and children

Ozanam Family Shelter 422-2214
Emergency shelter for single women and children

Help make a difference in your community!

flier 1

HOMELESS: BY THE NUMBERS

Ø Vanderburgh County has the highest percent of homeless persons per capita in Indiana!

Ø Over 400 people are residing in shelters and transitional housing tonight!

Ø 33% of the 400 people are under the age of 18!

Ø Over 60 families are homeless on any given day!

Ø 30 to 40 people are living on the street and in places not fit for human habitation!

Ø Food supplies are dwindling and shelter spaces are limited!

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Saturday, April 4, 2009

English 201 public sphere project

Homeless: How It Could Happen To You

With this project I would like to show the student body of the University of Southern Indiana the pitfalls and precursors that appear prior to becoming homeless. There have to be some common situations that show themselves prior to loosing one's home. I would like to show a few of the common situations and how to avoid them.

At any given time there are around 400 homeless people in the Evansville Area. There are also thousands of families on the edge of homelessness in the tri-state area. Close to twenty percent of Evansville's homeless are veterans. Most of the homeless population in Evansville are receiving assistance from one of our many area support agencies. There are forty to fifty unassisted homeless individuals living in the area on any given night, living in places that are not intended for human habitation.

I intend to interview a few homeless families from our local area, listen to thier stories, and tryto give a brief summary of how the American dream left them behind. I am going to use Aurora Inc. a local Evansville non-profit agency who assists the homeless, to link up with the homeless families and individuals for interview purposes and talk to the foundation employees about what is being done to help the families. I am going to see what the University of Southern Indiana community can do to help Aurora Inc. to accomplish thier goals.