Week Four Journal Entry

It was interesting to see how some of our nation’s first political and social leaders viewed the creation of our great country and the world in general. I found Ben Franklin’s The Way to Wealth to be a familiar topic of interest. For years growing up my siblings and I were lectured by our parents about the value of money. We were also heavily advised to avoid getting into too much debt. But, did we listen? Of course not, but we probably would not have learned the great lessons of money management had we not found ourselves indebted to credit card companies, car financiers, and other various creditors and then had to climb out of that pit on our own. The final test was being able to discover that all of the things our parents had said about saving money for a rainy day were true.

One of the most fascinating things that I discovered was the difference in prose and composition of the written documents from the English descendent authors like Hamilton, Madison, and Franklin and those of the Frenchmen de Crevecoeur and de Tocqueville. The flow of the works for the English writers seems always interrupted with too many extra descriptive phrases, whereas the Frenchmen’s works flow smoothly where each sentence gets right down to the point and transitions very well into the next sentence.

Week Three Journal Entry

I can see where much of our civilization derives from the Classical Greek period. I also see how much we have removed our own society from the ideal concept of the Greek polis state, as well as from our own American foundation beginning with the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We would be wise as a nation to re-establish some of these principles from which our nation was founded – specifically matters concerning our justice system. It is disconcerting to frequently hear a judge sentence a criminal to a certain amount of time, but that time will realistically translate into a lesser sentence; i.e., “The defendant received 10 years in prison, but this will come out to be 5 - 6 years.” My question, then is why not simply sentence him or her to 5 – 6 years, and if there is bad behavior (as opposed to reducing the sentence because of good behavior) add on additional time for the defendant. We also see matters of the law being greatly favored for the extremely wealthy and the extremely poor. This means that the rule of law is relative or subjective to the individual. This is unjust.


I discovered something interesting to think about while reading Michael Walzer’s The Idea of Civil Society. In his essay, he states that a civil society cannot exist without the state, and therefore, a whole and complete free market society is impossible. A free market society without government inclusion leads to anarchy. What I came to realize is that there are many intense activist groups within the U.S. that support the idea of no government intervention or at least less government intervention. But, interestingly, they seem to miss recognizing that without the government these activist groups would not be able to establish any base or generate any sort of organization for their cause. If the government never took any action on behalf of the activist groups there wouldn’t be any organization of these, because ultimately, they would have recognized from the continued failure in the past of all activist organization that the government would not listen or act.
So, despite what they routinely believe to be inaction favorable to their cause by the government, the government does actually listen to their message, and often will take some sort of action. We have seen that even small groups can get the government to put pressure on the “other side” when necessary.

Walzer’s essay was the most interesting, primarily because I disregard many writings of liberally biased authors (mainly those in the newspaper), and yet I found his writing to be full of substantial points that I agreed with. I can see now why a absolute free society might become chaotic and exploitive – there still needs to be some state intervention to protect, preserve, and govern its citizens. Without state intervention what would be determined as “fair wages” for the working class. If this was an arbitrary arrangement left to be determined by free market enterprise there might be a greater exploitation of employees. Certainly, this is the worst case scenario; the best case scenario would establish higher wages based on the success of the organization. But I think it would be best to err on the side of preventing the worst case scenario.

Week Two Journal Entry

In this week we were introduced to a primary theme about understanding our own view of reality – what we think it is, and how we should go about changing our view if necessary. The authors argued, some vehemently (like Nietzsche), against many of the prevailing customs and traditions of our Western beliefs. We also discovered that there are various methodologies that we can apply to refine or change our perspectives about thus topic.

In my own study of psychology I was able to identify most with Sigmund Freud’s contention that our mental processes are the result of the influences of our ego and superego. Our conscious mind (ego) is often times dominated or regulated by our subconscious mind (superego; that little voice in our head or that feeling we get about our assurances and doubts when we make decisions or engage in activities). Our subconscious mental processes are directly tied to our beliefs, and as Freud suggested, when our beliefs are obscured from reality, we behave accordingly, which is normally in an irrational manner.

I particularly enjoyed reading Nietzsche’s excerpt from The Antichrist (1895). This was certainly the most discussed topic for the week, and it brought out some interesting opinions. Nietzsche believed that the true source of power was in mankind’s own naturally way of surviving and dominating the species, and that the Christian faith was harmful to this natural state of being because it taught compassion, pity, and forgiveness for our lowliest humans. He saw this as weak. I would like to make a point about what I believe power really is:

We say that power is normally attributed to persons in leadership roles; and we also say that leaders possess the ability to influence behaviors and actions in other people (many a man has done some extraordinary things in combat because the power to control their impulses and actions by the military commanders dominated their thinking). Therefore, can we also say then, that the Christian faith has a great deal of power – since it is obvious that the faith has the ability to influence people’s actions and behaviors?

As I mentioned in one of my posts much of the readings are composed in a manner of words and phrases that we are not typically accustomed to in this day in age. I find myself straining through some of the material on the first go-around, but I am surprised to see how I am much better able to understand it the second time around once I have determined the underlying point. I am grateful to be armed with a good thesaurus.

Week One Journal Entry

Why am I taking this class?

Although the obvious answer to why I am taking this course is that it is a requirement necessary to graduate, after having previewed the course outline and description as I was registering for class I found myself very interested in exploring some of the traditions, values, and ethics which have influenced our national culture. I am fortunate to be taking a course that is not offered at many other universities or colleges.

Whey does the university require it?

There are other colleges that offer only degree specific curriculum for the students, and this has its benefits for those seeking to go that route. A conventional university is different than these other institutions because it excels in its educational goals by providing a base curriculum of various required disciplines that serve the purpose of building the student’s capacity to think more openly.
The university’s role is to present the students with topics of study that engage the student in critical thinking and problem solving. It is the student who experiences progression in knowledge and insight as a result. The culmination of this process will be when the student begins to apply his or her educated mind to worldly issues.

What surprised, saddened, angered, or otherwise emotionally affected me during the first week of class?

I was very surprised to discover how many stories are included in our textbook. This is exciting because we possess a compilation of some of recent history’s most influential writers.
I will admit that I was not very excited about beginning a blog site because I am not a proficient computer user. The addresses that I browse on the internet routinely are limited to a few sites (foxsports.com, hotmail.com, yahoo.finance.com, google.com, and the cyberactive Bellevue website). In my last course I did conduct extensive research over the internet, but as a recreation I do not participate in chat sites such as myspace.com or msn messenger. So the idea of setting up a blog page was not very appealing. However, once I accessed the website and set up my homepage, I can see that it will be a valuable tool for creating interesting and insightful journal entries.

What connections were I able to make between the readings for the week and my personal life and professional duties?

I am certainly not an environmental activist or an extreme animal rights advocate. I do, however, believe that we should respect our world and the many living creatures in it (I am the guy who swerves or slows down my vehicle to avoid running over a squirrel). If we find ourselves with the opportunity to preserve, protect, or give aid to animals and the natural environment, then we should take action just as Eagle Man and Leopold would suggest. I work as a Dredge operator for a sand and gravel mining company in which we dredge aggregate material from a man-made lake. We are required to take certain measures to prevent accidents that could damage or harm our immediate natural environment which includes many wild animals like ducks, geese, and fish . Routinely, we receive policy and procedural updates from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What will I be able to contribute to the class?

My greatest contribution will be my coursework that I produce and my comments in the discussion board regarding my peers’ posted assignments. There is much that we can learn from each other throughout this course and being able to respond to each other’s work is a valuable feature of the online format. I was amazed at the consistency of quality work from many of my fellow classmates in the accelerated Management online program. Some of those same students are also in this course, so we will be able to share that familiarity with each other. It is nice to see other people moving right along in tune with yourself.

How will it be a better course because I am a student in it?

I will contribute in making this a better course mostly because I will offer unique opinions and perspectives based on the set of values, morals, and ethics I have developed over the course of my lifetime. Although, I expect that after studying and dissecting the course material that some of my views will change and others will be reinforced. This process will benefit the class in that I will continually bring fresh ideas into our class discussion.