Was Protestantism a reactionary movement?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Well the whole idea of massive tax cuts was a pretty new policy, especially after it seemed both parties endorsed the welfare state. Same thing with trying to encourage more privatization after years where the word didn't even seem to exist.

[Tripledoc]

Originally posted by Kidicious


Are you sure this isn't Chapter 27?

That is strange. In my book it is chapter 24. But if you are refering to the internet version you are right, then it is chapter 27.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Well the whole idea of massive tax cuts was a pretty new policy, especially after it seemed both parties endorsed the welfare state. Same thing with trying to encourage more privatization after years where the word didn't even seem to exist.

Ridiculous

[Imran Siddiqui]

What, your views in general? Yes, they are ridiculous .

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
So you would call Reagan a progressive?

Not exactly, since his policies were a turning back to pre-New-Deal economic conceptions.

But Reagan was 'revolutionary' indeed in that he and his buddies (Thatcher, Pinochet, the Chicago Boys) rocked the system profoundly, and the developed countries are stillsuffering from the economic horror they brought.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Well the whole idea of massive tax cuts was a pretty new policy, especially after it seemed both parties endorsed the welfare state. Same thing with trying to encourage more privatization after years where the word didn't even seem to exist.

Low taxation and non-existent social services aren't new ideas.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Tripledoc


In response to the Elizabethan poverty laws, which were made after the confiscation of Catholic church lands - and the subsequent lack of means of the Church to help the poor - a group of vily protestants had opened a prison specifically for the poor. Should anyone wish to buy them out of this they would simply name a price. If at any time the serf should die no one would be poorer. If anyone would refuse imprisonment they would not recieve any payment.
Of course crime rose to alarming heights.
Read Das Kapital, Book 1, chapter 24, 2. The expropriation of the peasant land.

For some odd reason the people of France do not seem to have been very appreciative of the efforts of the Roman Catholic Church on their behalf. Perhaps the fact that all of the high places in the Catholic Church were reserved for the sons of aristocracy and that the monasteries were often pilfered for their benefit might be one explanation. The Anglican Church did indeed re-open the hospitals and poor houses, but like the Catholic Church quickly fell subject to graft and corruption as most of the management positions went to the aristocrats. I might also add that in the absence of significant understanding of the nature of diseases the sick and poor were probably better off not being in hospitals.

[Dr Strangelove]

Originally posted by Tripledoc


That is strange. In my book it is chapter 24. But if you are refering to the internet version you are right, then it is chapter 27.

Ahhh! Karl Marx, probably one of the most respected scholars in the field of historical political science. NOT!! I doubt that Karl Marx did that much in the way of research.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Not exactly, since his policies were a turning back to pre-New-Deal economic conceptions.

Not true! The Reagan Administration did not want to take way all New-Deal stuff and return to no federal government oversight. They wanted to reduce the size of federal government by eliminating what they believed were wasteful bureaucracy.

Also, Supply Side Economics was never attempted before in the country.

Low taxation and non-existent social services aren't new ideas.

They were for 1980 America .

[Spiffor]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Also, Supply Side Economics was never attempted before in the country.

I thought these were exactly the kind of policies made by Hoover.

Low taxation and non-existent social services aren't new ideas.

They were for 1980 America .

The US had big taxation and social services in the second half of the 19th century?

[Imran Siddiqui]

I thought these were exactly the kind of policies made by Hoover.

Nope. Hoover was a Demand Side President, he increased government spending to a level never seen before.

The US had big taxation and social services in the second half of the 19th century?

By the time 1980 rolled around no one had any idea of what a small government was.

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
I doubt that Karl Marx did that much in the way of research.

He spent a couple of decades in the British Libary reading govenment statistics.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Kidicious
No there isn't.

Yes there is.

Take the set of all possible policies. Evaluate how well each one will work. Whichever will work best, is the optimal policy. Duh.

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Tripledoc
I wonder what the Protestant attitude towards guilds was.

If the theory that protestantism advocated individualism, also in the economic sphere, then it must be shown in litterature or sources that Protestantism was against guilds.

I define a guild as an organisation of artisans or skilled workers based in a local area whose goal is to maximise collective profit by preventing competition - internal or from the outside.

Do you also dislike labor unions?

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Spiffor
"Reactionary" is defined as challenging the status quo in order to go back the past.
"Progressive" is defined as challenging the status quo in order to go forward to the future.

No, that's liberal. Progressive means challenging the status quo in order to progress, i.e. to implement better policy.