Abby and Matt Young

Update: The Park School, the high school that Matt attended, released an issue of their school newspaper The Postscript the other day that covers these events in great detail. Here's a link:
http://academics.parkschool.net/upper/postscript/special%20issue.pdf

Tomorrow morning I start heading down to Baltimore for the services on Saturday. I have no idea what to expect. A lot of people will be there, as well a lot of family. I'll be there from Thursday evening to Monday morning.

Abigail Young, Matthew Young

Matt, 16, remembered as 'a real standout'; 11-year-old Abby 'made you feel happy.'

Undated photo of Matthew and Abigail Young. (Picture courtesy of the Young family / December 11, 2007)

By Jacques Kelly and Frederick N. Rasmussen | Sun reporters

December 12, 2007

His teachers recalled Matthew Sam Young for his wry sense of humor, his ability to master the cello and cross-country running, but most of all for his intelligence and ability to write. Mary Abigail Young was known for making her own way as the youngest of four children, full of confidence and with a knack for making those around her happy.

Services for the brother and sister, whose lives were claimed by a fire at their Roland Park home, will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at Second Presbyterian Church, 4200 St. Paul St.

Matthew, who was 16, died Saturday at Sinai Hospital. Mary Abigail, who was 11, died Thursday, the day of the fire, at the same hospital. Their father, Stephen A. Young, a deputy copy desk chief at The Sun, was seriously injured as he attempted to rescue his children. He remained hospitalized in fair condition yesterday.

Matthew and Mary Abigail - known to all as Abby - were born in Baltimore and lived on Abell Avenue in Charles Village and in Guilford before moving to Ridgewood Road in Roland Park.

Matthew excelled academically, first at the Calvert School, where he graduated in 2006, and then at the Park School, where he was in the 10th grade.

"Matt was a real standout in everything he did - academics, athletics and drama. He was a nice kid, not in any way arrogant, and very humble," said Andy Martire, Calvert School headmaster. "When he won an eighth-grade writing contest, he gave a presentation to the board of trustees and donated the winnings to a fund at Calvert for a boy who had died in 2003."

Mike Shawen, who has been on the Calvert faculty for 27 years, taught Matthew history in sixth and eighth grade. "He was an exemplary student and one of the top two that I've ever taught," Mr. Shawen said. "He had an incredible maturity."

Matthew had studied the cello for 10 years and most recently was performing with the Greater Baltimore Youth Concert Strings.

"He had a real sense of musicality to him," said Andrew Shaud, his cello teacher. "One day, we were doing a jazzy piece, and he was one of the few who really understood it."

At a concert Sunday at the McManus Theatre at Calvert Hall College High School, about 150 students wore white ribbons in Matthew's memory. A bouquet of white roses was left on the chair where he would have played.

John Kessinger, a Park School history teacher who was Matthew's adviser, remembered Matthew for more than the straight A's. "He was nurturing of his classmates and worked well with the other kids. He was always understated and quiet, but because of his varying interests, he plugged into all the different groups at the school."

Since 2004, Matthew had attended Echo Hill Camp in Worton, and last summer had been selected to be a counselor-in-training. "His leadership skills were very mature and responsible, and he would have been a great counselor," said Peter P. Rice Jr., camp director.

Matthew also played lacrosse and, at the urging of his classmates, joined the school's cross-country team this fall. His coaches soon began discussing him as a "keeper in terms of attitude and approach" - recalling how he had ended a rain-soaked practice by diving into a puddle of mud and how his teammates followed.

"It was just a goofy, joy-filled celebration of being alive," said his cross-country coach, Paul Hulleberg.

For Abby, setting her own path at Calvert School was important.

"She was one of those students who'd come up to you, cock her head, give you a smile, and say 'Hi' - and it was most genuine. That sort of ability to disarm with her personality is something I'll always remember," said David W. Skeen Jr., middle school dean of students. "She always struck me as ... very much her own person."

This afternoon, when Calvert's girls basketball team meets Notre Dame Preparatory School, an empty chair courtside will be draped with Abby's uniform. The team will start four players.

"Abby was a very talented guard. She was fun and easy to coach, and was open and always willing to improve," said Roman A. Doss, the team's coach, who also teaches math and science.

Nicole H. Webster, who had been Abby's academic adviser at Calvert, would often slip her a piece of candy when she visited her office. "Abby loved candy, and I've been known to break a few rules," Ms. Webster said. "Her smile was more of a smirk. She knew something you didn't know, and the joke was on you."

Michelle Woods, who was Abby's second-grade teacher, recalled her as someone who "made you feel happy" to be around. "She was disorganized, but she didn't care. She had that charming smile, and when you asked her where her spelling homework was, she'd shrug her shoulders, and then we'd go through her desk and find it," Mrs. Woods said.

An uncle, Hank Young of Baltimore, said, "Abby was the hippest 11-year-old I ever knew. She could carry on conversations with older people or kids her age. It was pretty amazing."

He added that Matt and Abby were "very close and got along pretty well. They loved engaging in good-natured sniping." Last April, he said, they were baptized at Second Presbyterian.

In addition to their father and mother, Nancy Young, Matt and Abby are survived by two sisters, Laura Young of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Carrie Young of Roland Park; their paternal grandparents, retired federal Judge Joseph H. Young and Doris O. Young of Roland Park; and their maternal grandmother, Meilai Wong of San Francisco.

jacques.kelly@baltsun.com
fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com

Sun reporter Nick Madigan contributed to this article.

A fund to aid the Young family has been established by The Sun through M&T Bank. Contributions can be mailed to: Young Family Fund, c/o The Sun, Attn: Cashier's Office, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore 21278-000

Rest in Peace Abby and Matt

We all love you.



Boy, 16, dies after fire in Roland Park home

Quiet vigils follow deadly city fire

Korematsu v. United States

I'm trying to start a paper for my History and Literature tutorial on Japanese internment... more specifically on Korematsu v. United States.

I'll let you know how it goes. When I think about this case, I can't help but think of similarities between Korematsu and what's happening today, such as in Guantanamo Bay. Definitely an interesting topic to write about.

:sigh:

What do you say to such tragedies? How does one react? What can I do to help? How did this happen?

Why?

Please get well, cousin. Please stay strong. I don't know what else to say.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-fire1206,0,508456.story?coll=bal_tab01_layout

Reflections from Last Friday

Last Friday, approximately two hundred or more friends, relatives, and well-wishers of John Edwards stood vigil out of 20 Dewolfe to honor and remember the memory of John Blodgett Edwards, a sophomore at Harvard College. We heard from those close to John, and for a moment were lost in our thoughts to the song "Stairway to Heaven", one of John's favorites.

I lived with John last year, and it is surreal for me to think that I won't be able to see him again after seeing him every day and night for an entire school year. I can't imagine what his current roommates, who will now have to live with that emptiness, and his family, who lived with and raised and were raised with John, now feel.

It was said that night, that as many friends as John had, he personally struggled with his loneliness and high expectations. And I can see the truth in that statement. I can say that John would rather bottle his thoughts and feelings in rather than share the burden with his friends and roommates. He was that generous, nice guy who helped others, and neglected helping himself.

His death came suddenly, and most importantly to those who were closest to him, unexpectedly. I don't know if there were any signs that he was under any immediate danger, leading up to his suicide Thursday evening.[1] Of course, in retrospect, there were many signs.

Sometimes, I wonder if I had been a more compassionate roommate, I might have noticed John's inner struggle sooner and tried to help him more. Sometimes, I think about our small arguments and disagreements, and realize how trivial that all is compared to how much I enjoyed his company and miss it now that his company is unavailable to us forever.

I will have to think about these thoughts over the coming months and years, and personally I am more motivated to be extra compassionate and considerate and understanding to others. And yet, I know now that of the most important things that can be learned from this experience besides treasuring more the beauties of life, is that it is also important to recognize when you need the help of others, and important to reach out and get that help, no matter who, what, when, where or how.

Only we know ourselves the best in this regard. We can trust our friends and family to notice when things are amiss, but when there is something boiling inside, burning and churning and we choose to hide it from others for whatever reason, to spare them pain or acrimony, we do us, and them, a great disfavor.

The pain, and suffering, and lost potential of a life taken needlessly, or affected to the point that it no longer functions normally, hurts many more than we may realize. Ultimately, this incident will affect hundreds directly, and many more indirectly. I had no doubt that John would have made a great researcher, and that in fact, he already was a great researcher. Communities cannot afford it when pain and suffering take the place of life and happiness of any of its individual members, or any part of the group thereof.

John Edwards was a great friend, roommate, brother, son, grandson, student, researcher, and many other things to many people. He was generous, kind, incredibly intelligent, athletic, hard working, focused, and charitable. One of his goals was to run 26.2 miles and raise over $2,000 in the Harvard College Marathon Challenge for PBHA and Project Health. You can learn more about this challenge and donate directly to these organizations at http://www.firstgiving.com/jbedwards

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[1] http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=521043

John Edwards 1988 - 2007

I just learned that a my other former roomate last year has passed on as of yesterday night. While I was sleeping, this guy that I roomed with for an entire year was struggling for his life.

John Edwards is a great guy. He studied science and was in the process of become of the world's best doctors/researchers. And he enjoyed life. He worked hard, and played hard definitely.

We don't know the details yet. But why? Why?? He was only 19 years old, and still had so much to give to and receive from the world.

Thank goodness I only have one class today because I can't concentrate on anything else right now. I'm so sorry John. You deserved much more.

I can't tell you how this experience is making me appreciate everyone's life. Please stay well.

Another Harvard Political Review Article

(Finalized article not yet published.)

City Laboratories of Democracy

I

In 1932, Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis famously mused that “a single courageous state may, if its citizens choose, serve as a laboratory; and try novel social and economic experiments without risk to the rest of the country.” These days, however, cities have had to step into the role of democratic laboratories in order to address critical issues where the efforts of state and national government leave much to be desired. On issues such as the environment and healthcare, cities are progressively creating and experimenting with public policy to address these critical issues.

A Green City

For many, the federal government has not taken enough steps to preserve the environment and mitigate global warming. In an interview with the HPR, Chicago Department of the Environment Commissioner Suzanne Malec-McKenna stated that “the federal government certainly has not been pro-environmental. There are too many competing interests and the priorities do not seem to be where they need to be.” Lackadaisical attention to global warming and issues concerning the environment prompted cities such as Chicago to address problems at the local level that arose from these federal deficiencies.

Ever since 1989 when Mayor Richard Daley first stepped into office, one of his major goals was to the make the city of Chicago the most environmentally friendly city in the country. Since then, the city has passed legislation ranging from reducing carbon emissions, encouraging low sulfur diesel fuel in city vehicles, planting more than half a million trees, and developing almost four million square feet of green roofs. When asked about how Chicago had become so obsessed about the environment, Commissioner Malec-McKenna stated that “there was an evolution of perspective for all of us… being environmentally friendly became a part of the city infrastructure.” Newly created city departments and infrastructure allowed Chicago to utilize its unique resources, such as being able to hasten the building permit approval processes as an incentive for green development, to truly become one of the nation’s greenest cities.

Healthcare by the Bay

Despite federal deadlock concerning the state of healthcare in the United States, or perhaps because of the impasse, San Francisco decided earlier this year to phase in universal access to health care for all San Franciscans in city and county clinics. People, regardless of ability to pay, immigration status, or existing medical conditions have access to this affordable and preventative care.

Similarly to Chicago, leaders in San Francisco felt that federal and state governments were neglecting a critical need in society. Dr. Dana Hughes, Professor of Health Policy and member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at University of California San Francisco, told the HPR that “For whatever reason, healthcare is not a priority in the country. San Francisco decided that it didn’t want to wait.” Zachary Tuller, legislative aide to Supervisor Tom Ammiano, the legislation’s primary sponsor on the Board of Supervisors, told the HPR that “The city pays a lot of money to treat people who have not received preventative care. There has been no help from the state and federal governments in any meaningful way to address the situation. We had to do that independently of the state and federal government.”

Support for the health care legislation was overwhelming, as Zachary Tuller described matter-of-factly to the HPR. “It passed with unanimous vote of the board, which on controversial issues almost never happens.” It even seems to be catching on at the state level too, Tuller adds, because “since the health program has come online, new programs from the state have been formed to defer some costs for innovative health care.”

When state and federal government fail to take charge or gridlocks on important issues such as the environment and healthcare, it is up to local governments as a last resort to respond to these problems and experiment for their country through their own “laboratories.” When asked what mayors and other city leaders should think about when considering progressive urban reform, Barry Matchett, co-legislative director of the Environmental Law & Policy Center, told the HPR that “Cities are flexible. They’re smaller than states; they’re certainly smaller than the federal government, so they can do things that work for their localities, that work for their business communities, and that work for their citizens.”

Politics and Popular Culture in Historical Materialism

Politics and Popular Culture in Historical Materialism

In this essay I discuss the nature of Karl Marx’s historical materialism and evaluate his philosophy in terms of modern day examples. While Marx was right about many things, including the tendency of capitalists to exploit workers in his time and to this day, I argue that he did not adequately take into account the political and cultural influences on human history in his materialist conception of history. Instead, he emphasized economic conditions which motivate change in human history. Throughout the essay I use several examples to support the importance of political and culture influences on the development of society, such as stock options, psychology, political aspirations, etc. In the end I use China as an example to show the complexity of politics, culture, and economics in historical developments to both prove certain aspects of Marx’s philosophy, and disprove other aspects of Marx’s historical materialism.

During the 19^th century, laborers worked in squalid conditions for subsistence wages. A great question of that time was how society would react to labor exploitation, and what political processes would be devised to ensure that the poor were taken care of. To this day, in many places such as parts of China and Africa, this question still exists. The conditions of extreme labor exploitation led Karl Marx (1818 to 1883), a political philosopher whose methodological study of history, economics and philosophy influenced his understanding of human society, to the conception of historical materialism. An important tenet of historical materialism invokes the role of economics in the development of human society. Human history, he believed, is shaped by the methodology and quantity of goods and commodities that humans are able to produce. The rise of China and the growth of popular culture in the United States show, however, that his use of historical materialism and reliance on economic circumstances, particularly the conditions of the laborer, to explain the inevitable rise of communism from capitalism is fundamentally flawed. While people in general are motivated by their economic condition to seek improvement, historical evidence has shown that the economic condition of mankind is one of several factors that influence history.

Marx’s materialist conception of history is that human history is a linear development between human societies and modes of production. Marx derives his authority in being able to forecast the future rise of communism based on the predictable nature of linear history. A basic premise in historical materialism involves the tension between social classes. To establish this tension, Marx begins with the basic idea that humans create commodities and their means of subsistence through a combination of nature and human labor, which he defines as the mode of production. Marx observes that the division of labor, however, is unequal—which results in the division of social classes. Inherent conflict exists between the economic base and the social superstructure of society when the modes of production develop more rapidly than changes to the relations of production. Finally, the superstructure of society evolves when an emerging class overcomes the dominant class and creates a new social superstructure to fit these changes in production.

Following Marx’s theory, there have been several historical stages of economic development which have led to new superstructures of society: tribal society, ancient society, feudalism, and capitalism. Marx states that each superstructure was adapted to fit the new economic conditions of that time. In Marx’s theory of socio-economics, capitalism divides human labor between the work force and those who own the means of production. Those who own the means of production have acquired the role of masters, and those who provide human labor serve as slaves. The relationship between master and slave is shaped by the capitalist social superstructure that keeps order in society and allows the current economic condition to persist. The capitalist superstructure, Marx asserts, will fall when the next reforms to modes of production are made.

According to Marx, inherent contradictions within the capitalist system will result in capitalism’s downfall. In his A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Marx states that “The bourgeois mode of production is the last antagonistic form of the social process of production – antagonistic not in the sense of individual antagonism but of an antagonism that emanates from the individuals' social conditions of existence – but the productive forces developing within bourgeois society create also the material conditions for a solution of this antagonism.”[1] Therefore, the rise of communism from capitalism, according to Marx, is inevitable because of inherent tensions within the rules of capitalist society itself, not of the people who comprise capitalist society. Furthermore, in The German Ideology, Marx states that millions of “excluded” proletariats and communists will, in time, lead a revolution in which to force their inclusion into society.[2] This is problematic because it is based on a faulty assumption. First, Marx assumes that proletariats are excluded from society and that their interests are mutually excludable from those of the “bourgeoisie” and the capitalist. Such an assumption underemphasizes and neglects the role of political, cultural, and other incidental and/or spontaneous events in human history that do not necessarily arise from economic conditions.

Marx’s idea that the proletariats are excluded from society and that their interests are mutually excludable from those of the capitalist can be explored in part six of Marx’s Capital, Volume 1, where Marx discusses how capitalists exploit workers through unpaid labor and conceal exploitation under the guise of paying wages. In effect, once the laborer is hired by the capitalist for a period of time, the worker no longer owns his labor-power. Marx states that “as soon as his labour actually begins, it has already ceased to belong to him; it can therefore no longer be sold by him. Labour is the substance, and the immanent measure of value, but it has no value itself.”[3] In this manner, the capitalist can exploit the worker by deriving more value from his laborer during the working day than the capitalist pays the worker.

As the value of labour is only an irrational expression for the value of labour-power, it follows of course that the value of labour must always be less than its value-product, for the capitalist always makes labour-power work longer than is necessary for the reproduction of its own value. In the above example, the value of the labour-power that functions through 12 hours is 3 shillings, which requires 6 hours for its reproduction. The value which the labour-power produces is however 6 shillings, because it in fact functions during 12 hours, and its value-product depends, not on its own value, but on the length of time it is in action.[4]

In this example, the capitalist pays three shillings for an entire day’s labor that creates six shillings worth of value. To Marx, the idea that labor-value could create six shillings of wealth and yet only be worth three shillings is an absurd contradiction within the modes of production in capitalist society. Marx continues to argue in subsequent chapters that the surplus profits of the capitalist who underpays their laborers is used to maintain worker-laborer versus owner-operator class relations that are perpetuated in a cycle of capital accumulation, re-investment, and under-payment for labor services.

Modern theories on economics and modern examples conflict with the Marxist view of labor exploitation and capital accumulation. First of all, Marx’s theories on the exploitation of laborers would lead us to believe that capitalism will predominantly breed two classes in modern society and that their interests conflict: the low-paid worker class and a smaller upper-echelon of individuals who own the means of production. In the United States, this does not seem to be the case. Most households currently occupy a decidedly middle area of the income spectrum. Marx doesn’t take into account United States government policy that enhances its middle class, and the rise of a white-collar professional class that was a relatively smaller sector of his 19^th Century European experience. Furthermore, Marx doesn’t take into the account the benefits of capitalist re-investment into society. By raising the amount of goods and commodities available to consumers and by increasing efficiency and productivity through new inventions or new production methodologies, the innovative capitalist is able to raise the living standard of everyone in society. In essence, as the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats. There are also many examples of rich capitalists such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Rockefeller, and Warren Buffett, who re-invested their riches not only in capital development, but also directly in society itself.

In fact, the interests of a company’s success and a company’s workforce can be intertwined in many ways. Most directly, the interests of a company and its workforce can be merged through employee stock options. A real-life example of this can be seen in the case of Bonnie Brown, who was Google’s in-house masseuse but who is now a multi-millionaire because of her Google stock options[5]. Therefore, the benefits of increased corporate profit and efficiency do not have to be monopolized by an elite class that excludes the proletariat. Furthermore, most workers in the United States who have a retirement account, or who own a brokerage account, have (and are currently) invested in corporations and are thereby directly affected by corporate growth and profits. Secondly, and this is especially true in the modern state, companies are increasingly competing for skilled employees. With the proliferation of public schools and the increased availability of colleges since Marx’s time, access to these jobs and demand for these skilled employees are at its highest at any point in history. Thirdly, Marx doesn’t take into account the psychological relationship between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat in instances where the proletariat’s goals may be similar to that of the bourgeoisie. In some cases, a number of proletariats may come to identify with the bourgeoisie and similarly desire the continuation of capitalism in the hopes of one day owning the factory that he/she works in, which is possible in our fluid society. These psychological implications are more complex than Marx details in his philosophical texts. Finally, un-skilled employees are able to resort to unions and government in order to address their needs so that they are not entirely excluded to the degree that Marx implies. Companies may even offer perks and higher wages preemptively in order to prevent their employees from organizing, such as in the case of Starbucks. Workers are able to organize without resorting to revolutions in order to get management and/or government to address their needs.

Marx would correctly point out, however, that even in light of these circumstances there is still a vast income inequality between the richest members of society compared to that of the poorest members of society—and that this disparity is increasing. Another counter-argument is that the excluded proletariat does exist, if not within the same country such as that of the United States or Japan or England, then it exists in other countries such as Bangladesh and Mexico. If there is to be a proletariat revolution, however, it does not seem likely that the currently most advanced countries such as Japan, United States, England, Germany, etc. are ready to move toward communism. Their support would be necessary for a worldwide switch from capitalism into communism. Furthermore, movements toward more democratic governments have negated many of the needs of the proletariats to revolt. In this case, Marx might have been right about the tendency of the capitalist to take advantage of the lower classes and increase their wealth, but his solution may be too extreme. United States and Western European history has shown this to be the case (so far), because they have resorted to shaping social policy to help the proletariat rather than switch from a capitalist society to a socialist society. These are the very states that Marx believed would lead the change toward communism because of the great labor exploitation of his time. Then again, it is true that there are companies that are still known to be exploitative in their labor policies, a prominent example would be Wal-Mart. Even in the case of Wal-Mart, however, the company has responded to widespread negative criticisms and has started offering more perks and health care to its workforce.

Marx argues on another level that the alienation of workers from society also exists fundamentally when humans sell their labor and are consequently removed from their labor-product. In conceding this point to Marx (some jobs are undeniably dull), I would argue that the effects of worker alienation has been lessened through the development of popular culture since Marx’s time. While workers may be alienated from their labor, after work and on weekends laborers have the opportunity to pursue their hobbies and interests, or partake in social mass culture as an outlet for creativity. Furthermore, especially in countries such as the United States, typically its most impoverished citizens (excluding extreme examples), that is to say a great majority of its citizens, earn a living that supports some luxury. That is to say, most people have a television, access to a computer, access to books, and social clubs and organizations, etc. that allow them to enjoy life and these luxuries negate some of the need for revolution. Even citizens who cannot afford these luxuries in the United States are able to access them through public services such as libraries, affordable housing for the poor, social welfare, etc.

In his “Preface to A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy”, Marx states that it is the economic condition of man that determines man’s social consciousness. “The mode of production of material life conditions the general process of social, political and intellectual life. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness.”[6] In this philosophy, the economic conditions of China should not have led to the People’s Revolution in the 20^th Century. Rather, the poor economic conditions of the Chinese at the beginning of the 20^th Century should logically, in Marx’s linear historical development theory, first led to capitalism and then communism. China, however, skips capitalism and moves right into communism. How and why did this happen? There is a strong argument that political influences helped China make the leap to capitalism. The Communist Party of China is still the primary political party of China to this day. While this example may prove that Marx underestimated the role that political aspirations of people such as Mao Zedong may play in the making of human history; China’s failure as a communist state is evidence supporting Marx’s theory that states need to move to a proper level of productive capacity only available to capitalists, before successfully moving onto the communist stage. Regardless, it has been shown that political and cultural influences, shaped in part by popular culture, psychology, technology, etc. complicates Marx’s reliance on economics as the driving factor behind the development of human history.

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[1] This quote is derived from a Marxist online database of Marx’s writings. The website sources K. Marx’s A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Progress Publishers, Moscow, 1977 http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm

[2] Marx, Karl The German Ideology Norton The Marx Engels Reader, Second Edition Page 168 reads “Thus if millions of proletarians feel by no means contented with their living conditions, if their “existence” does not in the least correspond to their “essence,” then, according to the passage quoted, this is an unavoidable misfortune, which must be borne quietly. The millions of proletarians and communists, however, think differently and will prove this in time, when they bring their “existence” into harmony with their “essence” in a practical way, by means of a revolution.”

[3] Marx, Karl Capital, Volume One Penguin Classics Part 6 Chapter 19 Page 677

[4] Marx, Karl Capital, Volume One Penguin Classics Part 6 Chapter 19 Page 679 to 680

[5] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/technology/12google.html?_r=1&em&ex=1195016400&en=e5d6c0dae476cfbe&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin

[6] This quote is derived from a Marxist online database of Marx’s writings. The website sources K. Marx’s A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Progress Publishers, Moscow 1977 http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm

A Humbling Day In Burma

9 Killed in 2nd Day of Myanmar Crackdown
Kenji Nagai of the Japanese video news agency APF News tries to take photographs as he lies injured after police and military officials fired upon and then charged at protesters in Yangon, Myanmar Thursday. Nagai, 52, who was shot by soldiers as they fired to disperse the crowd, later died. Reuters Photo

Thoughtful Response to a Blog Post

I was reading Professor Mankiw's blog the other day, and in this particular post Mankiw lists the economists who have agreed to contribute to the NYTimes, and asks the question on how his readers think the list could be more balanced, if possible.

Unfortunately this response was labeled anonymous, but I think he brings up an interesting point. Here's some food for thought:

UNFORTUNATELY, MANKIW'S QUESTONS ARE BIASED BY DISCIPLINARY MYOPIA.

It is unclear to me why "diversity" only includes the political spectrum of ECONOMISTS. Social policy should not be governed by one discipline, but also be the viewpoints of 1) political scientists, 2) sociologists, 3) anthropolists (strange, huh?), 4) epidmiologists, and 5) doctors.

It does not make sense that a degree in finance will give us any knowledge in social policy any more than a degree in, say biology. In too many cases economists speak out of their ambit of knowledge.

Here's a question that isn't asked: Why is there a council of economic advisors, and not a council of social science advisors?

Contrast the disciplinary myopia with a country like Brazil, or like France. In those countries, the state of society (not just the economy) is consulted all the time by the wealth of non-economists.

Why don't we have THAT kind of diversity? I challenge anyone to answer that question! A propelsis: 1) economists are not better trained at statistical methodology, as least when talk about the creme de la creme, 2) they are not less biased, though that has often been used as a reason to discount anthropologists (yet social policy is often driven by illustrative anecdotes and detailed descriptions, whether factual or not. E.g. remember the myth of the welfare queen? Imagine if we had a detailed ethnorgaphy to fill that empirical lacuna).

Instead of wimperings about why Becker or Cutler, or some other Harvard economist isn't in the loop, why don't we provide some "real" diversity in terms of social policy. I don't have very much sympathy.

Like I have said before, for mosts economists, you know what they are going to say if you know who they are. Is that the make of an empirical science, or of demagoguery?

How can the "facts" or the reality of the social necessitate "balance" of viewpoints? Shouldn't such viewpoints or assessments exist independently of the person making them? Just a question to be provocative.

1:17 PM

Two Interesting Comments and a Response

So, a while ago I asked that my name be removed from an article in the HPR written for the spring issue that concerned education funding. At the time, I felt that because my co-author (Margot) and I held too many different ideological beliefs to put together a coherent article, and I felt that I submitted for her opinion the best draft I could come up with, and I asked that my name be withdrawn so that she could have more latitude in determining which way the article should go. Needless to say, I was wrong, and she came up with an article that (although I disagree with parts of it) has such an inherently uncontroversial conclusion that I don't mind having my name attached to it. I like the fact that it presents facts, and raises more questions than answers, rather than editorializing.

With that said, we received two comments dated May 16, 2007 in which I feel I should respond to as a fellow blogger and as a co-author of the article:

Asian American Special, and Some Clever Test Answers

While you're checking out clever test answers from this blog, and are interested in procrastinating further, you may be interested in checking out: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2007/asian.american/index.html

CNN is doing a special on Asian Americans for Asian American month. It has articles concerning the model minority myth, some history and a timeline on Asian American immigration, notes some of the past challenges of Asian Americans and what challenges Asian Americans may face ahead, and even includes a video on what it's like to grow up a hapa, among other things.

Kudos to CNN for putting this on.

I was especially interested in the article on Heroes star Oka, given my background in theater. Being a fourth generation Asian American on one side, and first on the other, it definitely has been tough finding an identity and being comfortable with it, given that stereotypes on how asians should behave still perpetuate. It's interesting to think about. Thoughts?

Washington D.C. Trip

So, last week from April 15th to the 17th, I was lucky enough to be one of about forty Harvard students to visit our nation's capital. It was a trip sponsored by our infamous Institute of Politics, and it was really, really well run. And it only cost me fifty bucks, which was a steal because they definitely spent hundreds of dollars on our nice train tickets, our nice hotel, our nice meals, etc.

Anyways, the biggest highlight of the trip was an intimate conversation with Senator Kennedy, who gave us about 40 minutes of his time and was immediately followed by Sen. Culver, whose son also happens to be the governor of a key primary state, Iowa. Anyways, what I found most inspiring about this conversation was that Sen. Kennedy talked a lot about public service, and what it means to be of service. That got me thinking, and I've thought about it before, and I've thought a lot about it sense, about the meaning of why we're here. I mean, Keynes famously stated that, "in the long run, we're all dead." Which is true. But also, if you've think about the progression of human civilization, it wasn't because people who made us who we are now faded away once they died, into the dust. No, they didn't disappear. They are still with us, because we constantly think of them. They could be universally loved, such as Socrates or Martin Luther King, Jr. They could even be physical statements of grandeur and possibilities, such as the Pyramids of Egypt and the Golden Gate Bridge. Or they can be personally meaningful that no one else might understand, such as our ancestors and close friends. We are who we are, because these people will exist for us, and they will exist in the future to because of the people who carry on their legacy, because these people including us have the possibliity to exist forever. And public service, beginning with personal service unto others such as with families, etc., is the start of that wonderful eternity.

Anyways, I got my copy of the Constitution signed and my picture taken with Sen. Culver, take that.

Unfortunately we had to cancel our appointment with John Ashcroft because we were running behind for our first event. Great trip. Other highlights included a tour of the House of Representative chambers with Phil Sharpe, and I won't ever forget first hearing about the Virginia Tech shootings from Sen. Kennedy (we were isolated from news outlets, and he quite seriously but somewhat casually mentioned alongside his conversation some examples of the importance of education, and then mentioned VT, and I was a little confused at first), and then turning ont he news that evening and being shocked by the horrors. In any event, the trip was a real eye opener, and really inspiring. Oh yes, I met an awesome Washington Post editor during a dinner, and she recommended me a book which I'm reading, titled They Marched Into the Sunlight, and we also got to hear a conversation with the famed Ben Bradlee, managing editor and VP at large of the Washington Post. Simply amazing. Oh, we also saw a notable author or two on the train, and a few senators during our lunch at the senate offices.

Free Publicity!

I mean, it's more important Harvard has a new President, and it's a woman, which is awesome!

But notice anything else at the very end of that same aritcle? I have to say that I'm very lucky to have met Mary Beth Marklein :).

'Historic day': Harvard taps woman for top post
By Sharon Jayson and Mary Beth Marklein, USA TODAY

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard University broke with some hallowed traditions on Sunday in choosing a woman and a non-alumnus — Drew Gilpin Faust — as its 28th president, effective July 1.

"I'm not the woman president of Harvard. I'm the president of Harvard," Faust, 59, said from a podium in an oak-paneled room, just below a bust of the university's namesake, John Harvard.

"Young women have come up to me and said, 'This is really an inspiration.' So, I think it would be wrong not to acknowledge that this has tremendous symbolic importance," she said.

James Houghton, chairman of the presidential search committee called it a "historic day" for the 371-year-old institution, the nation's oldest and wealthiest university.

Harvard is the fourth of eight Ivy League campuses with a woman at the helm, a move that may spur more gender diversity in the top ranks of academe, suggests David Ward, president of the American Council on Education (ACE).

'MAJOR TURNOVER' AHEAD: Changes expected as college presidents age

"A half is a half," Ward says. "Everybody will say these are among the best universities and their management is 50-50. These have a more powerful effect on public perception."

A new ACE study of 2,148 college and university presidents found that the percentage who are women more than doubled in 20 years, from 9.5% in 1986 to 23% in 2006, but the progress has slowed in recent years.

In higher education overall, 58% of undergraduates were women, according to an ACE study last year based on data from 2003-04.

Since 2001, Faust has been dean of Harvard's Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study, a research body at the university that studies women, gender and society.

"Drew Faust has all the qualities Harvard needs — a sharp analytic mind, a broad university-wide perspective, outstanding people skills and a deft administrative style that enables her to get things done," says Judith Singer, professor of education at Harvard's Graduate School of Education. "She's also not afraid to take a stand and make tough decisions."

Most of Faust's career was spent at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her graduate degrees and taught in the history department. The Virginia native is an expert on the Civil War and the South. She earned her bachelor's degree from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania

Her promotion comes a year after Lawrence Summers resigned the presidency amid faculty discontent. His troubles reached a boiling point in January 2005 by suggesting that "intrinsic aptitude" could explain why fewer women than men reach the highest ranks of science and math in universities.

In the wake of the controversy, Summers created two committees designed to improve the university's recruitment, retention and promotion of women in those fields. Summers chose Faust to head those panels.

Former Harvard president Derek Bok has served as interim president.

Faust is married to Charles Rosenberg, a Harvard professor of social sciences. The couple's daughter, Jessica Rosenberg, earned her degree from Harvard in 2004 and is a fact-checker at The New Yorker magazine. Leah Rosenberg, Faust's stepdaughter and a scholar in Caribbean literature, is an assistant professor at the University of Florida at Gainesville.

Nancy Hopkins, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology biology professor, says the Faust appointment has significance for students, faculty and young women overall.

"Students because she will emphasize rigorous education. Faculty because she is a great scholar, and perhaps young women in both categories, who will see that barriers are falling and who will aim higher as a result," Hopkins says.

Faust's appointment comes on the heels of Wednesday's announcement of Harvard's first major curriculum overhaul in 30 years.

Freshman Jason Wong, 18, of San Francisco, says the naming of a new president isn't something that "dominates" students' lives. But he says they are relieved to have the lengthy process behind them.

"A lot of my friends are very pleased, especially my female friends, that she's a woman," he says. "I think all of us are really glad that we'll finally have a president."

Jayson reported from McLean, Va.

Grassroots Wages

Dear All, the second issue for the fall semester publication of the Harvard Political Review has been released. The online edition was released around the middle of January, and you can read my contribution here (or you can scroll down). The more detailed draft for this article is available here. Grassroots Wages is featured on the cover for the United States section of the Political Review. The intention is to analyze the political forces that moved this issue to the national level, it doesn't really try to discuss the idea itself (whether or not it is ideal to raise the minimum wage). Thanks for reading! :)


Grassroots Wages

Where the minimum-wage movement got its start

BY JASON WONG

In recent years, the nation’s lowest income earners have been effectively taking a pay cut as inflation and rising consumer costs have reduced the value of the federal minimum wage. But while the newly elected Democratic majority in Congress focuses on raising the minimum wage at the national level, they will find that many states and localities have beaten them to the punch. In fact, the majority of Americans now live in areas that require higher minimum wages than the federal government does. In an interview with the HPR, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.) hailed this development: “Local ‘livable wage’ campaigns…help Democrats and Republicans to understand that the American people are serious about raising the minimum wage.”

The Santa Fe Example

An example of one such campaign can be found in Santa Fe, N.M., home to the nation’s highest minimum wage. Passing the city’s Living Wage Ordinance was not an easy task and the first attempt in 2000 failed. However, Mayor David Coss told the HPR that through a “powerful coalition of labor groups, the faith community, some small businesses and the immigrant community,” the issue “became a really great movement,” and the resolution was passed by the City Council in 2003 with only one opposing vote. The Santa Fe Living Wage Ordinance increased the minimum wage to $8.50 beginning in 2004, and raised it again, to $9.50, in 2006.

A strong supporter of increasing minimum wages, Coss explained: “When employers don’t pay a living wage, then the community as a whole subsidizes that need.” This assertion has some evidence behind it, as the first year after the living wage ordinance went into effect in Santa Fe saw a 9 percent decline in the caseload for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families programs. Addressing critics who claim minimum wage laws hurt small business, Coss argued: “If anything, raising the minimum wage has helped the economy and helped working families.”

Indexing the Minimum Wage

Beyond Santa Fe, even more dramatic steps have been taken. Through the passage of Proposition L, San Francisco not only raised the minimum wage to $8.50 in 2004, but also indexed it with the local Consumer Price Index in order to stabilize its economic value. The current minimum wage, as of January 1, 2007, is worth $9.14 an hour. In an interview with the HPR, Aaron Peskin, president of the city’s Board of Supervisors, attributed the 2003 passage of Proposition L to San Francisco’s high cost of living, the static condition of the state minimum wage and “a national minimum wage so anemic as to be virtually meaningless.” Proposition L passed resoundingly in 2003 with 60 percent of the vote, in spite of fierce local opposition from organizations such as the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce.

Asked whether there has been economic fallout, Peskin told the HPR that, “Contrary to the fears of naysayers at the time, San Francisco’s economy has grown by leaps and bounds.” Peskin acknowledges that “this fact does not mean causation,” but he emphasizes that the threatened “negative economic impacts have not been realized at all.” This conclusion has been corroborated by researchers at UC Berkeley’s Institute of Industrial Relations, which found that the new policy did not affect employment growth in local businesses. Indeed, full-time employment increased and job tenure improved, health insurance coverage remained stable, and the policy did not spur business closures. Unfortunately for those dining out, though, the Berkeley study did find that relative to other restaurants east of San Francisco Bay, the price of menu items in city restaurants increased by approximately 3 percent more.

As the movement to increase the federal minimum wage has progressed slowly, it has ultimately been up to each individual state and locality to decide whether or not to enact higher minimum wage laws. But it is partly because so many states and localities have decided to enact higher minimum wages that politicians on the national level are finding it easier to support minimum wage increases. As Jackson told the HPR: “Most change in Washington comes when the grassroots gets active.”

Why It Is NOT Okay

On January 17, 2007, the Princeton's daily newspaper wrote a satirical article by a supposed "Lian Ji", (a reference to a Yale student who has filed a civil rights complaint against Princeton over potential discriminatory practices), that extended beyond Jian Li's civil rights complaint and parodied the asian (more specifically Chinese) race in general.

I won't bother you with details or a long post relating to this issue (there are others more involved in representing those disaffected by the article, and most importantly there are representatives at Princeton leading the charge) save to say that I am a supporter of those that feel that the article, even though it was meant as humorous, was insensitive and I am shocked that editors at The Prince didn't realize this when they were organizing their newspaper. Even though they probably did not mean to be racist, and it was meant to be a little offensive and shocking, I felt like it crossed the line and marginalized our struggles and our accomplishments and may have promoted stereotypes that can further relegate and/or do harm to our standing in society.

Some of the most offensive stereotypes included, among others: "Lots of bulldogs here for me to eat. I can wear my knockoff polo shirts, and no one notice." and "We cook greasy food, wash your clothes and let you copy our homework. " The first quote is self-explanatory, and with regards to the latter quote, some of our ancestors and even current family members may still work in laundromats and/or work in restauraunts, so you can still see why such references is historically and can still be personal to many of us.

To me, the article reminded me of the cartoons/spoofs of African Americans that I saw in an English course from the 1950s that typified big lipped, horny, and incompetent characters that marginalized the struggles of African Americans at that time. It wasn't okay then, and it sure isn't okay now. The point is that:

Ultimately, insensitivity does not improve tolerance in any community.

Note: I don't believe that The Prince's article and the editors responsible for the publication of this article can be said to represent the Princeton community. I think that this is an issue between the publishers and the disaffected communities.

Interested in this issue? Further Reading:

Facebook Group: Dear Daily Prince, This Isn't Funny, It's Racist
Trenton Times: Many See Student Column as No Joke January 20, 2007
Daily Princeton: Editor's Note January 18, 2007
Huffington Post: The Princetonian Just Isn't Funny, It's Racist January 18, 2007
Associated Press: Princeton Newspaper Column Stirs Controversy January 21, 2007

Martin Luther King Jr.'s rejection of Literalism

King "wanted to develop an intellectually respectable form of Christianity that did not require people to simply abandon their rational, critical abilities," Carson said. The essential truth King saw, according to Carson, was the social gospel -- "to see the Bible as a message of spiritual redemption and global social justice." [Emphasis Added.]

[However]

Duke Divinity School Professor Richard Lischer, who has extensively studied and written about King's theology, believes that his rejection of literalism has to be viewed in context.

King went to seminary and received a doctorate from two bastions of liberal theology, Crozer Theological Seminary and Boston University, respectively. A professor told him that neither Moses nor the exodus were real -- an irony, given that King was called "new Moses" for his role during the civil rights era.

Literalists were also linchpins of segregation, said Lischer, author of "The Preacher King: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Word that Moved America." To accomplish his goals, Lischer said, King had to distance himself from them.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/01/15/MLK.TMP

For those who read my essay, An Appraisal of the Evangelical Power Structure: A Duality between Faith and Enlightenment, I don't feel so bad for spending so much time on it. :)

An Appraisal of the Evangelical Power Structure: A Duality between Faith and Enlightenment

[1] The influence of religion in America (and throughout history) is a demonstration of the considerable power of collectivized faith and belief over other forms of persuasion such as individual cogitation and even scientific experimentation. In fact, as recent events show and as several studies suggest, collectivized faith and belief as a form of persuasion can work in opposition to individual cogitation and even work in opposition to scientific experimentation.

[2] Before November 1^st, 2006, Reverend Ted Haggard’s credibility was almost absolute. It is generally assumed that visible fundamentalists such as Haggard are distinctly characterized by a livelihood based on their faith and their religion’s moral obligations (especially by the followers of the religious right.) This reputation gives power to the visible fundamentalists’ moral authority, which they preach to the general public quite literally from their pulpits about issues concerning personal lifestyle, scientific research, and human rights. Their influence is based upon their ability to lead others by their example and their convictions. However, on November 1^st, 2006 Mike Jones, a former male escort, alleged to the press that he had been paid for sex on several occasions from a prominent evangelical leader. Two days later on November 3^rd, news broke that Reverend Ted Haggard of the National Association of Evangelicals, an umbrella organization which comprises of almost thirty million members in the United States, was stepping down amidst allegations of drug use and sexual misconduct with another man[i].

[3] Haggard was an outspoken critic against gay marriage and adamantly condemned homosexuality. However, even though Haggard had been “outed”, this event did little to change the mindset of many Christian fundamentalists who still believe that homosexuality is a sin, and who continue to vote for measures that prohibit gay marriage. Before this incident, Ted Haggard was one of the visible representatives of religious fundamentals who acted as an advisor to President Bush and who in 2005 was a member of TIME Magazine’s 25 Most Influential Evangelicals list[ii]. If religion is truly a collectivization, a finely tuned organizational machine, then Haggard’s “outing,” having had little effect on the mindset of Christian fundamentalists indicates that individuals themselves have little moral authority over the religious establishment. Rather, it is the faith that others place on these individuals that lends them their authority. Once that respect is withdrawn, the individual is then discarded because he is no longer useful in organizational activities. In essence, the religious establishment acts somewhat similarly to a machine with expendable parts. When one part is no longer useful, it is replaced. However, even though individual components of the machine are expendable, the effectiveness of the religious establishment is highly influenced by the collectiveness of the whole. Currently, the machine seems to be working extremely well, as the religious right has grown more active since the countercultural and social movements of the sixties and seventies, and has tipped the majority of the presidential elections since the 1980s in the Republicans’ favor.

[4] When St. Augustine of Hippo coined the phrase, “Crede, ut intelligas” (“Believe, in order that you may understand”), he was espousing the idea that faith was the basis for knowledge and comprehension. Unsurprisingly, this principle makes perfect practical sense. This philosophy assumes that our ideological convictions are only attainable through our confidence in the truth of those beliefs in various ideas, persons, or things. If we do not believe or refuse to believe in an idea’s or an argument’s or a person’s merit, then we cannot be persuaded by what is essentially unacknowledged. On the flip side, belief also serves as a powerful tool that helps preserve one’s convictions in spite of contradictory evidence otherwise. St. Augustine’s idea that faith is the basis for knowledge and comprehension opens the door to explaining how religious persuasion, rooted in faith, has ultimately been one of the most historically and currently successful forms of persuasion born to man. Some of mankind’s most crowning achievements and most vivid historical events have been due to the influence of religion and faith-based beliefs. General estimates of adherents to the top two religions alone, Christianity and Islam, account for approximately half of the entire world’s population[iii]. And according to the American Religious Identification Survey conducted by Egon Mayer, Ph.D., Barry A. Kosmin, Ph.D., and Ariela Keysar, Ph.D., approximately 75% of Americans identify themselves as religious or somewhat religious.[iv] These numbers are an indication that faith, (and by extension the philosophy “Crede, ut intelligas”), implicitly plays an important role for a good proportion of the human population, at least on issues concerning the existence of a higher power and other general faith-based beliefs, and which, compared to science and philosophy, has remained comparatively consistent.

[5] However, how are we to assume that religious behavior and faith-based information processing and decision-making is mutually excludable, or even separate and different from, individual cogitation? There is some scientific foundation that describes the discrepancy and autonomy between faith and individual cogitation forms of processing. Epstein, Pacini, and Denes-Raj (1991) in “Individual Differences in Intuitive-Experiential and Analytical-Rational Thinking Styles” found that the results of their study “favored the independent relation of the two systems.” Although the study did not specifically link religion and individual cogitation to one form of processing over another, we can assume via each of the different characterizations of the two classifications which form of thought processing belongs to which classification. According to the Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory (CEST), people process information in essentially two different systems, an experiential system and a rational system[v]. The experiential system is characterized to be more intuitive, “automatic and effortless, pleasure-pain oriented, more crudely differentiated, [and] self-evidently valid.” On the other hand, the rational system is less intuitive, more “analytic, intentional, effortful, logical, more highly differentiated, [and] experienced actively and purposefully”[vi]. Members of the church whose faith influences their daily decision making processes and who, for better or for worse, readily accept the written word of the Bible fall under the experiential information processing and decision-making system. People whose individual cogitation are indicated through their pursuit of truth via the scientific method and logical thinking can be characterized as representative of the rational system. It seems that through these characterizations, experiential thinking is more easily attainable and less intellectually stimulating, while the rational system somewhat suppresses intuitive thought.

[6] In essence, faith is a natural form of ideological collectivization because there can be comparatively little room for differentiated opinions and information interpretation in religion. Religious studies essentially require acceptance of the written word of God. For an institution whose history can be traced back several millennia, the basic principles and tenets from the organized Christian faith are relatively similar to those from its founding. It can be argued that the scientific method, even though it has been in existence for a shorter time period, is similar to fundamental Christian tenets in that the scientific method has also become a tradition and a tenet for followers of science. However, the essential difference between the scientific method and fundamental Christian beliefs are that the scientific method is a methodology in which truth is an attainment rather than a preconceived notion (truth must be teased out through experimentation, and even then truth is still debatable). The key difference between the two forms of processing are the differences in the ability of its practitioners to challenge its teachings—it is harder to challenge traditional values than it is to challenge say, a humanist’s claim that religion and science are mutually exclusive (this is not an endorsement of that idea). Thus, there is more disagreement and individuation under the scientific method than under the Christian faith. Because of those disagreements, practitioners of individual cognition appear less organized than members of the Christian faith.

[7] It is easier for Christian leaders to represent Christian fundamentalists because there is more consensus, and a more thorough and stable consensus, among members of the religious right. This greater group togetherness can partially be attributed to the leadership, and the type of leadership, of the moral authority. John Levi Martin, in his article “Power, Authority, and the Constraint of Belief Systems” (2002), attempted to examine “the formal properties of the belief systems of groups.” In his study, he examined the degree of consensus among group members. He found that “the mean tightness for groups with authorities [is higher] as opposed to […] the groups without authorities.”[vii] Among the types of groups with more group consensus Martin included religious and political organizations. However, simply acknowledging the effect of the evangelical leadership on their organization does not wholly recognize the persuasive elements behind the authority of evangelical leadership. To answer part of this question, we can turn to many of these religious leaders themselves.

[8] Fundamentalist leaders naturally admit that they are serving a higher power through their actions. Prominent evangelist leader Billy Graham has been proudly quoted stating, "My one purpose in life is to help people find a personal relationship with God, which, I believe, comes through knowing Christ."[viii] (Emphasis added.) In an interview, Jerry Falwell, another influential fundamentalist, also acknowledged that one of his primary reasons for becoming a pastor was that “I wanted to study the Bible and prepare myself for whatever God wanted me to do. My heart was burning to serve Christ.”[ix] The difference between serving a higher power and serving truth are twofold: one of the differences concerns the objective of the claimant, and the other difference concerns how the claimant goes about (or can go about) accomplishing those objectives. In the experiential system, which more accurately depicts faith and religion, truths tend to be more self-evidently valid. This means that truths in the experiential system intuitively feel better. Chaiken and Maheswaran (1994) acknowledge that

“Numerous experiments have shown that the attitude judgments of low motivation or low-capacity subjects are influenced very little by the caliber of a message’s persuasive arguments but are influenced quite substantially by heuristic cues such as source credibility, other people’s opinions, or the sheer length of a message.”[x]

Quite simply, the appearance of a strong or natural argument is more important to “low-motivation or low-capacity subjects” than message content. Chaiken and Maheswaran (1994) additionally affirm that “most persuasion tests […] have included conditions in which message content contradicts the validity of heuristic-based inferences; for example, expert sources or lengthy messages present weak arguments (e.g. Petty & Cacioppo, 1984a; Petty et al., 1981; Wood & Kallgren, 1988; Wood et al., 1985).”[xi] That is not to say that observers of religious practices are “low-motivation or low-capacity subjects”, but the fact of the matter is that most members of the Church are not required to be relentless scholars of the Bible. Many are expected to accord themselves of their faith’s basic principles and faithfully comply with the teachings of the Bible, but relatively few (only a small percentage) of Christians are priests or pastors or actively promote or educate others on the teachings of the Bible. Because of this relative lack of religious scholarship, churches rely on active volunteers and dedicated priests and pastors to spread the word of God and keep the local religious community active. These local leaders, who in turn are somewhat directed by their superiors (people higher up in the religious hierarchy), are the source from which religious teachings can be provided to the public. This hierarchical structure, with the bottom populated by the people who merely believe in and attend religious services, is led by a smaller group of highly respected pastors and religious leaders who are almost identical (collectivized) in their convictions and their teachings.

[9] Organizationally, the religious evangelical establishments are also one of the most successful social organizations in the country. An Economist article “Therapy of the masses” (2003) describes the following:

On any Sunday, over 3,000 people from the suburbs of southern Los Angeles flock to the main Worship Centre, which looks less like a cathedral than an airport terminal. If you want to experience the rock bands, theatrical shows, and PowerPoint sermons in a traditional church, you can: they are piped into one by video link. Or you can watch the service on huge video screens while sipping a cappuccino in an outdoor café. [xii]

Thus churches, in addition to being reputable charitable social organizations, have also provided a means for social mobility by allowing individuals and participants to obtain social networks and build social capital. Pui-Yan Lam (2002) touches upon this idea and summarizes Greeley (1997) by stating that these social events, organized by religious institutions, “encourage voluntary activities in other arenas. In addition, church participation provides individuals with specific skills that they can use in secular organizations.” [xiii] which, for example, can include politics. These social activities encourage an emotional attachment to the church which directly encourages the pleasure of the “pleasure-pain” component of the CEST model of the experiential system of thought.

[10] Evangelical leaders tend to take advantage of experiential methods of persuasion. Faith is expressed biblically, through consumerist media, and through popular culture such as in movies, television shows, rock concerts, and best sellers. The American Christian, inundated with messages and news and promotions concerning church and religious activities, can hardly avoid the continual adjuration of pastors and religious fundamentalists. Most of these visible, fundamentalist leaders are supported argumentatively in two respects, first by their credentials and second by their targeted messages to the American public. Chaiken and Maheswaran (1994) have already established that credibility is an important factor in experiential persuasion, which requires comparatively little cogitation as compared with rational persuasion. In a separate study, Arpan and Raney (2003) indicate that the perception of credibility is also influenced by how consistent a news outlet’s reporting is in comparison with its audience’s point of view. “More recent research shows, however, that a news outlet’s ability to be perceived as credible may stem less from reporting efforts and more from issue involvement and cognitive processes of audience members.”[xiv] In a complementary article, Slater and Rouner (1996) conclude that “this study suggests that source credentials may not matter to readers so much as the superficial plausibility and quality of what is said […] Under such circumstances, credentials regarding expertise and bias simply do not have a very large effect on beliefs, compared to the quality of the message.” So that in some respects, credentials and charisma appear to not be as mutually excludable as they would seem. This tells us that a character’s charisma can compensate for any lack of credentials. In both cases, whether or not credentials (and similarly, reputation), or charisma is most appealing to audience members, evangelist leaders can take advantage of both concepts. Because most of them have been or are currently pastors in a church, most can generally be assumed to have charisma. Some, like Pat Robertson, are the hosts of popular television shows. Every evangelist leader also has the advantage of being able to claim to serve a higher power. They do not have to ask members of the church or their local congregation for their votes or their money. Instead, they elicit donations for charitable causes, and are on energetic quests to “save souls”. Their reputation, therefore, is often assumed to be impeccable, and geared toward serving the public good. They also tend to appeal to their listeners emotions, including hope, fear, and charity in their presentations and adjurations.

[11] Reverend Ted Haggard was one of these influential figures, and proved very useful to the fundamentalist organization. But after being “outed”, Reverend Ted Haggard found himself abandoned and politically friendless in the eyes of the public. In spite of his almost weekly consultations with the White House, and other evidence of his influence (including a White House phone call asking for his consultation with the Harriet Miers Supreme Court Nomination), even the White House attempted to distance itself from Haggard by painting him as inconsequential. According to CNN.com, “Spokesman Tony Fratto told reporters Friday that it was inaccurate to portray him as being close to the White House, insisting Haggard was only an occasional participant in weekly conference calls between West Wing staff and leading evangelicals.”[xv] He had little support because he had quickly become the opposite of what the evangelical machinery needed to function as it had. Evangelicals, who for years have been preaching about homosexuality as a sin, could not afford to have such an iconic contradiction in the midst of their leadership. Because of his loss of credibility, Haggard could no longer avail himself to the experiential method of persuasion and was useless as a public figure. Therefore, Reverend Ted Haggard quickly and quietly resigned and after a couple days his name has hardly mentioned in the mainstream press ever since. Thus is the nature of the politically and socially influential religious organization. The political machinery of the religious right continues to function swimmingly even though the Republicans lost the Legislative Branch this past midterm election. Their next biggest challenge on the horizon will be the 2008 Presidential Election.

Works Consulted:

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[i] Cooperman , Alan and Brubaker, Bill “Church Leader Admits Buying Drug and Getting Massage From Gay Escort” http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/03/AR2006110300317.htmlhttp://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/03/haggard.allegations/ and Gallagher, Delia “Church Leader Admits Buying Drug and Getting Massage From Gay Escort”

[ii] TIME Magazine, “25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America”, January 30, 2005 http://www.time.com/time/press_releases/article/0,8599,1022576,00.html

[iii] A comprehensive list can be found on http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.html “A major source for these estimates is the detailed country-by-country analysis done by David B. Barrett's religious statistics organization, whose data are published in the Encyclopedia Britannica (including annual updates and yearbooks) and also in the World Christian Encyclopedia (the latest edition of which - published in 2001 - has been consulted).”

[iv] Egon Mayer, Ph.D., Barry A. Kosmin, Ph.D., and Ariela Keysar, Ph.D. “American Religious Identification Survey” http://www.gc.cuny.edu/faculty/research_briefs/aris/religion_identity.htm

[v] CEST is descried in the research of Epstein, Pacini, and Denes-Raj in their paper “Individual Differences in Intuitive-Experiential and Analytical-Rational Thinking Styles” published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1996 Vo. 71, No. 2, 390-405

[vi] The characterizations of the experiential and rational CEST systems was summarized from a table referenced in Epstein, Pacini, and Denes-Raj (1996) and was adapted (with permission) from “Cognitive-Experiential Self-Theory: An Integrative Theory of Personality” by S. Epstein, 1991, in R.C. Curtis, Editor, The Relational Self: Theoretical Convergences in Psychoanalysis and Social Psychology New York: Guilford Press Copyright 1991.

[vii] Martin, John Levi “Power, Authority, and the Constraint of Belief Systems” published in the American Journal of Sociology Vol. 107 No. 4 (January 2002): 861-904 Copyright by The University of Chicago. Numerical figures in this specific reference are not included, this information is summarized in the brackets.

[viii] Quote obtained from an online biography of Billy Graham available at http://www.billygraham.org/mediaRelations/bios.asp?p=1

[ix] Quote available online from a transcript of an interview by Brenda Clements of the Lynchburg News and Advance available at http://falwell.com/meet_dr_falwell.php

[x] Chaiken, Shelly and Maheswaran, Durairaj “Heuristic Processing Can Bias Systemic Processing: Effects of Source Credibility, Argument Ambiguity, and Task Importance on Attitude Judgment”, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1994 Vol. 66, No. 1, 460-473 Copyright 1994 by the American Psychological Association, Inc.

[xi] The following are referenced in Chaiken and Maheswaran (1994) article: Petty, R.E., & Cacioppo, J.T. (1984a). “The effects of involvement on responses to argument quantity and quality: Central and peripheral routes to persuasion” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 46, 69-81; Petty, R.E. and Cacioppo (1981) Attitudes and persuasion: Classic and contemporary approaches Dubuque, IA: Brown; Wood, W., & Kallgren, C.A. (1988) “Communicator attributes and persuasion: Recipients’ access to attitude-relevant information in memory” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin; Wood, W., Kallgren, C.A., & Preisler, R.M. (1985) “Access to attitude relevant information in memory as a determinant of persuasion: The role of message attributes” Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 21, 73-85

[xii] Author unknown “Therapy of the Masses” Economist; 11/8/2003, Vol. 369 Issue 8349, 12-16

[xiii] This summary of Greeley’s contention can be found in “As the Flocks Gather: How Religion Affects Voluntary Association Participation” by Lam, Pui-Yan (2002) Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Vol. 41:3 405-422. Greeley’s article can be found in “The other Civic America: Religion and Social Capital” by Greeley, A. (1997) American Prospect Vol. 12; 68-73

[xiv] Arpan, Laura M., Raney, Arthur A. “An experimental investigation of news source and the hostile media effect” (Summer 2003) Vol. 80 Iss. 2; 265-275

[xv] “Church forces out Haggard for 'sexually immoral conduct'” http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/11/03/haggard.allegations/index.html