Quote and Tilly's argument

QUOTE

“The most important attribute for a professional politician is time, the time necessary to devote oneself to learning the intricacies of the political art. Also if the politician is not to derive a living entirely ‘off’ of politics and live ‘for’ politics, he must also be “economically dispensable” meaning he does not depend upon politics at all for an income.”

In this quote Max Weber wants to remind us that an ideal politician should fulfill two requirements: first a politician must have a time in order to learn the basics of politic and more importantly how to use them to do politic; second a politician should be independent financially if he really wants to succeed.

I chose this quote because up to today those two rules are still applied.    It is almost impossible to become a politician today if you do not have enough time for politic. Therefore if a person job required a lot of hours it will be difficult for that individual to accomplish her/his politic ambitious. In addition, being financially independent will give a hedge to one person who can finance her/his campaign herself than a one who has raise money from corporations and individuals. The second person once in office will not be entirely independent because he will have the impression that he owes every one who helped her financially. At this point we will see certain laws will pass in order to satisfy corporation regardless if it benefits the general population or not. For example the mayor of New York Mike Bloomberg financed his own campaign and I do not think that he has the filling of a person who got contribution from others. However, having too much money could be a danger for our politic system. For instance the Mike Bloomberg was able to buy a third term that led a lot of critics from New Yorkers.     

TILLY'S ARGUMENT

Tilly’s argument relates to the theory of rationalization of the state as defined by Weber as follow: Tilly like Weber considers the state as an entity that uses force in order to establish itself within a territory. For instance Tilly noted that a state implements itself by war. The war will help the state to eliminate totally the enemy. Once this physical work is done the government will move to the next step in order to secure a capital for the economy and the security national (police). Therefore, tax will help the state to guaranty the capital and police forces will help to reinforce laws and keep order in the state. In addition courts will take care of cases. Basically Tilly and Weber have the same view of how a state is made.

The causes that make the state grow in power are: first war helps a state to become dominant in substantial territory, second after a victory of the war a state will exploit the resources that the one that lost (“for example men, food, lodging, transportation supplies, and/or money to buy them from the population within that territory”).

Constitution

    Article 119: Marriage, as the foundation of the family and the preservation and expansion of the nation enjoys the special protection of the constitution. It is based on the equality of both genders. It is the task of both the state and the communities to strengthen and socially promote the family. Large families may claim social welfare. Motherhood is placed under state protection and welfare.

This article gives us a definition of marriage that is based on the union of a male and a female. The government has an obligation to encourage and protect people who want to get married. In addition, couples that will have more kids than that they can handle will get help from the government. Females with children are also protected by the state.

I consider these important rights because marriage is vital for our society and humanity cannot survive without it. Marriage not only helps us to keep our existence and also gives people the opportunity to pass on their culture and education their children. For instance every child needs an education from both parents (male and female) because it helps a person to better understand a man and a woman behavior. However, our society has been struggling to define marriage since gays and lesbians want to have the same status that a male and a female have. People who are opposed to the same sex marriage use the definition of marriage from the constitution to support their argument that gays and lesbians are not entitle to marriage. Now do we have to redefine marriage?

    Article 48 gives the president the power to suspend civil liberties in times of crisis.

This article means that citizens will loose their freedom when the country is in war or has a social crisis. That’s why “the Nazis were able to turn Germany into a dictatorship.”

History repeats itself because this kind of act has been observed even in the US during the civil war and after September 11^th. For example the Civil War witnessed a similar assault on press freedoms and civil liberty. Also the most threat to civil liberties in the wake of September 11 was Congress quick passage of the so-called USA Patriot Act.

Cleary most governments take do not guaranty civil liberties in time of crisis or war.   

 

Proletariat

In this quote Luxemburg meant that the modern proletariat is an outcome of the change of the old proletariat that has been transformed over the years. For instance the proletariat before world war one was different from the one after the war. In that sense the revolution came after the lost of the war by Germans and did not exist before. Therefore, proletarians found themselves fighting against militarism and war. The author also mentioned that the proletariat goals and errors are difficult to accomplish and overcome because there is no logic to be followed. Every case in each political time is different and no leader was able to have an appropriate plan to solve definitely proletarians’ problems. However, proletarians can only learn from their mistakes. This way of learning is not the best one because it is full of pain and suffering.

Luxemburg’s criticism of modern capitalism and world war one relate to nihilism as follow: the SPD’s actions during and after the war chocked a lot of people because its vote for the war was unexpected. From this turning point people did not know who trust anymore. Therefore, Nihilism has a reason to think that our world is not a better place to live. In the same idea Luxemburg and Karl decided to go against the SPD because once you lost trust of an organization you have to separate yourself from that group and that why those two leaders went for the communism party.

Moreover, Luxemburg believed that only the military industrial benefits from the war and the crisis created a break with the past. She said that because there was no war in the past and people were more focused on class equality and civil liberty. However, with the war Germans had to not only survive from the war and also fight against the exploitation imposed by the capitalism. In addition, the collapse of the authority and the uncertainty helped nihilists to believe that its time for them to escape from our world.