Progressivism & Unmarried Women

Progressivism is a political attitude which encourages and promotes change and reform. The goal of political progressives is to improve the standard of living (end child labor, better wages, insurance, social security systems etc) by giving more power to the municipal and federal government. These ideologies have started to emerge since the late 19th century however there are modern progressives who try to follow on their ancestor’s footsteps. One major problem these people are trying to combat in America is to advocate the rights and life of unmarried women. Unmarried women represent 63% of unemployed women and 60% without health insurance. There are many reasons behind these inequalities. One is that they face discrimination because they are usually hired for lower paying jobs and have lower wages than men. Furthermore these jobs frequently do not include health insurance, sick time off and other basic needs. These single mothers have to take care of their children but child care is very expensive and most women cannot afford it. In addition things such as health insurance and retirement plans have been designed for marries couples. All of these have contributed to the low standard of living of unmarried women. The Center for American Progress and other Progressives has proposed some solutions to these problems.
1. They would like the Health care system that was proposed by President Obama to be instated because it would make health care affordable and available.
2. The government should expand Child care so it could provide funding to low income families such as unmarried women.
3. The government should pass acts that give single women job and training opportunities for “good” jobs.
4. Enforce the Paycheck Fairness Act which would strengthen the stop of women discrimination when it came to wages.
Progressive thinkers really believe that these changes and reforms would solve this problem and improve the country’s economy as a whole because unmarried women make up a fifth of the US workers and they are growing as a consumer group which is essential for a successful economy.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2010/03/pdf/unmarried_women_exec_sum.pdf

Imerialism Negative or Positive?

Imperialism is the policy of extending the rule of authority of an empire or nation to a foreign country. When imperialism reached the U. S they became very influential and had great power.
The reasons and arguments given for imperialism were numerous. Some people wanted to expand because they thought it was their destiny and duty to spread the superior American culture. These people usually had a big sense of nationalism. Others were driven by competition with European nations. Various seeked military bases in strategic areas and wanted refueling bases all over the world in case of war. And a few were missionaries and wanted to spread Christian beliefs. Economically some people wanted access to new markets such as China and they had an overproduction of goods and needed places to sell them and finally they believed America needed resources such as petroleum and rubber. All in all people truly believed imperialism would not only benefit them but other nations as well.

An example of US imperialism is its interference with Cuba. The Spaniards had to deal with the rebellion of Cuban people. The Cubans asked for the US help which after a lot of pressure McKinley (the current president) granted. This started the Spanish-American War. It ended when the Americans sunk all the Spanish ship. And the Treaty of Paris was signed which listed Cuba as an independent country and stated that Spain gives up Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the US for $20 million.

Some people were against imperialism and their arguments were as numerous as those who encouraged it. One argument stated that the countries that were in control of the US did not have the same rights as US citizens which were anticonstitutional. Another thing criticized was the manner from which expansion took place. They sent huge armies and used force to take over a country. People were scared these methods would be used within the country. Furthermore, racism grew because all these new ethnic groups moved to America and this started prejudice. Also some stipulated it was very expensive to annex a country and therefore America should stop.

All in all the positives did outweigh the negatives. Even though the arguments for imperialism were egoistical and selfish the outcome aided many countries such as Cuba who were suffering under the Spanish rule. However the manner in which imperialism occurred took many lives and was catastrophic the outcome saved many lives and helped many countries.

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