According to OccupyWallSt.org, the Occupy Wall Street Movement was a “fight back against the corrosive power of major banks and multinational corporations over the democratic process.” In other words, the citizens no longer trusted the big banks and how they operated, so they protested against the banks to let them know that they now oppose them. Prior to this movement, big banks and multinational corporations were ruling the country’s economic system for more than two decades. Why then do the citizens no longer want to be under its rule? This falls under the topic of Enlightenment, which was a movement that emphasized on reason, as opposed to tradition.
The 2008 recession was what sparked this Enlightenment movement; it opened the eyes of the citizens and made them question why those big banks were in power in the first place. Likewise, in the reading, once exposed to the idea of Enlightenment, “England had ended in the king’s execution in 1649; the French would guillotine their ruler before the end of the eighteenth century.” In Europe, citizens felt the need to get rid of their monarch simply because they no longer trusted them and no longer saw a reason why they should stay under their rule. The Enlightenment period brought about Individualism, the idea that you should be your own ruler, which triggered many European nations to change tradition to abide by this new idea.
Much like the case in Europe, the Occupy Wall Street movement was a movement against authority. That is one aspect of our contemporary life that Enlightenment came to life.
I wanted to submit another response but not as long as the previous one:
Talking about political life in America doesn’t just mean one thing. With there being many different beliefs and many cultures behind those beliefs, there are also many different ways that people do things and many different reasons why they do it. Just in our government for example, why are there 3 different branches that are in charge of separate things? It wasn’t a tradition before, there’s reasoning behind it. Long before the creation of America, all nations followed the tradition of a Monarch, which is under the rule of one person. America feared the idea of monarchy, although it was the tradition, they were skeptical about it and did not trust one person to be in control of many. Thus, establishing the three different branches, so that they can check and balance each other out. The reason is so that too much power won’t be put into one branch, let alone one person. That concept alone is a form of Enlightenment, and to this day, we still live under this “separation of power.”
The concept of American democracy is arguably almost completely derived from basic Englightenment principles. During the Age of Enlightenment, thinkers including Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau among many others established a foundation for a new kind of society; one where progress was celebrated, rulers were chosen by their subjects and through a just process, people were granted basic human rights, and absolute monarchs were figures of the past. These ideas, though they seemed completely foreign at the time, resonated with the masses to incite change and countless revolutionary movements. The founders of America, when writing the constitution and rebelling against British rule, incorporated the teachings of Locke, Montesquieu and Rousseau into the foundations of American democracy to create the political system that has survived until today (although, it is uncertain just how much longer it will last given the results of the latest election).
The Enlightenment, also known as the age of reason allowed us to forget our old conventional ways, and instead seek individualism. Enlightenment thinkers believed in providing broad education for women, they emphasized the importance of individual autonomy, and intellectual and geographical exploration. (p. 3-4) They also believed that humans should question the every response we receive and to trust our own instincts. Rather than relying on religious leaders on how to live our lives, instead, we should expand our knowledge through different areas of study.
America broke away from Europe’s mindset and began to look for an alternative to establishing a progressive country. By the late seventeenth century, America had a social class pyramid-the well educated on top and illiterate on the bottom. America was divided more than ever. As our economic system began to flourish, “the wealthy began to feel entitled to their share of social power” causing conflict and a bigger gap between the two classes. (p. 7) While privileged white men had access to multiple opportunities such as employment, education, and political involvement, other people did not.
Women were always seen and treated differently from men. Such differences caused for a difference in the level of opportunities they received. Initially, a woman’s sole purpose was childbearing. However, the idea of “equality of all human beings” (p. 5), raised the conclusion that if men can do it, so can women. Society was very hesitant and did not acknowledge the idea that men and women were equal. Many activists and reformers fought to amend our legal system. It was not until long after did women develop human basic rights. Without the Enlightenment, the society we know and live in today would most definitely not be the same.