Living Justice

I think that the concept of subsidiarity is very useful to society because it can help everyone understand each other which results in great outcomes. Pope Pius's encylical "Quadragesimo Anno" is very important because it talks about the proper division of labor among human institutions. It includes the idea of subsidiarity through the example of a village coming up with certain ideas to achieve a goal. Also this encyclical gives us an insight about human affairs, which includes the example of the American government giving federal assistance to places across the country. I think that the examples given of subsidiarity is a great way to show how this concept is taken place in society. I think that its unfortunate that Pope Pius was brought up in an age that was witnessing a disturbing rise of Totalitarianism, including influences of Fascism and Communism. I agree that an overly intrusive government reduces incentives for beneficial self help. I also think that it's important to remember that national governments should not be portrayed as our enemies, but rather tools by which citizens join their efforts together when necessary to complete goals that could not be completed on local levels. I disagree with members of the Catholic Church, any religious group that have debatable attitudes toward the central government. I also believe that the best way to judge proposals for public collective actions is on a case by case basis. I think that public policy depends too much on a polity's ability to grow beyond mere, sloganeering, blanket generalizations and idealogical posturing to come up with criticism regarding the truth and advances of the common good. What really caught my attention was at the end of the section read, "At the heart of the principle of subsidiarity, then, is the crucial distinction between state and society. Catholic social teaching has long been mindful that the strength and vitality of a people goes far beyond its government structures and officials". This quote from the article makes me realize how important separation of Church and State is and how powerful the "people" can really be.

Empire in Collision

What really intrigued me about this chapter was the vast increase of population in China 1685 to 1853. Because of the robust economy and american food crops the population rate went from 100 million people to some 430 million. That is insane! And the really crazy thing is there was no industrial revolution accompanied with this huge increase in people.  It was growing so rapidly they could not keep up with the quickly increasing population, and that led to many problems. The state was unable to perform many of the functions like tax collection, flood control, social warfare, and public security. Overtime the central state lost power and local gentry. The combo of all these problems arose which caused the decline of the dynasty and resulted in more bandit gangs roaming the countryside and which even more terrible, a peasant rebellion.

To skip ahead, another section in this chapter was very interesting to me, "The Tokugawa". The Tokugawa were military rulers or also called shoguns. The most important task of a Tokugawa Shogunate was to prevent the return of a civil war. Based on their military and political skills, the shoguns gave Japan more than two centuries of internal peace.  (1600-1850) As a result of these periods of peace contributed to a remarkable burst of economic growth, commercialism, and urban development.

Chapter 18

I particularly liked the section about the devilfish in Egyptian waters. It really interested me because how can one country get there hands on so many others. It's a very difficult thing to do. If I was the ruler of a country I would try to do the same thing! Also on pages 886-887 the maps were really interesting to me because the variety of influences throughout Africa. I never knew there was so much French and British influence in Africa. What also was really interesting to me and as not as important but all the different products from all the different places. "At this time there was an extensive need for raw materials, wheat from the American Midwest and souther Russia, meat from Argentina, bananas from Central America, rubber from Brazil, cocoa and palm oil from West Africa, tea from Ceylon, gold and diamonds from South Africa." from page 880.