Left to Right: From Brouwer to Horowitz
Tonya Bennett
Professor Laura Hicks
Eng 1115
28 June 2014
Left to Right: From Brouwer to Horowitz It is clear that the political spectrum has two distinct sides, where leftist or liberals are constantly competing with rightist or conservatives to promote their political ideas. In the case of Steve Brouwer and David Horowitz: it is no different. Each of these writers clearly define where they stand in the political spectrum. Brouwer’s stance is on the left or liberal unlike Horowitz where he maintains more conservative views on the right. In this essay, I will contrast the writings of Steve Brouwer’s “If We Decided to Tax the Rich”, and David Horowitz’s “The Intellectual Class War.” Although some superficial similarities exist, the differences between Brouwer’s left views and Horowitz’s right views regarding political partnerships, welfare, and capitalism are pronounced. The first difference between these two writings is their view on political partnerships and the influence of labor unions. In “If We Decided to Tax the Rich,” Steve Brouwer claims that labor unions do not have the same kind of control with liberals as conservatives have over corporations. Brouwer says, “unions have resources that are minuscule compared to those of business interest: in 1996, all labor associations collected $6 billion in dues, as compared with the $4 trillion in revenues and $360 billion in profits gathered by corporations (Lazere 291).” He also goes on to stress the importance of labor unions on improving working conditions and pay by involving working people in political processes. Brouwer states “The emphasis on raising the wages of those at the bottom is crucial in two ways: it stresses the equal status due to all those who are willing to work, and it protects the wages and benefits of those already organized (Lazere 291).” Labor unions are a controversial issue between liberals and conservatives because they are viewed as putting more regulation on an otherwise
Professor Laura Hicks
Eng 1115
28 June 2014
Left to Right: From Brouwer to Horowitz It is clear that the political spectrum has two distinct sides, where leftist or liberals are constantly competing with rightist or conservatives to promote their political ideas. In the case of Steve Brouwer and David Horowitz: it is no different. Each of these writers clearly define where they stand in the political spectrum. Brouwer’s stance is on the left or liberal unlike Horowitz where he maintains more conservative views on the right. In this essay, I will contrast the writings of Steve Brouwer’s “If We Decided to Tax the Rich”, and David Horowitz’s “The Intellectual Class War.” Although some superficial similarities exist, the differences between Brouwer’s left views and Horowitz’s right views regarding political partnerships, welfare, and capitalism are pronounced. The first difference between these two writings is their view on political partnerships and the influence of labor unions. In “If We Decided to Tax the Rich,” Steve Brouwer claims that labor unions do not have the same kind of control with liberals as conservatives have over corporations. Brouwer says, “unions have resources that are minuscule compared to those of business interest: in 1996, all labor associations collected $6 billion in dues, as compared with the $4 trillion in revenues and $360 billion in profits gathered by corporations (Lazere 291).” He also goes on to stress the importance of labor unions on improving working conditions and pay by involving working people in political processes. Brouwer states “The emphasis on raising the wages of those at the bottom is crucial in two ways: it stresses the equal status due to all those who are willing to work, and it protects the wages and benefits of those already organized (Lazere 291).” Labor unions are a controversial issue between liberals and conservatives because they are viewed as putting more regulation on an otherwise
Cited: Lazere, Donald. "Chapter 13 Thinking Critically About Political Rhetoric." Reading and Writing for Civic Literacy: The Critical Citizen 's Guide to Argumentative Rhetoric. Boulder: Paradigm, 2009. 267-301. Print.