Equal Rights

“The political rights of citizenship, unlike the civil rights, were full of potential danger to the capitalist system, although those who were cautiously extending them down to the social scale probably did not realize how great the danger was. They could hardly be expected to foresee what vast changes could be brought about by the peaceful use of political power, without a violent and bloody revolution.”

The passage above states that political rights and civil rights were totally different and giving every citizen of the United States political rights would be a danger to the capitalist system. It’s believed that if all citizens were given the right to vote and equal social protections under the law the system of would fail. That would mean there would be no private ownership, production, distribution and exchange of wealth amongst individuals or corporations. Everyone would have the same right as each other. Although, political participation would bring changes they preferred to have violent wars to keep everyone at a certain economic and social level.  

I chose this quote because I feel that is was important for political participation which would also establish social rights. As citizens of the United States all people should be entitled to the same rights. Civil rights could not be effective without some type of support from the political spectrum. The capitalist system isn’t a fair system. I think it just holds down the people who are aren’t wealthy, while it continues to build up the economic status of those who are already wealthy. Political and social rights are entitled to everyone not just a certain group of individuals.