Essay Questions

Explain the intersection between revolution and poverty. Where do they diverge?

Arendt expounds, "Human life has been stricken with poverty' since times immemorial, and mankind continues to labour under this curse in all countries outside the Western Hemisphere. No revolution has ever solved the 'social question' and liberated men from the predicament of want, but all revolutions, with the exception of the Hungarian Revolution in 1956,49 have followed the example of the French Revolution and used and misused the mighty forces of misery and destitution in their struggle against tyranny or oppression." Poverty and revolution intersect when poverty triggers people to participate in revolutionary movements. Poverty becomes a cause for revolution. Divergence occurs when the revolution does not solve the issue of poverty which is a fundamentally social problem. Revolutions cannot absolutely exterminate poverty.

How does Political science stimulate a revolution?

Arendt concedes, "Still, the truth is that without the Founding Fathers' enthusiastic and sometimes slightly comical erudition in political theory - the copious excerpts from writers, ancient and modern, which fill so many pages of John Adams works, sometimes make it seem that he collected constitutions as other people collect stamps - no revolution would ever have been effected." Studying political science theories equipped the Founding Fathers with knowledge that was useful in the organization of the revolution. Moreover, the theories offered them guidelines on the strategic management of the revolution. Without the theories, the revolution would have collapsed for it would not be founded on solid foundations of political science.

Deconstruct Arendt’s notion of the American dream.

Arendt observes, “The American dream, as the nineteenth and twentieth centuries under the impact of mass immigration came to understand it, was neither the dream of the American Revolution - the foundation of freedom - nor the dream of the French Revolution - the liberation of man; it was, unhappily, the dream of a 'promised land' where milk and honey flow. And the fact that the development of modern technology was so soon able to realize this dream.” Dreamers immigrated to America with the anticipation of enjoying affluence which was guaranteed by America’s technological innovations. The symbolic “milk and honey” render America a haven of abundance where poverty is non-existent. The vision assured the dreamers that they would lead the best life in the best country, and the desire to be in America is comparable to the Christians' desire for Heaven, where ‘milk and honey’ are bountiful.