The Gilded Age and Today’s Political Landscape: a Comparison

The gilded age is referential to a period in the history of the United States of America. It occurred during the years ending the 19th century. It was characterized by bolstered growth of the economy with special focus in the north and the west of the country. Additionally, the growing economy saw an increased rate of immigration seeing that the wages of American workers was much higher than those of European workers. It should be noted that the gilded age equally saw a sharp rise in poverty levels in the country (Bartels, 12). This was coupled up with massive inequalities because as the number of immigrants coming to the country increased by the day so too did the high accumulation of wealth and power on a number of individuals become to be more apparent. The gilded age is equally remembered for a characteristic increase in the corruption in the country. Mark twain noted that while the American government appeared to have all things together and pretty on the outside, the inside was actually rotting with graft and misappropriations of public funds. This paper shall proceed to posit a discussion encapsulating a comparison of the gilded age and the prevailing political situation in the United States of America.

As has been noted in the introductory paragraph of this paper, the gilded age was characterized by a number of aspects chief among them being a growing economy, increased minimal wage, high immigration and rampant corruption and graft among others. It should be noted that the growing rail industrialization effort contributed heavily to the growing economy during the gilded age. It afforded immigration, the factory systems, and increase in finances as well as mining. As a matter of fact the growth that was evidenced in the north and the west of the United States of America during the period in discussion can be significantly attributed to the railroads as a leading industry of the time.

Of imperative to the subject of this paper is the political landscape during the period. As was noted in previous sections of this paper, the corruption in government was at an all time high. Nevertheless, this did not deter election turnouts which were equally significantly high. The gilded age saw a couple of similarly matched political parties contest with presidential candidates premising their campaigns on resolving issues to do with prohibition of cultural vices and injustices such as racism and civil rights, and economic manifestos such as the dealing with the up scaling corruption in the country.

It is this paper’s position that the political landscape as prevails today is somewhat similar to that of the gilded age. As a matter of fact, the two share a commonality in terms of their tenets. For instance, the corruption levels in the country as of recently can be described as taking an upward trend even though to the outsider, the government can be seen to be exemplary. Additionally, a number of issues continue to plague the country even as president Trump boasts the creation of more and more jobs in the country. Most notable of these issues is cultural predominantly as the racial tension in the country between the white Americans and their colored counterparts continue to soar. Injustices edged on racial discrimination are apparently evident with issues having to do with police brutality, equality and civil rights bring brought up in the country every often (Rivera et al., 4). Furthermore, two political parties with major support from across the country will be facing a highly contested election later in the year. Notably, either presidential candidate, as was the case in the gilded age, is campaigning on promises to resolve the prevailing injustices as well as fixing the economy and doing away with corruption both in government and in the country.

This paper has been a comparison of the gilded age and today’s prevailing political landscape. It has begun by describing the gilded age and noting its characteristics. It has then proceeded to discuss the prevailing political landscape in the united states of Americas and contrasted it to that of the gilded age.

Works cited

1. Bartels, Larry M. Unequal democracy: The political economy of the new gilded age. Princeton University Press, 2018.
2. Rivera, Roberto, and Janet Rosenbaum. 'Racial disparities in police stops in US cities.' Significance 17.4 (2020): 4-5.
3. Cashman, Sean Dennis. America in the Gilded Age. NYU Press, 1993.