...Tyranny The most common definition of tyranny is a government in which a single ruler is vested with absolute power, but the original definition of tyranny is rule by persons who lack legitimacy (Jon Roland) whether they are pernicious or kind-hearted. We all remember Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin. These were excellent examples of pernicious tyranny, but what about benevolent tyranny? C.S. Lewis states, “Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.” Tyranny has been an issue for millenniums. The Greeks were one of the first to see the real potential for tyranny. They preferred to call it...
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...emphasized the importance of freedom with these words; ‘’Give me liberty, or give me death’’ (p.1). However, in today’s world, freedom is limited by dictators or majorities. J.S.Mill (1859), claims that, majority, which means the most active part of the society, may desire to oppress minorities and precautions are needed against this abuse of power. Mill raised awareness and warned against tyranny of majority. Social tyranny is more formidable than political oppressions, because tyranny of majority limits freedom of thought, prevents social progress, which is the beginning of all corruptions, and it is more difficult to escape and severer to endure than oppressive political regimes. First of all, majority’s opinions, values and norms determine all society’s values and point of views. Tyranny of majority can manipulates and suppresses minority’s thoughts and opinions. One step further, social tyranny may limit freedom of thought. According to K.Stone (2008), ‘’ Social tyranny penetrates even more deeply into everyday life, into the soul itself’’ (p.1). Starting from this point of view, tyranny of majority has a great power hence; it can manipulate all people thoughts easily and penetrates in all thoughts. Most in demand thoughts and are popular thought which can determined by majority. Stone (2008) clarified that, ‘’ ascendant part of the social structure, the big part of the country generally emanates from the interest of the upper class and determines their sense of superiority’’...
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...Have you ever wondered are we ruled by a king? The answer is no if we were we would have tyranny and that's what the founding fathers sought to prevent. In 1775 we won the war against Britain, the founding father looked for a better future that didn’t have tyranny so in 1787 they had a Constitution convention and in the end, they had made a constitution which hopefully would prevent tyranny. Now what is Tyranny? Tyranny is when one person rules over everyone, like home. The Constitution guards us against by Big states and small states the same say in Senate, separation of power, Federalism and checks and Balances. Giving equality to the big states and small states helps prevents tyranny. I infer this from Article 1, section 2, House of representatives...
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...ENGL 120H Dr. Robert E. Fox October 6, 2015 The Fight for Democracy Is a “Tyranny of the Majority” happening right now in America, the way that John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville described it? Has our system of supposed equality turned against us to a point where the voice of the minority has been drowned out by that of the majority? Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman seems to disagree in his article, “Knowledge Isn’t Power”[1], in which he talks about how the argument for improving education is just a cover-up for talking about the real, underlying issue: that most of the power in the United States is being controlled by a small group of people with most of the money, and that this group is actively trying to keep all of the money to themselves through monopoly. This idea seems to go against that of Mill and Tocqueville’s; the power lies in the 1% of Americans, an extremely small minority. Furthermore, although most of the majority is able to freely speak their mind in various mediums, such as social media, online newsletters, and blogs, they are largely powerless to make much change in the political and economic sphere. Yet another example that a small group holds all of the power! The point to note here is that the current system of oppression of the poor by the rich was allowed to happen under the same circumstances that Mill and Tocqueville feared would lead to the tyranny of the masses. Although we as a nation had cast away the oppressive monarchy, we...
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...Tyranny and American Democracy Oppression is something dreaded by everyone. This universal fear was a much larger problem in the 1800’s than it is today. Tyranny was a fear that the Federalists, Anti-Federalists, and Alexis de Tocqueville had in common. The Federalists feared tyranny of the majority, or faction while the Anti-Federalists feared tyranny of the aristocracy. Tocqueville feared “soft despotism” but supported tyranny of the patriarchy. While the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists were the visionaries for America who tried to prevent different tyrannies, Tocqueville discusses the hypocrisies in America that the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists were against. The Federalists strongly believed that the newly founded republic needed a large, centralized government in order to discourage tyranny of the majority. Hamilton voices this opinion when he says “a firm Union will be of the utmost moment to the peace and liberty of the States as a barrier against domestic faction and insurrection.” (Hamilton, 66, Federalist No. 9) This is because a large, centralized government uses the system of the checks and balances, which prevent domestic faction and revolt. The Federalists made it clear that they opposed a mob ruling and the minorities being denied their rights. The main danger the new republic faced, they argued, was the superior force of an “interested and overbearing majority.” (Madison, 72, No. 10) The Federalists solution on how to deal with majority faction...
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...Term paper - Besides summary, the discussion part should further involve a comparison of social thinkers. Read and discuss more original and/or secondary readings. Give your own views, and try to conduct a dialogue with the existing views. In this thesis, I will give a summary of the works by Alexis de Tocqueville and Karl Marx, a discussion on their ideas as well as a comparison of the two thinkers. Alexis de Tocqueville is an aristocrat thinker From France that provides the most famous and influential views on democracy. In his work “Democracy in America”, he regards America as a land of liberty and democracy due to reasons like mores, geographical and historical advantages, but also provides a foresight on the future of democracy in America, and the threats to democracy and possible dangers of democracy. He believes the puritans were the one that contributed the most to American democracy, since they were all middle-class men with no salient differences when they first settled down in America. Also, they brought religion and political liberty to Amercia. Marx and Tocqueville holds different views on human nature. For Marx, he reflected on what it means to be truly human. Since he thinks that all species-beings are communal beings, he disaprroves things like religion, wage-labour and other forms of alienation that bring us far away from our communal nature and we must overcome them. For tocqueville, he emphazied a lot on dignity and liberty and he thinks that we are all...
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...negative viewpoints on the British tyranny. In the lines “Look on this picture and weep over it!” Paine transitions from a passive character to Paine giving warnings/threats, thus concluding Paine grows more aggressive throughout the piece. This also reflects on how you progress over time the tyranny will also grow more aggressive. So, Thomas Paine grows from a passive into a threatening character reflecting the viewpoint on the theme that the tyranny is bad and liberty being needed. Thomas Paine has many symbolic meanings and similes in which we see many connections between the theme being made all connecting back to the theme of liberty. With negative viewpoints towards the tyranny, Paine compares the British rule to hell through the lines, “Tyranny, like hell.” Thomas communicates that the tyranny casts a dark light onto the progression of America. He has harsh feelings toward the overruling and the cause being understable due to the vast negatives that the tyranny brought connecting back to the theme of liberty needed in America. Then Paine says, “but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to "bind me in all cases whatsoever"... am I to suffer it?” Paine compares thieves breaking into one's house to the british tyranny. The thieves take all of the things in the house. Put people hostage but so does the british In America. This reflects the idea of tyranny being a drawback. Not just that...
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...form to campaign against the “pink tax”. Massive media outlets like, Buzzfeed provide information and videos to inform viewers of the ridiculous taxes. The videos are viewed with millions of views on these issues. Women should not have to campaign against these taxes because these taxes should not have been implemented in the first place. A price on feminine products should not be more expensive than men items. The average wages of women are significantly lower than men and with higher taxed items provides women with a disadvantage in society. Alexis De Tocqueville’s view believed that democracy can not have one side dominating the other side because that would not be a democracy. A majority side dominating another viewpoint will create a “tyranny of the majority” created from the men’s side. These viewpoints affect women's lives, which needs to change by creating more equality in our democracy. Aristotle's belief on happiness correlates with Alexis De Tocqueville’s belief on freedom of press because freedom of press from different individuals allows Americans to freely express themselves. Americans voices needs to heard to allow democracy to happen in the country. Places without freedom of press allows strict government to enforce unwanted laws to be passed to treat their citizens unfairly. Third-world and communist countries dictates media to favor their political leader. These riots occur if democracy is not present in their government system. Countries such as, Russia during...
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...Workers shows the change from an earlier ideal of American life and labor, where ones labor was to be used to work and cultivate your own land to sustain your own living. This image of the Erie Canal workers shows the exact opposite of this self owned concept for labor. All of these men are essentially being used as machines, good for nothing but labor, to work and make use of the land owned by someone else, for someone else's profit. The fruits of their labor would not be actual fruits as they might previously have been, but a monetary amount, to be budgeted as best as possible to buy things from other people. This dependence on others and this early establishment of a working class. Tocqueville connects with this idea when he discusses the tyranny of the majority, “within a democracy organized as the United States, only one power is encountered, only one source of strength and success, with nothing outside them[1].” This describes the amount of power in the hands of the...
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...AMERICA, TOCQUEVILLE IS DEEPLY WORRIED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL OF DEMOCRATIC TYRANNY. DISCUSS THE VALIDITY OF THIS CONTENTION. This essay is an exposition of the concerns raised by Tocqueville in his book Democracy in America particularly his greatest concern that is the possibility of democratic tyranny/tyranny of the majority arising if democracies are left unchecked. Tocqueville observes that the movement towards democracy and equality of conditions having progressed farthest in America was likely to spread to other parts of Europe as well as the rest of the world hence moving him to analyse democratic governments in order to ascertain the merits and demerits of such governments thereby providing substantial solutions to help counter the ills of democracy. These ills are inclusive of democratic tyranny which according to Adamova (2013: 1) is tyranny of the majority founded in public opinion. Tocqueville notes with profound insight that democratic tenets include equality of social conditions, liberty, and active participation of individuals in political matters amongst others however he laments the possibility of democracies becoming a tool of oppression of the minority emotionally amongst others if the majority are allowed to will absolute power and have unrestrained influence over government .It should be noted however that whilst Tocqueville was greatly concerned about the possibility of democratic tyranny he also touches on the subjects of class oppression and democratic or...
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...Government and Politics Megan Barry ‘Should direct democracy be more widely used in the UK?’ Direct democracy is a form of government in which all laws are created by a general vote of society. This means that political decisions are put forward to the people as they are the ones who are going to be directly affected by the outcome of the decision. An example of direct democracy used occasionally in society is referendums. A referendum is a general vote by the electorate on a single political question which has been referred to them for a direct decision. Within this essay I am going to be arguing whether direct democracy should be used more widely by weighing up the benefits and the disadvantages of direct democracy and the result on the general public. One argument for direct democracy being used more extensively in the UK is that it gives a more advanced and more accurate representation of the public’s attitude on an issue raised in parliament. Many local citizens do not often communicate with their MP; occasionally it can be difficult for Parliament to come to a decision that accurately reflects public opinion. MPs have to make choices bases what they personally feel is right and is not always entirely what the public want. Referendums give a distinct result that reflects the public’s demands. This is better as the public are satisfied and there is little need for ‘guess-work’ by the government. An example...
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...William O’Connell PSC 499 4/24/2011 1. A libertarian would probably love the idea that a group of individuals are able to come together and govern themselves without any interference from a coercive governmental agency. However, I don’t think they would like the idea of a majority having complete control without the constraint of some sort of constitution or other legally binding document. The tyranny of the majority can be much more vicious than a brutal king, and if we are talking about someone’s livelihood like fish or grazing for their cattle, it can become very dangerous. 2. I think Dahl would love this book. Robert Dahl promoted the idea of a polyarchy democracy, in which he wanted as many people as possible to be involved in as many decisions as possible, so this idea of people governing their own commons would be very attractive to him. 3. I would say that yes, her findings are generalizable. She uses a game theory model that looks at all possible outcomes. She also finds general commonalties present throughout all her examples. While she admits that not every scenario calls for the same administration, her basic idea is one that can be applied to all situations. 4. Wgwrg wgwrg wgwrgw wgwg wgwg wrgwr wgwrg wgwg wgwgr wgwgrg wrgwrgwr wrgwrgwr wrgwrgw wrgwrgw wrgwrg hg h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h h...
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...LPPE ASSIGNMENT 1 After careful consideration of the Technical Note and the reading by Kenneth Shepsle please respond to the following three questions: 1. Deductive thinking is an important skill of a manager and it consists in finding real-life implications of abstract, general frameworks. So here’s an exercise in deductive thinking: Please write what sort of problems with policy-making in democratic countries does Arrow Theorem predict? ANSWER Problems with policy-making in democratic countries does Arrow Theorem predict:- A. The problem associated with the groups that each group should have equal numbers of members. B. In most of democracies people don’t have individual preferences. C. Democracies have simple majority rule. In a simple majority rule, the Minimal Decisive Number is 50%+1. D. In most Democracies simple majority rule result in never ending voting cycle. 2. Offer at least two ideas for how real-world democracies can deal with such problems. ANSWER A democratic decision--‐making system is a system that in every case can somehow combine individual preferences into a collective, social preference. Solution for problems mentioned in answer 1 according to arrow theorem can be:- A. Democracies should have a general formula that covers not only the majority rule but every rule that aggregates individual preferences into a collective preferences that means democracies with majority rule should also have minimal Decisive rule. For...
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...Alexix de Toqueville's book, Democracy in America, compares the way the French and American governments function. Specificity in chapter 11, Liberty of the Press in the United States, contrasts the media and how they portray "news". He starts off by saying that "the press does not affect political opinions alone, but extends to all the options"(p. 1). Later in the chapter he also references how the media is the most common, if not only means of getting information. He compares the French to the American media to justify his claim that the press can cause a great influence on how you view facts, and how the press can influence your opinion. "The press cannot create human passions, however skillfully it may kindle them where they exist"(p. 3). He goes on by stating in America political news is not affected by passionate citizens you truly care about the actual problems, rather than American passion in news mainly focuses on petty interests and consumerism. The intellectual part of the media have been depleted if not completely removed from our grasp. Whereas in France the main focus of the press is based on political interest and advertisements are limited. Other points Tocqueville make on American media is how we attack each other's ideas. "The United States has no metropolis;... instead of radiating from a common point they cross each other in every direction the Americas have nowhere established any central direction of opinion”(p.4). Our opinions are no longer formed on facts...
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...Prompt: Discuss how did Pisistratus sought to retain power and how did his sons lost it. Pisistratus was a tyrant in Archaic Athens who formed a party/gathered his partisans by championing the cause of the men who live beyond the hills. He was considered the most democratic of the three tyrants during the factional dispute of the Athenians. Psistratus championed the lower class and while he was in power, he was not hesitant to confront the aristocracy. He greatly reduced their privileges, confiscated their lands and gave the lands to the poor, as well as funding many religious and artistic programs. He was exiled twice during his rule and both times he found a way to return and regain his power. The first time, he rode into the city in a golden chariot accompanied by a woman playing the role of Athena. The second time he went around to the local cities and gathered support from them until he was able to come back to Athens and re-stake his claim. He was not a particularly violent or oppressive tyrant, but instead he was temperate and valued the current constitutional government. This stability helped him to maintain support and power throughout his rule. He heavily favored the arts and set about to beautify Athens (which was popular among all the classes). His sons, Hippias and Hipparchus ruled the city in a very similar way after their father’s death. However, after Hipparchus was murdered, his brother Hippias became very paranoid. He became very oppressive which...
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