The elites are responsible for all societal inequalities. There is a major power struggle
Jeannette Walls shares that her earliest memory is when she was three years old. She was on fire. Her pink tutu dress had ignited as she was cooking hotdogs for her family unsupervised over the stove. She describes in detail how the flames attacked her side viscously and crept towards her face mercilessly. Her mother was in another room, working on a painting.
Yes there is a Power Elite in our society today, but in comparison it is not the same as it used to be in the past. C. Wright Mills had listed the power elite to be the “government; military; and corporations” (Elwell, p. 10), but today the military is not considered one of the three power elites but a tool to further boost government and corporations through the industrial elite and it’s profits. The elite’s source of power comes from the ownership of these higher positions within these organizations. The more power that they obtain, control, and dictate the more authority that they will hold.
Differing forms of government size and involvement in public affairs has shaped many eras in America’s history. Expanding the government has usually led to the creation of the programs and specific offices dealing with niche interests or offices targeted at helping specific demographics of citizens. When these programs are used to the benefit the disenfranchised and disadvantaged is when democratic government starts to become a better system for all instead of only benefitting those with power. In the following eras the government of the United States was altered in some manner; Progressivism, The Great Society, and social movements in the 1960s and 70s all impacted the existing ideals held by political leaders and constituents.
One important component in which the upper class rule America is the electoral process. Loose campaign finance regulation, including controversial Supreme Court decisions such as Citizens United v. US and Buckley v. Valeo is a primary cause of the wealthy ruling politics. These two decisions asserted that corporations are not limited in their spending on political candidates. Essentially, the US Supreme Court enabled corporate leaders to buy influence - SuperPAC heads and wealthy businessmen were welcomed to join forces and pour as much money as possible into candidates’ campaigns. The net effect: America’s wealthiest individuals could exert an unmatchable influence on candidates and the electorate while pressing an agenda favoring the upper class.
Currently, we have both a wealthy class and common people rule. Everyone (common people) gets to vote, and those votes decide our future. But, because of their wealthy, the wealthy have an advantage when it comes to politics. They can pay a lot for the best lawyer (the best example being the OJ Simpson case) and be proven innocent because the lawyer raised reasonable doubt. Also, wealthy business owners could get the government to move a smaller business/store, using eminent domain, and place their own business at the location, using the words “public use” to tell the people it was for them.
The wealthy class used their power and influence to gain control of government positions, such as the Senate and the Assembly, which allowed them to enact policies that favored their interests at the expense of the poor (Brown, 2016). Additionally, the wealthy owned most of the land and controlled the production of goods, which gave them significant economic power (Arzamas, 2017). This economic power enabled them to control the political system by bribing officials and influencing elections (Shiffer, 2021). Corruption eroded the public trust in the government and led to further social turmoil (Brown, 2016; Shiffer,
The elite white men of the newly freed American society, unlike the poor white men, had plenty of time on their hands to contemplate the future of America. Wealth provided these white men time to educate themselves, whereas poor white men must spend this same time laboring to earn money. Elite men imagined of the future that they wanted versus the future that the majority wanted – the future that they believed could be successful versus the future that they believed was doomed to fail. These men used their monetarily-granted free time to develop a greater academically-based understanding of what brought the colonies to their current state. They studied about the ancient republics, analyzed their own previous mother empire, and read the
Final Assessment 86858 The tension between the rights of the few and the power of the majority is fueled by the jealousy that the power of the majority has to the select few that have it better. The tension between the right of the few and the power of the majority influenced/molded America for the better as shown by the great depletion, the gilded age, and slavery. Slavery is the white people of the south taking advantage of the blacks in the south by forcing free labor and harsh conditions on to the blacks. This was not a good time in history for the African Americans.
Wealth, poverty, technology, decadence, the Gilded Age was a time of change and uprooting of past systems, schools of thought, and standards. It was a time of both hope and doubt for the majority of the population and brought many to be empty handed or exceedingly wealthy. The dynamic between rich and poor was shifting to a gap of wealth never before seen in the young country. The gilded age’s built up wealth disparity faded away over time. Yet today it seems that a resurgence of these features is rearing its ugly head again.
The foundational view points formed by Aristotle and the early Christian writers on the purpose and nature of government have laid the basis for all major types of government and even shaped the daily routine of the average citizen with their analysis of the different possible and theoretical forms of ruling. Humans have strived for peace and order through virtuous means since their initial creation. Through this pursuit, the ideas of who should rule, how to rule, and what entails being a good citizen emerged giving life to the political field and government in its rawest form. To this day, the writings of these men have shaped countries, regimes, and entire cultures. Though their opinions may differ, the impact felt is nearly everlasting.
He justifies the need for democracy, aristocracy and monarchy depending on location. The three philosophers use their judgment and prior knowledge on each other’s work to validate an ideal society, especially for the uprising continent of America. Governments are an established institution in every society. Though there are multiple types of governments, their purpose is fundamental to determining the influence on a civilization.
1 INTRODUCTION Power and authority are the most important aspects of politics as such way of thinking comes a long way from the earliest thinkers such as Plato and Aristotle to mention few. They are the fundamental features of state in politics, focusing on who should have the power and authority over the people and who should rule them. During the time prior and after the birth of states, political authority has always been a major concern with regards to who should rule and how and who shouldn’t. Therefore this issues need to be addressed in a way that will at the end benefit the society. Plato is the thinker or theorist who came with addressing who should rule in a political environment in what Plato outlined that only Philosophers should rule.
Undoubtedly politics is “the study of influence and the influential”, there is most certainly truth in Harold D.Lasswell’s definition of politics. Throughout the course of this essay the study of politics will be examined in relation to Laswell’s definition. Furthermore the concept of government and how people influence government action will be looked at. In Lasswell’s book “Politics, Who Gets What, When and How” he clearly outlines the “influential are those who get the most of what there is to get”, in his opinion politics was primarily to do with power and influence. Lasswell’s definition of politics has been in the past supported by prominent political scientists such as Abraham Kaplan and Robert A. Dahl, both men believe the study of politics is largely to do with the use of influence by those who find themselves in influential positions.
