American Oligarchy essays

American Oligarchy essays The American Oligarchy America: The Pretense of Democracy The Aristotelian view of democracy showed democracy as a supreme state of being, promoting equality more than anything. It allowed every person to have as much say in a government as any other person, and yet still allowed individuality to reign. To follow this path of true democracy is to follow the path to a perfect country. Yet America, which prides itself on being a truly democratic nation, is filled with corruption and extortion, nothing like the Utopia Aristotle portrayed. America is in the hands of a select few. A tiny fraction of the population holds any real political power, while the rest simply sit idly by. This goes against the very principle of democracy. Aristotle said of this Any one man [of the many] may be inferior [to a man of excellence], but the city-state is made up of many men. Just as a meal done by many is better than a single and simple one, for this reason a mass (ochlos) can judge many things better than any one man. In addition, that which is many is less likely to be corrupted. So, although an individual's judgment can be corrupted when he is overcome by anger or some other emotion, it is difficult for all to become angry and make erroneous judgments simultaneously. If all the men are good men and good citizens, they are less corruptible than one man. However, seldom is this the case with American politics. There are far fewer politicians then there are low class workers or unemployed, and yet these politicians decide upon most all of the important decisions the country is faced with. The only time the rest of the people are involved is when these politicians spew out money and promises in an attempt to gain the popularity of the public whom they are so far from. Although the majority of the United States is low to middle class, the only people in high political positions are those who spend millions of dollars to get where they are. Equa...

Water Boarding Essays

Water Boarding Essays Water Boarding Essay Water Boarding Essay Legality of Water-boarding Water-boarding has been an active torture for centuries, Dating back to the early 1700s. It is a preferred torture because it does not scar the body. It simply gives the prisoner the feeling of drowning. This technique was introduced into the U. S by the Philippines, that they had colonized during WWII. Americans were shocked by the efficiency of information it was producing from prisoners. The public soon found out and began to question what they believed was a inhumane technique. The obstacles that the public presents for legalizing water-boarding is that is a inhumane torture nd should not be done to anyone no matter the severity of the crime committed. The other important issue that the public addresses is the certainty of the suspects. The issue is that why torture a possible innocent suspect that severe. Some say that water-boarding is an ineffective method of torture. All of these claims are false. Despite the violation of rights of the accused, the legal torture of prisoners through effective and efficient Water-boarding techniques will provide for the safety of national security. The obstacle involving the inhumanity of water-boarding is weak arguing point gainst the legalization of it. Inhumane would be to kill or leave marks on the body. Water-boarding does no such thing and still produces bountiful amounts of information that will in turn help save many innocent lives. When we get into the whole area of one of the most controversial techniques, waterboarding. Three people were waterboarded † not dozens, not hundreds. Three. And the one who was subjected most often to that was Khalid Sheik Mohammad and it produced phenomenal results for us (Armbruster). The quote explains Dick Cheneys trips to ater-boarding trials. He explains how water-boarding will break a terrorists will and they will give us vital information regarding national security. Water-boarding is like using paintballs, they hurt but do not kill you (Miller). Water-boarding is not an inhumane torture and should be legalized because of its effectiveness. The information water boarding provides us with regards to national security is considered to be gathered at a high rate because of its effectiveness. The public issue of certainty of the accused is a risk America will Just have to take. Would you ather have a suspected terrorist or your family tortured? (Armbruster). Armbruster brings a valid point by saying that America is taking risks to protect families across the nation. After 9/1 1, America had captured a suspect in the hijacking. When the CIA used the water-boarding technique on al-Qaida operative and supposed 9/1 1 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed, he reportedly lasted 14 seconds before confessing to everything of which he was accused (Layton). The week long disaster of 9/1 1 was resolved in 14 seconds. Not only did Khalid Sheik Mohammed confess but e gave the names of many more terrorists in the organization. Also from Mohammeds confessions, the United States was able to prevent many more attacks on U. S soil. The enhanced interrogation program stopped a great many 9/11-like collected then, that itemizes the specific attacks that were stopped by virtue of what we learned through those programs (Thompson). Officials in the Bush Administration maintain that the intelligence wrung from terror detainee Abu Zubaydah led to the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed † the self-proclaimed architect of the 9/1 1 attacks. His capture, in turn, helped prevent future terror strikes. He is careful to add † thwarted more than 20 plots against U. S. infrastructure targets, including communications nodes, nuclear power plants, dams, bridges, and tunnels. A future airborne attack on Americas West Coast was likely foiled only because the CIA didnt have to treat KSM like a white collar criminal (Thompson). The evidence water boarding provides the CIA is unreal and does provide for the safety of families across America; Therefore water boarding should be legalized. Armbruster, Ben. What Is Water Boarding? HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, n. d. Layton, Julia. What Is Water Boarding? HowStuffWorks. HowStuffWorks, n. d. Web. 31 May 2013. Miller, Greg. Waterboarding Is Still an Option. Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 07 Feb. 2008. web. 31 May 2013. Stack, Liam. Is Waterboarding Effective? CIA Did It 266 times on Two Prisoners. The Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 20 Apr. 2009. Web. 31 May 2013. Thompson, Mark. Did Waterboarding Prevent Terrorism Attacks? Time US. CNN, 21 Apr. 2009. web. 20 May 2013.

History of Darfur Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

History of Darfur - Essay Example The crisis was also caused by the use of the military to oppress the people, as these soldiers were sent to the area that overtook the people and denied them their rights to life and to dignity, in which case they started violating the women, and even started targeting civilians (Jibril 2010, 5). The attack on civilians was a major contributor to the conflict as it was the only soldiers who were armed, and the people suffering were the innocent as their alleged crime was being of the wrong religion and being of a different race from that which they were expected to be. The escalation of the conflict occurred with the presence of the military, which displaced the civilians from the Darfur region, and the people were forced to retaliate, which inspired the killings perpetrated by the military officers. In the Darfur conflict, china played a key role, which is embarrassing to the Chinese government as it was part of the parties that fuelled and waged war in the region. This is because, Sudan has faced sanctions for a long time, which have seen the country’s economy face a sump and in some cases come to a complete halt. However, since china is a major consumer of oil, it turned to Sudan as a source of oil, in which case it funded the Khartoum government and even built infrastructure (Danby 2007, 2). However, this was not the end of the Chinese affair with Sudan as it acted as the main supplier of arms to the country, in which case it is the same weapons and arms that were used in the Darfur crisis. Therefore, china waged war through the government, where the Sudanese government failed to meet the grievances of the people and the Chinese provided armaments that the soldiers used to kill people in Darfur so that the Chinese could get access to oil. This was a violation of the international sanctions placed on Sudan, including the arms embargo that still stands, where it supplied weapons and benefitted grandly from the conflict. The United Nations African Missi on in Darfur was a joint mission authorized in 2007 to contain the conflict in the Darfur region, where it was charged with the mandate to stop the killings, rape and enforce a ceasefire. Despite the huge amount of human resources directed towards the region to bring the whole conflict to a stop, little success can be seen as the forces face equally enormous challenges in protecting the civilians in the area due to the lack of political will to create a stable condition that will facilitate political negotiations. As a result, the UNAMID forces have not managed to bring the entire region to a stable condition and provide all the required humanitarian services that they were charge with the authority to deliver. In addition, the UNAMID forces intervention faces other challenges that include the insecure conditions with many hostilities from both sides of the warring factions. Interventions towards ensuring that the region resumes its stable condition include the use of the internatio nal criminal court to prosecute the president Omar al-Bashir. This is because with al-Bashir as the president and the leader of the government at the time of the conflict did not take responsibility of the people’s grievances, but instead opted to quell the uprising through force (BBC News, 2010). This was a genocidal situation in which many lost their lives warranting the ICC to issue arrest warrants against him, as it is his soldiers that committed crimes