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...

Future of Napster essays

Future of Napster essays With a meager year and a half existence, Napster has revolutionized the music industry with its leading person-to-person file sharing community. Shawn Fanning, who at the time was an eighteen year-old freshman at Boston's Northeastern University, founded Napster in May 1999. With over 38 million users, Napster is the fastest growing community in the history of the Internet. This number will likely increase in the future as Napster's popularity continues to escalate. According to an October study conducted by Webnoize, the leading authority on the digital entertainment economy, 69% of college students surveyed are monthly users of Napster, while 43% use Napster on a weekly basis. As a result, Napster has captured the attention of venture capitalists who have acted quickly to secure their investment last spring. Napster's unique ability to offer an easy-to-use, high quality service has granted the company an unprecedented position in the music industry. Unofficially valued at more than $100 billion, it is no surprise that Napster and Shawn Fanning have been the recipient of numerous industry awards for technology, innovation and marketing. Not only can users search for new music by sharing music files among members free of charge, Napster enables them to communicate with one another through instant messaging, chat rooms, and Hot List User Bookmarks. By providing its users with free access to music file sharing, the accountability of Napster has become a topic of serious debate. Currently, Napster is engaged in a serious legal battle with charges of violating copyright infringement laws. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is representing five major record labels, including Bertelsmann who argue that Napster's service is illegal because no fees are paid for use of their music. However, Napster argues that it is protected by the "safe harbor" provision of the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which states that In ...