Government Control Is Power Essay

1984, written by George Orwell, illustrates a perfect example of a dystopian government. The setting is in Oceania, Britain. The government is full of spies and secret police that carefully watch the common people for any mistake they might make that can harm the government in any way. As shown with Winston Smith, the protagonist of the novel and many other citizens in Oceania, the government manipulates these characters into their pawns. The government asserts their power over the people in many ways. They have large telescreens in the people’s houses. The telescreens show the government what people are doing at all times. It can be dimmed down, but can never be turned off. Although Oceania is well off in money, the government rations food. The government’s philosophy is that

Throughout the rigmarole of political history of the United States of America, the growth of the “fourth branch of government”, the Bureaucracy, has been a prominent, controversial topic. Peter Woll, in his article “Constitutional Democracy and Bureaucratic Power”, and James Q. Wilson, in his article “The Rise of the Bureaucratic State”, discuss this developing administrative branch. The Constitution has no written mention of an “administrative branch”, and today’s Bureaucracy is often tedious, corrupt, and even undemocratic. But such a branch’s development and expansion is necessary in order to keep par with an evolving and changing society.

1984, a novel by George Orwell, represents a dystopian society in which the people of Oceania are surveilled by the government almost all the time and have no freedoms. Today, citizens of the United States and other countries are watched in a similar way. Though different technological and personal ways of keeping watch on society than 1984, today’s government is also able to monitor most aspects of the people’s life. 1984 might be a dystopian society, but today’s condition seems to be moving towards that controlling state, where the citizens are surveilled by the government at all times.

Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World incorporates the political ploy of brainwashing and uses it to promote the common belief. While the term “brainwashing” was coined during the Cold War era, it still carries heavy implications and often suggests harsh techniques. Subsequently, brainwashing can be seen as ridding a person of their own ideology and replacing it with a more suitable collection of thoughts. Through techniques of mass education, thought control, and depravation of critical judgment, the World Controllers in the Brave New World are brainwashing their citizens and creating a perpetual state of dependency and confusion, serving as a warning for modern civilizations.

I am here by writing this essay to explain, how these organizations in the United States such as the MADD, LULAC, and NAACP can educate and help our fellow citizens of America change laws that might well need to be changed. As well as explaining the common interest these groups are concerned with.

Our forms of conditioning might not be exact but they still relate. Instead of electric shock and hypnopedia, we are conditioned by media. On page 34, the controller tells the students that “History is bunk”. This relates to our world because see people become famous out of nowhere and we begin to think that school is not necessary, our math classes and history classes are bunk. “We condition the masses to hate the country… But simultaneously we condition them to love all country sports” (page 23). In our world, we are so caught up in social media and what’s going on on the internet that we no longer like to go outside. Yet, we all want to be the star athlete and go pro. Huxley warns us that government control is brainwashing and blinding. We won't ever get to experience life in full if we let the government control every move we make.

Why is government necessary? In the words of Alexander Hamilton, “Why has government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice, without constraint” (Federalist No. 15 137). Men have a sin nature and must have an authority set in place to keep them from falling into anarchy. America has federal and state governments with a system of checks and balances for exactly this reason, but one sector of the government has overstepped the bounds that were set for it in this country’s infancy. In order to answer the question of whether more power should be put into the hands of the federal or state government, three things must be considered: the history of state’s rights in America, the differing types of government, and the constitution itself.

Harry L. Watson’s book, “Liberty and Power, The Politics of Jacksonian America”, takes an analytical look at America and her politics during the Age of Jackson. Watson uses the economy and the ideological mindset of the people, to support a powerful argument about the beginning of American political parties and their importance in defining the political direction of the country. Watson argues that economic inequalities caused by the “Market Revolution” and a threat to American liberty caused Americans to organize politically in support of a

For example, Tris mentions that in her fraction history book she was taught through school “faction before blood” and that “more than family our fractions are where we belong.” This demonstrates how powerful the government in Divergent is and how much control it had, considering it made people believe that the authorities and their rules were more important than their own families. By brainwashing the citizens to think the same the Government can ensure that there are no ‘divergents’ who are the special few who cannot be controlled because they are different. The divergents are able to break the barrier the authorities have put on their society by being able to control their simulations, meaning that they cannot be brainwashed. Veronica Roth wants us to understand that the power and control relationship between the government and society must be balanced, so that one does not simply dominate the other. The government will fail if too much power is in the hands of the people, and equally the government will fail its people if it is to abuse its power when given too much

I feel the system is biased because there are inequalities among the representation and participation of interest groups and constituents in the political system. Unfortunately, poor and uneducated citizens aren’t as organized as interest groups, lobbyists and PACs because they lack the money, resources and connections necessary to influence congress members on legislative bills. It is evident that, “businesses, interest groups and labor unions are spending more than $100 million a month to lobby the federal government”(Associated Press, SFC, 3/7/98). “The actual population of interest groups in Washington surely reflects that there is a class bias in the membership of interest groups”(JBG).

Any government with total control is worth being feared and having a group of individuals who go against their government. With complete control, a government is capable of committing acts against their citizens, which can be perceived as “something good” from the government’s point of view. In 1984 by George Orwell, and “Harrison Bergeron”, by Kurt Vonnegut, the main characters, Winston and Harrison, feel oppressed by the government's acts and events, try to overthrow their government, and go through a realization of hopelessness and defeat.

In the 1900s - 1940s the federal government enacted many new policies and acts that caused the growth of their power. In this time, the expansion of the government's power proved to be more beneficial than harmful to the majority of American lives.

The body, mind, and soul of an individual are capable of becoming corrupted by power. Power makes one feel as if that person was a God, which is a sign of the corruption in that individual. According to Lord Actin, "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely," states that power can make an individual vulnerable to corruption. The second portion of Lord Actin?s quote discusses absolute power corrupting absolutely which implies that absolute power can corrupt an individual as well as the individual?s surroundings. This idea of corruption can be located in fictional novels such as Animal Farm by George Orwell. Animal Farm is a story about animals dictated by a former animal comrade. The dictator in the novel, Napoleon,

Living in a world that continues to make advancements technologically and politically, a book written more than 50 years ago still warns the world of what could happen if government becomes too forceful. Because of George Orwell's strong hatred for totalitarianism and its life dictating qualities, readers can get a taste of the perfect "dystopia". Though the people of today have been warned and are afraid of an all controlling government, they continue to allow the concept of 1984 to become more and more real. If people continue to just watch their governments make decisions and not ask questions, they will fall victim to its power. If a man not of this time understands the terror of totalitarianism, everyone should

In light of current events, society is more concerned than ever about just how much power the government has over people. Individuals are concerned that those in charge might implement policies that could deteriorate certain groups’ quality of living. To some, this may be foolish, but as is shown in some novels, this could happen, and when it does, it is hard to combat. In both George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World authors depict societies under strict government control. These instances display to readers the issues that arise when governments lead through excessive limitation and by demanding conformity.