Negative Effects Of Populism

America is commonly characterized as the greatest country in the world, the glorious “land of the free and the home of the brave”, “indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”. This idealization of the American identity conveniently focuses on what people want to hear and blurs out most everything else. In reality, Americans do not live up to the dreamscape created by our views, and we never really have. America is no longer characterized by its freedom and democracy, nearly every first world country can afford that luxury. Nor are we set apart by the great opportunities given to our people, for those are far from universal. We aren’t equal, we aren’t unified, we aren’t kinder or smarter or richer than any other country across the board. It’s easy to find the shortcomings of American culture, all the things we aren’t, but the things we are have proven to be more elusive. First, let’s examine the nots.

This is something Trump capitalized on throughout his run for the White House. In his candidacy there were a lot of mixed emotions between the common people. There were separation amongst the common people where certain individuals believed that Trumps ideas truly frame our government to the original goals were he idealizes the term “Make America Great Again” while others believes his stance is unruly and depicts American’s as a bunch of egotistical individuals that shows lack of respect to minority groups. In this case his position as a head of a few of the elites that who eventually infiltrate our government. Sullivan wrote, “Trump has argued that the candidate with the most votes should get the Republican nomination, regardless of the rules in place. It now looks as if he won’t even need to win that argument --- that he’ll bank enough delegates to secure the nomination uncontested --- but he’s won it anyway. Fully half of Americans now believe the traditional nominating system is rigged.” (Sullivan 3) The essence of Sullivan’s argument is that our government is coming to the point where the common people can’t even trust the validations behind the outcomes of voting without believing it’s rigged or scammed. Alongside this claim it shows a possible downfall of our democracy

The author directs a scathing degree of indignation toward the blinded American people and, equally, the evil celebrities who are misleading them, while letting the root of the problem slip right between his accusatory fingers. He rattles off half a page of governmental failings that are slowly killing our economy, our families, and our globe at large, and then proceeds to blame the American people for…

The elite theory believes that a small group consisting of powerful people holds the most power, and that this power is independent of a state's democratic elections process. Elite theory argues either that democracy is in all unrealistic, or that democracy is not able to be achieved within capitalism. Within the elite theory not everyone is going to have the power when making decisions only the most powerful group. Overall meaning the elite theory can determine the trajectory of the society, and therefore the conditions which the members of that society must exist and function. When considering who’s interest does the elite theory compromise it would be hard to find an answer considering that all these groups work together to protect each other’s

An elite is considered as the few in any organization or society who have power. (pg. 1)

Since its inhabitance, competition and dominance has been a concept that remains prevalent throughout American life. Past ideologies such as Manifest Destiny, Cultural Imperialism, and Ethnocentrism are all practices and beliefs comprising what it means to be American for many citizens, while also continually shaping outside perception of Americans today. On one hand, many countries have and continue to fully embrace American culture, globalization, and the rise of capitalism. In contrast, many countries have and continue to reject America’s stride for world assimilation regarding their ideals and values.

Published by the New York Times under the Opinion section, the audience for this article is any interested reader. At the time it was released, November 18th, 2016, this article arrived during last year’s elections, in which a large, but surprising number of Americans voted for candidate Donald Trump, shocking many forecasters who had predicted otherwise. Therefore, after the election, many people may have been researching the demographics of the election, and this article, which briefly shared Brooks’ opinion on the nature of the election and how viewing others through the lens of a dominant identity influenced how the votes fell where they did, may have caught a keen reader’s eye. Also, this article came at a time where racism and prejudice caused many problems, leading some to view others as one-dimensional, represented only by a skin color or religion. Since prejudice and hate is still a large issue today, tackling this problem helps make this article relevant, nearly a year after its release.

The term aristocracy comes from the Greek word aristos, meaning the best. Aristocracy therefore is roughly translated into meaning ‘rule by the best’ (Hooker R 1997). This encompasses the ideas of an aristocratic society. Within Plato’s book, The Republic, he outlines the basis of an aristocratic society being split into three groups. Socrates describes them as being the gold, silver and bronze or iron (Plato 380 BC). Though the gold class rules over the others it is not considered and more valuable than the others classes. Whether someone was a warrior or a blacksmith they all had a key job to uphold within society and none were considered above an others for things like status and wealth, unlike that of an oligarchic society. In an aristocracy people are placed into careers and hierarchies almost from birth, normally, but

While different gatherings employ and impact the United States, the elite are the most equipped for doing as such. Their capacity to remain the most dissolvable socio-prudent class is unparalleled

The Elite theory best helps explain another form of government being the Judicial Branch. The Judicial Branch of government is the technical term for the Supreme Court and the Supreme Court is the highest level of court and is looked as the interpreters of the Constitution. Their soul job is to help clarify the Constitution when parts of the Constitution aren’t so clear. The Supreme Court is made up of nine judges selected personally by the President and are approved by Congress. None of this is done by any outside group, you could argue however that other people somehow influence the opinion of one person or the other on a certain decision but overall very clearly this form of government is ran by elites. Although this branch is run by Elites that does not necessarily mean it should be ran that way. The Supreme Court is suppose to be the interpreter of the Constitution and it is said by Marshall, in the case Mabury vs. Madison, that the constitution is the “"the fundamental and paramount law of the nation.” This leaving the question to: Why would you want someone deciding the law of this nation when they aren’t even elected by the people they are running? Since the people are not involved in this

The world has a perception of the American people and it’s not as flattering as we would like to be. In Yanko Tsvetlov’s image “The World According To Americans 2012” he illustrates in a brilliantly colored map exactly how that perception appears to the rest of the international community. Using a map of the entire world, Tsvetlov somewhat comically and perhaps accurately labels countries or regions of the map in condescending statements or stereotypes (Tsvetlov). These labels are Tsvetlov’s interpretation of how the American people, either through lack of education or culture or perhaps simple misconception, see various regions of the globe. Our arrogance and ignorance as a nation has painted a picture for the rest of the world to easily judge us by. From tourists misbehaving to soldiers acting foolishly abroad, the world sees too much of the wrong side of the American people. Tsvetlov leaves his image open to much interpretation allowing the audience to draw its own conclusion about what exactly he’s trying to suggest.

In truth, its history dates back as far as the sixteenth century, following the first great expansion of European capitalism, which resulted in slave trade, colonialism and neo-colonialism (Ezema, 2009). Throughout history, world powers have continually sought to perpetuate their way of life: from the philosophy and mythology of the Greeks, the political ideologies and linguistics of the Romans, and the art and architecture of the Italian Renaissance (Daghrir, 2013). Thus, it comes as no surprise that the aftermath of the post-war era, which saw the collapse of Soviet communism and the emergence of the United States as the sole hegemon, saw the aggressive spread of American ideals, values, and beliefs. Indeed, just as American goods flooded world markets in the post-World War II era; American culture now penetrates every continent through the aggressive development of mass communications, trade expansion and information technology.

The power elite is able to exert power over society. The power elite’s control over politics demonstrates how inequality is functional. This validates the class-domination theory of power, which is distributed based on economic power. By controlling economic resources, the power elites political influence in government shapes law and those involved in government to the power elites benefit. In today’s American society these laws have impacted both the corporate community and the elite. Furthermore, the author’s portrayal of the elite displayed how the elite have control concerning choices in government policies, elections, and laws.

The elite do respond to the people, when it chooses to do so, or when its position is threatened. The chief executives, i.e. the big corporations play a significant role in decision making as they make the power elite and have a vast influence in the economy. Corporations can affect the taxes by raising the prices for the products, hence affecting the quality of life by production of products and wages of workers; change the environment by chemical wastes and other environmentally unfriendly chemicals. And the third group – the warlords or the high military leaders gained their power during the times of the Cold War. The danger of potential enemies, the demands of foreign affairs and the development of the means of mass destruction have given the military the power to be in the dominant power elite. Even though the power elite make a small circle of few ruling the rest, they do not manipulate events in their own self interest. The elite, for the most part, respects liberties and follows the constitutional principles, it is not a dictatorship and usually acts in peaceful ways and openly to the public.[7]

The elite is the selected few but does not reflex the needs of the masses