Throughout history, humans have tried to perfect government. Many wars have been started by world powers trying to force their faulty government upon others. In the modern world, the Fascist government of Nazi Germany oppressed minorities in the name of advancement. The Soviet Union imprisoned millions in their immoral gulags, but justified it in the name fighting crime. Even looking as far back as Ancient Greece, we saw these conflicts. Some of the greatest victories can be attributed to a superior government. And yet, some of the worst acts of immorality have been done in the name of superior government.
The great and free country of America, with the world’s most powerful military, has long imposed its governmental values on other
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Some of the disagreement was to be found in government. Sparta had a more fascist-leaning government, as opposed to Athens’ democratic governing system. Sparta created a completely militarized system to help give them more influence, as they despised Athens’ wealth and power. Many Spartans believed that their nationalist militarized monarchy was more just and right than the Athenian democracy, where mob-rule had the potential to run rampant. With mob-rule, innocent people could be put to death, if the majority of people believed they were guilty. It begins to seem nonsensical that Sparta fought Athens, in part, to end their power to kill the innocent, and yet, Sparta did just that. In their militarized state they would kill innocent infants that they believed weren’t fit to fight. It is a backward system, when a government kills the innocent to stop the murder of the innocent.
The opposing state to Athens may have had some reason, however, to believe that they were immoral. In a famous case, the Greek philosopher, Socrates, was sentenced to death for “corrupting the youth” in a controversial trial. Many believe that the case was unjust, and still, he was sentenced to death for a non-violent “crime”. This is a classic case of how democracy can cause the popular belief to become law, even if the populous is immoral or incorrect.
Many claim that a superior form of government has been the cause of historic victories, such as
The Vietnam War was costly not only to our armed forces but to our American economy and American morale. We entered the war in an attempt to end the communist regime of North Vietnam and their southern allies, the Vietcong, from taking over South Vietnam. South Vietnam was an ally of the United States and due to this political relationship; the United States was entitled to help defend their ally. More than 58,000 Americans were killed in the Vietnam War. By 1969 it was the peak of American involvement in the war and more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict. Throughout the war growing opposition towards participation of military forces threatened the support of the war. American citizens began to
The political instability in Vietnam from 1950 to 1975 between the communist North Vietnam and anti-communist South Vietnam during the Cold War era has led to the United States’ inevitable intervention in Vietnam. The main motivators for the United States’ incremental decision to intervene and commitment in Vietnam can be viewed as an accumulation of socio-political, political and economic catalysts. In recognition that there were many other factors that may have contributed to the U.S’s involvement in the conflict in Vietnam, this essay will largely focus on these three factors. As the cold war resonates, the American’s crusade was propelled by the fears of the domino theory and perception of Communist threat and expansion affected the
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era conflict that started in 1946 and ended in 1974, taking nearly 30 years to resolve. The war was fundamentally a conflict between North Vietnam and South Vietnam, where the North was communist and South was not. The United States, France, the United Kingdom and other non-communist allies supported the non-communist South Vietnam. China, Russia (USSR), Cuba, Cambodia and other Communist allies supported the regime in the north. North Vietnam saw the United States involvement in the North as foreign aggression, so they fought guerilla wars against the anti-communist forces in the region. Guerilla forces (the Viet Cong) and the regular North Vietnamese Army were responsible for fighting the anticommunist forces. The conflict mainly consisted of small battles until the onset of air attacks -- part of an overall strategy of massive bombing and search-and-destroy operations, which South Vietnam and the Americans hoped would win the war.
Today, our World is a lot safer than 1960s. With emerge of civil rights; The United States was at its own War in 1960s. Despite, the differences and political crisis inside the Country, American politicians denied the fact that Americans were at their own War. Chronically, the Government threatened most of Civil rights Movement leaders to death, but they fought for people’s rights against discrimination. Meanwhile, the United States was unrest with emerging Vietnamese War. With the help from Soviet Union, the Communist Government of Vietnam was trying to destroy Southern Vietnamese. To stop spreading out the Communism in Vietnam, the United States intervention required. In this essay I will talk about how American Government
The Vietnam War was cause do to The United States wanting to stop the continuation of Communism, this war however had major consequences on several societies and communities. The war caused many American casualties and the soldiers who did survive suffer from many mental and physical problems to this day nearly forty-three years later. The Vietnam war was well known for its chemical warfare. The two most common chemicals were substances called napalm and agent orange. The war was also well known as America's biggest mistake for warfare. Soldiers who served were disrespected and disgraced after their return. And many of the politicians in office were threatened and the government was beginning to fall apart do to miscommunication.
World War 2 was both tragic but also a growing period for Canadians. Germany and The Soviet Union were in a non-aggression pact and were trying to take over Europe. Along with their greed for power, Hitler the leader of Germany did not like the Jewish, and sent almost all of them to concentration camps where they were put to work. Those who were too weak to work were put in gas chambers and put to death. Hitler soon broke his pact with Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union. Hitler was then faced with a two front war against the Soviet Union and the Canadian, British and later the United States. At home in Canada many things were happening within society. Women became more involved and became more independent and respected. The government
For decades in the United States the Cold war remained one of the biggest political issues. However, the divisive point of the Cold War era was the Vietnam War in the thousands of Americans were killed and back home in the United States a civil war almost broke out.
Since World War II, Conflicts in Asia have played a major role in the Cold War and American foreign policy. One conflict was the Vietnam War, the effects of this conflict were not only felt within the region of Southeast Asia, for example Norman Morrison was a Baltimore Quaker and performed the act of self-immolation at the age of 31 to protest the US’s involvement in Vietnam, this is an example of how it was felt even in the United States and not just in Vietnam. These repercussions had a great impact on American society and even our foreign policy.
The Montagnard had suffer the same consequent as the Native American, the conquer of the land, according to the Degar Foundation “In this way, we have suffered a fate similar to the Native Americans, Australian aboriginals, African Bushmen and other original inhabitants subjected to invasion and exploitation by outsiders.” The same way as the Vietnamese is taking over the land, but the solution in taking back the land is far too risky, due to the fact that; the Montagnard population is dropping. It was once over 3 million during French colonialism, today the race has dwindle to only a few thousand. As the tension between the Montagnard and Vietnam grow the safer place to be is in Cambodia and the neighbor countries.
In addition to an economic crisis, President Obama inherited the two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. An ardent opponent of Bush 's decision to invade Iraq in 2003, Obama pledged to withdraw American troops as soon as possible. Reagan argued that U.S. leadership was crucial to stop the Soviet Union from expanding. Contrastingly, Obama was eager to end the campaign in Afghanistan by slowly withdrawing troops, declaring that it was time for the U.S. to focus on nation-building at home. Reagan’s strategy was based in large part on his fundamental belief that a free and capitalist economy could outperform a Communist one and force both into an arms race that they could not afford. Obama’s doctrine instead emphasized how the state needed to tax
For a while there was really only one scene, the main scene. In some eyes, society had a way prior to the 60 's to fixate only on what certain people thought were appropriate. Aspects such as the masculinity of America, white prowess, and the professional look, in a sense plagued America and beyond. Also, the United State 's government was war hungry, after WW2 we put ourselves in conflicts: the Korean War, Vietnam War, and the Cold War. These were truly scary times for the people. Fast forward to the 70 's, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War is still taking a toll on our country. Everyone was sick of this and the youth did not want a fight for simply just adding toll numbers to death. This influenced culture immensely and while this was all happening a new breed of ideas were brewing. A new wave of substances became obtainable and people took a hold of these which as we now know changed the face of that generation of people and further rippling out to others. The psychedelia wave arrived and forever society norms changed, how people treated people changed, and Rock & Roll changed at a time that was screaming for change. In the beginning there was LSD, the influence of this drug can be seen in many forms. Mainly LSD had the altering effect that can be seen, but, many other drugs had its place among the groups of people. The LSD influences can be seen in music videos, can be listen to in music, and the idea of hippies was sure shaped my LSD.
The emergence of the Cold War with the Soviet Union had far reaching impacts on American society, including hindering the pace of social reform in the United States. While some aspects of the Cold War may have helped promote certain social reforms, the net impact, deterred inevitable social reforms. Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War induced a fear of communism in Americans that had numerous effects on American policies. McCarthyism, a period of controversial accusations on supposedly “communist” Americans, developed from the panic that communism would overcome the United States’ government, leading to loss of individual freedoms. In addition, social reform, especially the Civil Rights Movement, received inadequate attention as American leaders fixated on defeating communism and preventing it from contaminating the United States. Therefore, the United States’ preoccupation with containing communism throughout the Cold War Era hindered social reform domestically. As a result, social reform successes were limited primarily to those exhibiting visible political value by demonstrating the United States’ belief in equality and democracy to the rest of the world.
In Crito, Socrates makes a strong claim about the existence of a social contract amongst the state and its citizens. He believes that by choosing to live and flourish in a society you are tactically agreeing to always follow their laws. This mutual agreement is like an eye for an eye, the citizens obey the laws and the government guarantees protection. In this essay, I will argue that the court’s wrongful verdict breaks the social contract Socrates has with Athens and leaves room for civil disobedience. By Socrates complying with his unjust sentence, he creates potential power problems in the city of Athens.
Plato’s account of Socrates’ defense against charges of corrupting the youth and heresy, reveal the ancient teacher’s view of justice as fairness and support of rule of law. In the Apology, Socrates faces a moral dilemma: to either accept his punishment for crimes he did not commit or to accept the assistance of his friends and escape death by the hand of the state. His choice to accept death in order to maintain rule of law reveals his belief of justice. He beliefs his punishment to be just not because he committed the crimes but because his sentence came through a legal process to which he consented. By sparing his life, he would weaken the justice system of Athens which he values above his own existence. This difference between the two men’s beliefs regarding justice draws the sharpest contrast in their views of effective leadership and government.
In most circumstances ending the life of a criminal as their punishment usually reflects the magnitude of the crimes that they committed, crimes that often involve the deaths of others or equally heinous actions, yet one historical example stands out for not following this rule. In 399 BC, in Athens, Greece, two men put a meek philosopher named Socrates on trial for two crimes he purportedly committed: not following state gods and corrupting the youth. These charges alleged against Socrates reflected the general sentiment of Athenians regarding Socrates; namely that he was an atheistic charlatan. The jury found Socrates guilty of these crimes and executed, a punishment that does not logically befit the supposed crimes that he committed. No sane or logical jury would find him guilty of such vague claims, especially in such a vehemently democratic polis as Athens, and they would never have executed Socrates for such meager offenses, nonetheless he was. Execution was especially unnecessary because Socrates himself was on the verge of death; he was in his seventies in the Greek era, so he was bound to die soon anyways. The central focus, then, is of understanding how on Earth the birthplace of democracy could have gone so awry and when they tried, convicted, and executed Socrates. Athens sentenced Socrates to death because his beliefs were against the flow of the changing Athenian ideological landscape, people regarded him as a pompous, elitist charlatan who impugned their core