Room 205

If Aristotle have had seen Howard Christy's painting of the signing of the Constitution of the U.S. he probably would have enjoyed it.  He believed in a government where leadership and laws that allowed the people to have the power.  In the painting it shows government and the commonwealth disagreeing and discussing what laws should be made. The painting includes The president standing and speaking, his cabinet members advising him from behind, the smaller population of congressmen who are in the front rows, and then the larger population of the people who are behind them. He would probably assume that it was formed by a democracy.  Mainly because of the smaller few being criticized by the lager many.  The populace in the back disagreeing with the government in the front. The men who signed the Constitution were men who just got out of a war with a government and had no want to return to that style of living.  They made just laws that would help th...

Martin Luther King Jr's point is extremely close to that of Henry David Thoreau's.  Most of Kings main points perfectly parallel Thoreau's reasons to not follow unjust laws that infringe upon someone's rights.  Both strongly agreed that laws that were not equal and just to all should not be followed and to follow them was going against one's duties.       I think that both writings are so close that it would be harder to believe that King didn't read Thoreau's work.    “Break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine” from Thoreau's writing.  We know through painful experience that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed." from King's letter.  Both of these quotes clearly show their intentions as one.  But some things between both their works do not line up.  King believed that all laws should follow the word of god lik...

"that Government is best which governs least"  This shows Thoreau believes that a government should only be as involved as it has to, its bear minimum.  His belief in the maximum number of individual rights is greater than the states rights over them.   "Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it." He wanted every individual to have the right to vote/share their opinion of anything the state is doing.  And he wanted the government to take into consideration what was being said to the point of changing their actions if needed. He wants government to treat every person the exact same with absolutely zero prejudice. The Mexican War was started my President Polk who took over state in the name of his country.  This ended up just ruling over a certain populace of people in that area and not really helping them.  Now because of his need to expand his t...

1. Rousseau would most likely favor the term Direct Democracy in describing his ideal government.  He talks of the masses having the weight of the power.  The majority decides the fate of the minority.  He talks about freedom of the people being the most important part of a government. There is not currently an exact nation that fits all his criteria but there are close examples.  A close current example would be the Direct Democracy of Sweden.  A lot of their programs and polices are very close reflections of his ideals.  The Greek city of Athens was the closest true direct democracy. Also being one of the fist documented democracy's in history.  Long after they fell the ancient city of Rome closely followed Greek leadership and adopted many ideals from Athens until their takeover as a dictatorship. 2. The Deceleration of Independence is an extremely good example of Machiavelli's ends and means.  The quote "give me freedom or giv...

Lao-tzu's view of government vs that of  Machiavelli Machiavelli's View -A government/leader cant be a "good" person.  He must favor being feared over being loved by his followers.  This mindset keeps the populace in there place without being hated.  A leader should constantly be on the lookout and ready for conflict from inside or outside the kingdom.  This means they should be very involved with the community and controlling of the population to keep the peace.  Most importantly through all the fear it should be reasonable and fair. Lao-tzu -A government/leader should be at peace with himself and his people.  He must set aside time to forget about conflict and problems so he can focus on life itself.  They should be involved with the populace as little as possible.  Even to the point of seeming invisible to the regular person.  This allows his people to thrive and exist in life. The place where their point...