12/12 - Inverted Totalitarianism

Inverted Totalitarianism

Inverted totalitarianism is a term coined by political philosopher Sheldon HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheldon_Wolin"Wolin to describe what he believes to be the emerging form of government of the United States. Wolin believes that the United States is increasingly turning into an illiberal democracy, and he uses the term "inverted totalitarianism" to illustrate the similarities and differences between the United States governmental system and totalitarian regimes. The United States has been increasingly taking on totalitarian tendencies. The democracy of the United States is sanitized of political participation and refers to it as managed democracy. Under managed democracy the electorate is prevented from having a significant impact on policies adopted by the state through the continuous employment of public relations techniques. The essential role that propaganda plays in the system is the ability to control and pacify the people. The media, for example, is a tool that the government use to spoon feed people into thinking or acting a specific way.

I think knowing this information is both alarming and empowering, it depends how you take it. It can be empowering if it makes you look at our government, at our media while applying critical thinking. Instead of allowing the media to tell us how to think we can receive the information as one point of view and  start looking for other point of view before we form our opinion in the matter.

12/5 Interest Groups

“The common characteristic which distinguishes all of the large economic groups with significant lobbying organizations is that these groups are also organized for some other purpose. The large and powerful economic lobbies are in fact the by-products of organizations that obtain their strength and support because they perform some function in addition to lobbying for collective goods.” (Olson)

Interest groups represent people or organizations with common concerns and interests. These groups seek some sort of economic advantage and benefits for their members, through advocacy, public campaigns and even by lobbying governments to make changes in public policy. Economic interest groups are numerous and powerful. These groups are usually well funded because members willingly contribute money in the hopes of reaping greater political influence and profit. Economic groups work to win private goods, which are benefits that only the members of the group will enjoy. There are a wide variety of interest groups representing a variety of constituencies.

There are many economic groups out there and this information can be useful to anyone. You don’t have to be a political activities to belong to one of these groups. Some of us belong to economic group and some of us might join a economic group in the future. I think it’s important to know what’s out there, what are some of my option and how can I benefit from these group should I decide to join in.