Manipulating the Masses: The Iraq War and the Emergence of Totalitarian Democracy
The theory of government does not always match the realities of the exercise of power. America's leaders today are fond of reminding us all - American and foreign citizens alike - that the United States is the world's greatest democracy. By "greatest," of course, they mean most democratic, and not most powerful, in the sense of strongest - economically, diplomatically, or militarily. No other country in the world is supremely dedicated to the principles of freedom and justice for all. No other nation accords such importance to the idea of human rights; to basic human dignity, equality, and liberty of conscience. Over and over again, we are told that, as Americans, we enjoy the protections of the most benign and most benevolent system of government ever devised. Our political system is the best. Our judicial system the fairest. Our economic system the one that provides the greatest advantage to the greatest number of people. Ours is a land especially favored by Providence, the envy of all humankind. Quite naturally then, anyone who disagrees with us is... well... evil. Yet there is much that seems to contradict these rosy assumptions about the United States and its government. In the past five and a half years, especial
It is this interplay of the individual with the collective, the social with the personal, and the selfish with the altruistic that makes for a livable environment. Said Hannah Arendt, "Nothing is more obvious than that man, whether as a member of a species or as an individual, does not own his existence to himself. Swept along by the Bush Administration's unfounded charges that Saddam Hussein posed a real threat to America, her allies, and her interests, the American People would quickly convert this physical threat into an even more deadly threat - the threat to the myth of America. History is not a technological process in which events follow automatically from events like the movement of a piston in an internal combustion engine. The United States is not an absolute democracy, but a republic, meaning that the people of the United States elect representatives to govern the nation on their behalf. We have watched as our country has invaded another country for reasons of "self preservation," defending three hundred million Americans from the non-existent threat posed by non-existent "weapons of mass destruction. But once started, after the pattern criticized by Raymond Aron, the Vietnam War escalated of its own accord. Things were responsible for the misery of humankind, as much as they were responsible for the potential happiness of humankind. Saddam Hussein would most definitely threaten us, because it was simply in his nature to do so. Such actions on the part of politicians are essential selfish acts. At the same time, the American Public would be swayed the equally mechanistic ideas that, according to Arendt's belief, made possible Vietnam. The First and Second World Wars, the Holocaust, the Cold War, and Vietnam - the list is endless - were the natural by-products of human science and invention.
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Acceptance Essays
