Today the word democracy has a different meaning than it did in antiquity, when it first emerged. Since those ancient times, capitalism has had a hand in changing the face of democracy. Capitalism is defined as an economic system characterized by private or corporate ownership of capital goods, production, and distribution through a free market. Of course, with capitalism inevitably come the potentially harmful concept of self-interest at the cost of morality and the true essence of democracy. True democracy did exist in Athens, which proved to be an experiment in itself, for if it were perfect; it would be model to this day. Although the term democracy is used today loosely, the truth is the democracy that we know and the democracy of Athens is two very different things. As far as morality is concerned, a certain sense of social responsibly has been lost in a whirlwind of corporation and business interests that rarely places citizens' interests before a chance to advance monetarily. Through the works of Albert O. Hirschman, who seemed to advocate and defend capitalism, and Plato, who seemed to criticize it, the agreement about the presence of interest is evident. Both philosophized and made good arguments on the subjects of capitalism, democracy, and morality, it will be obvious that interest does rule the world and that it was predicted to do so before its explosion. It will also be clear that there are different meanings and concepts that applied to ancient times and many philosophers contemplated on these to explore and predict the effects of interests in the world. The effects of this costly evolution of politics will also be applied to present day examples.
             In Athens, the early philosophers taught and spoke more of doing the "right" thing and being good, with little mention or emphasis on personal interests, but the good for society. Indeed the society that was idealized by Socrates did not include the sole pu...