see below

¶ … 20th century, political philosophers in the Western hemisphere had become firmly entrenched in the principles of the Enlightenment. With feudal oligarchies outmoded and with the burgeoning success with new republics like the United States, Great Britain, and France, political philosophy espoused governments that were modeled after representative or direct democracies. At the same time, however, sources of wealth and power remained unequal throughout the world. Imperialism and colonialism created imbalances not only between the colonists and the colonized but also between the elite and the working classes. In some cases, citizens could expect and demand more from the governments they created, in other cases, governments so readily controlled systems of wealth, power, and military dominion that citizens had no recourse.

People living under colonial rule naturally viewed their governments as unrepresentative of their needs and interests. First, colonial governments were usually culturally removed from the peoples they ruled over. Second, colonial governments exploited indigenous populations, using them as sources of cheap labor almost like slavery. Third, colonial governments established proxy governments in their colonies and thereby created imbalances of wealth and power that remained when the colonial regime fell or withdrew.

Human beings can and should demand more from their governments, not allowing elite groups to control wealth and power. Revolts and revolutions are occasionally necessary, as they were during the American and French Revolutions. Even in the 21st century, people around the world suffer from the vestiges of colonialism and imperialism. The struggle for freedom and representative democracy continues. Ideally, all human beings should be in control of their own destiny, and government will be genuinely "of the people, by the people, and for the people."

2

One of the most important technological developments that occurred during the Industrial Revolution was the assembly line. Used in large factories so that more goods could be manufactured in a shorter period of time, assembly lines totally transformed the way people lived and worked. First, the assembly line created a plethora of new jobs, encouraging previously self-sufficient farmers to move to urban centers. Families were occasionally disrupted and old social codes were too. Women who had previously worked on their family farms found themselves toiling away in factories, and in some cases assembly line maximized the division between the genders. In other cases, women entered the workforce alongside of men and therefore minimized the gap between the genders. Second, the assembly line led to unhealthy working conditions in factories. With more regard for profit as a bottom line than humanity, companies neglected safety concerns. Workers started to form labor unions that symbolized the overall system of democracy and human liberty. Labor unions emerged directly out of the Industrial Revolution.