Communism and democracy: liberty, repression, and social organization

Interdisciplinary Social Science

Ways that Communism Enhances Liberty

When people think about autocracy, the one thing that comes to their minds is communism. This is a misleading perception because communism is not a government type, but rather a different system of political, economic, and social theories. Communism aims at making totalitarian government temporary towards a state of a society (Hunt and Colander, 2011). Communism has the potential of enhancing the liberty of an individual or society to the utmost limit depending on the ideas that form the foundation of the association. Communism has the capacity to assume any freedom form that other institution finds hard to achieve.

Communism can develop a monastery that every implicitly adheres to the orders, and produce free institutions. In advocating for liberty, communism promises freedom in the economic activities by guaranteeing and improving the well-being, or luxury in return for working in a few hours rather than the whole day. Communism advocates for liberty by recognizing that all men are equal, and renouncing the government as an increase in liberty for an individual. Advocacy in the liberty by communism emerges from the fact that communism recognizes the different occupational activities that are the basis of progress in a society (Hunt and Colander, 2011).

A communist society enhances liberty by organizing these occupations in a manner that is liberates individuals to be free during their leisure time, plan for their working shifts, and create room to attend educational classes. Communism advocates for liberty by proving wrong the fundamental idea, which claims that it is hard for a community to be liberal with no structures of leadership that is totalitarian. Through the various examples, communism shows that freedom is possible in the production and consumption of goods or services by a society with no calculations of the allocation portion of people, which is an effort of individual emancipation or freedom (Hunt and Colander, 2011).

Controversial Rights

The Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights provides protection from the law to enter a person's house without invitation. This is the right to privacy. This right together with the right to possess arms is too controversial than the others (Lewis, 2002). The Second Amendment draws arguments from lobbyists who believe that this right does not guarantee individuals an absolute right to possess arms. The government is responsible to control the sale or ownership of these arms. The National Rifle Association supports that the Second Amendment has the right to provide individuals the right to bear arms (Lewis, 2002).

With the increase of violence that is now proving to be a plague to the society, the issue of firearms possession, arms control, and restriction on private property search, will continue to be a controversial topic and a national concern. The controversy of these two rights will continue to push legislators, and policy makers to discuss the various laws that will provide a balance in the right to possess arms, right to privacy, and the safety of the public (Lewis, 2002).

The Influence of Military-industrial Complex to the Government

Military-industrial complex is a term that refers to, the relationship between two parties that are responsible for the management of wars, or institutions that develop equipment or weapons for a war.

This military-industrial complex relationship has the potential to develop between the forces in the government, and the defense contractors who receive the things they believe to be significant like an effective military engagement among planners of wars, and financial profit for corporations. A person can argue that military-industrial complex is another view for war for profit (Singer, 2003).

This idea or view of war for profit is not a new phenomenon. A person can track this view back to the centuries at the age of races for arms, and navy ships to conquer empires. The view about military-industrial complex is that a state requires establishing a ready military, which is the greatest in the world to remain as a super power.

The mutual advantage view of military-industrial complex is not far reaching. It explains how defense of this industrial profit occurs after a state commits to a lengthy period of war overseas. This shows how military-industrial complex will not spare any expense resulting victory. According to war planners and other parties in military-industrial complex, wars are excellent business ventures for those who can invest in them. These individuals believe that an economy that is wartime has the same capacity of profit as a solid growing economy (Singer, 2003).

Combat ammunition, shells, and other artillery in military-industrial complex industry take precedence over the efforts to create and maintain peace. A person does not require searching hard to identify the many manufacturers who actively take part in the arms production. This strongly affirms that, at this age, military wars are a profitable economy that has the capacity to surpass solid growing economic activities.

The United States, which is the world's superpower now, spends a lot of its taxpayer's money on military expenses than the other 45 world's highest spending states. This military expenditure by the United States is over 48% comparing the total world's military expenditure. It is now over twenty years since the end of the Cold war, but the United States continues to place immense allocation of military defense like this war is going on if not just about start again. Records show that the top five ranking defense contractors in the United States make over 129 billion dollars in revenue, and 8 billion dollars profit in 2006. This is twice the amount of revenue and profit under the presidency of George Bush in 2000. The emergence of the war on terror is the main contributor in the growth of this defense industry with its individual shareholders (Singer, 2003).

These shareholders in the military-industrial complex influence the government in various ways. These companies that produce war weapons or equipment can attach themselves to the central government and the department of defense. These individuals provide enormous amounts of money to various candidates in the congress or have a large number of lobbyists advocating for more contracts in the defense industry. Another influence from the military-industrial complex idea emerges from various political individuals who decide to work for the defense contractors when they leave office. The effect of this is a conflict of interest in the government that negatively affects the common American taxpayer. Continuous war is beneficial to the shareholders in military-industrial complex. They use their position to offer support to individuals who can serve their best interest by favoring a foreign policy that is aggressive. This enables them to influence a conflict that the government pays by engaging in wars overseas (Singer, 2003).

The Influence of Fourth Estate to the Government

The fourth estate is a term that refers to the press. This is an expression of the fact that parliament and other government houses have an area for press briefings, and the press is a group that forms the larger realm. The fourth estate plays a crucial role in the society ensuring that the members of the public are aware of crucial issues affecting them. They play this role by reporting on the various topics, and establishing individuals who the society will depend for awareness of information (Overholser and Jamieson, 2005).

Because of the level of significance of the press in the society, individuals in the fourth estate adhere to personal and professional ethics of conduct. The fourth estate exercises a culture of neutrality, and focus on the issues they are reporting to enable the public an opportunity to judge the information or the individual at the center of the news. The fourth estate practice integrity, protect the source of information, conduct verification of the information prior to release, and utilize various methods and technique to preserve the trust and faith of the press (Overholser and Jamieson, 2005). The fundamental roles of the fourth estate in influencing the government are through three roles namely remaining independent from government control, scrutinizing the government's activities, and offering an opportunity for members of the public to establish a public debate (Archer and Jarvis, 1996).

By ensuring that the fourth estate is independent of control by the government, the press ensures that the government does not censor political information. This enables the public to receive information that does not contain bias because of a political influence. Scrutinizing the government makes it possible for the press to inform the public about the activities that the government is engaging in (Archer and Jarvis, 1996).

This holds the politicians responsible for any corruption case or any other scandal. After the public is aware, people can establish an arena for debating the activities of the government. The methods of response the public can use include demonstrating, boycotts, radio show discussion, opinion polls, and voting (Overholser and Jamieson, 2005).

Reference

Archer, J., & Jarvis, M. (1996). The Fourth Estate. New York, NY: Harper Audio.

Hunt, E.F., & Colander, D.C. (2011). Social science: An introduction to the study of society, fourteenth edition. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Lewis, T.T. (2002). The Bill of Rights. Pasadena, Calif: Salem Press.

Overholser, G., & Jamieson, K.H. (2005). The press. New York: Oxford University Press.

Singer, P.W. (2003). Corporate warriors: The rise of the privatized military industry. Ithaca: