TOTALITARIAN RULE Essays - Forms Of Government, Totalitarianism

TOTALITARIAN RULE TOTALITARIAN RULE The concept of totalitarian rule cannot be determined by purely logical means. It was explained and clarified only by those who went through the bitter experience of this form of government. As late as the end of the 1920's the word "totalitarian" was used to designate any state which was governed in an authoritarian rather than a parliamentarian manner. The London Times, for example, on November 2, 1929, spoke of a reaction against parliamentarism "in favor of a totalitarian, or unitary state whether Fascist or Communist;" the quotation marks and the explanatory phrase "or unitary state" prove that at the time the concept was still fairly unusual. In the 1930s and 1940s the experiences of the Third Reich and Stalinist Russia added to the definition the criteria of the synchronization and conformation of life, political police and concentration camps, and aIl the other horrors disseminated by these regimes. But admitting that in our century open terror has assumed particularly inhuman forms, such terror is nevertheless not confined to totalitarian rule and therefor is not sufficient to define it. From time immemorial despots have imprisoned their opponents under particularly cruel conditions; they have tortured them, dishonored them, debased and executed them. The suppression of freedom has always assumed the same forms. what Tacitus wrote in his biography of Agricola concerning the despotism of the Emperor Domitian was experienced as reality by the high school students of Hitler's Germany: "Not only the writers but their very books were objects of rage, and . . .the triumvirs were commissioned to burn in the forum those works of splendid genius. They fancied, forsooth, that in that fire the voice of the Roman people, the freedom of the Senate, and the conscience of the human race were perishing, while at the same time they banished the teachers of philosophy, and exiled every noble pursuit, that nothing good might anywhere confront them. Certainly we showed a magnificent example of patience; as a former age had witnessed the extreme of liberty, so we witnessed the extreme of servitude, when the informer robbed us of the interchange of speech and hearing. We should have lost memory as well as voice, had it been as easy to forget as to keep silence." The unique particularity of the unfolding of totalitarian power was at first experienced only by those who were under its immediate subjection, and even they understood it only gradually because it was an entirely new experience-- at least in our century. Totalitarian power grows beyond all standards of normal politics, it gains incalculable and sinister dimensions; under its dominion life falls into confusion and insecurity of all kind not known heretofore. Human beings find themselves not only oppressed and confined in their freedom but also delivered up to the regime, mercilessly exploited by it, and finally, as it were inadvertently, criminally involved in the regime,s activity. Characteristically, it was precisely the politically sophisticated observers who predicted all quick collapse of totalitarian rule, and from their point of view they were justified; for according to the traditional views and standards all such regimes destroy the preconditions that can give permanence to all government. Everywhere it goes against the most basic Law of international diplomatic relations and economic life, destroys the ordered domestic government, openly goes back on its promises, at every step violates all loyalty and faith, is mendacious, unbalanced, repressed, unprofessional--nevertheless, totalitarian rule flourished, secured its position, manages to win over large sections of the population though they resist at first' and can even place its opponents in its service. Persons under totalitarian rule are always in the ranks, always under all strain. They may no longer show themselves as they really are but are constrained constantly to play prescribed roles in an atmosphere of false emotionality, joylessness, mistrust; and they must take care to put their loyalty "to the test... Not only does the regime forbid them to develop, but it seeks also to make of them other personalities than they are by nature; it not only restricts their freedom but tries as well to overpower them. This situation holds true for the declared adherents of the regime even more than for its opponents; for the adherents must always be anxiously concerned to move along whatever general line is currently in favor. No corner of public life or private life offers refuge from control; one can inadvertently lay oneself open to suspicion anywhere. Applause, indignation, enthusiasm, willingness to serve are produced artificially. In general, artificiality is an outstanding characteristic of totalitarian activity, standing in grotesque contrast to the regime,s favorite appeal to the authentic forces of

American Identity Essay Professor Ramos Blog

American Identity Essay American Identity Analysis Essay

Dividend policy at Linear technology Case Study

Dividend policy at Linear technology - Case Study Example The paper tells that Linear technology has used all four types of dividend distributions. The company has used stock splits four times since its initial public offer (IPO) in 1993, 1996, 1999 and 2000, each of which has been 2 for 1 split. The company has also had share purchases every year since 1993 and every year thereafter except in 2000. Most of these share repurchases were done in 2002 and 2003. The dividend policy that Linear Technology chooses at a particular point in time will depend on a number of factors. These factors include the signal it wants to send to its shareholders, the need for funds to invest in new projects, the type of shareholders that the firm has, and the amount of cash the firm has at its disposal. The method of dividend payment should also depend on the tax implications. Linear Technology does not appear to be investing in any new projects. The figures also indicate that research and development expenses have declined since it reached its peak in 2001. Th is signifies that the company has to a certain extent run out of ideas. It is therefore sending the wrong signal to its shareholders who may believe that the company’s growth prospects are good. The only technology company that showed signs of consistent growth over the period has been Microsoft. Linear seems to be totally focused on satisfying shareholders in terms of dividend payouts and maintaining a positive cash flow. There is no mention of any new projects or initiatives to grow the business. If Linear Technology wants to grow it could obtain a loan easily because the company does not currently have any debts. Furthermore, interest on corporate debt is tax exempt and the interest rate on AAA rated corporate debt has fallen every year since 1995. This may help to increase the value of the company and also increase the returns on shareholders funds. An advantage of using debt to fund growth is that interest paid on loans is allowable as a deduction for tax purposes while a dividend is not. Funding Requirements Linear technology desires to have sufficient cash flows so that the company can withstand any financial crisis. The company however, has the capacity to obtain debt. Linear technology manages it payroll expenses by issuing stock options to compensate employees. Therefore, when the company does well employees receive a higher profit share and so the company is able to maintain a positive cash flow as well as pay out dividends on a quarterly basis. Available Resources The company has a significant amount of cash available and this can be backed up with its capacity to borrow. Linear currently has over $1.5m in cash and short term investments. This may not however, be sufficient to finance a major project but would become useful in the company’s bid to obtain a loan as it would provide a cushion in the event that the company is not able to pay interest expenses out of regular earnings. Costs and Benefits of Retaining Excess Funds Retaining excess funds can result in agency costs. Managers may be tempted to pay themselves excessively. It is more likely that they may not exercise care in the use of such funds since the pressures that normally arise from having limited funds do not exist. This lead to a waste of funds that could have been used to pay dividends. The benefits of retaining

The Challenges and Benefits of a Multicultural Curriculum Essay

The Challenges and Benefits of a Multicultural Curriculum - Essay Example Multicultural education as an international educational reform movement has attracted researchers, experts from different fields, and policy-makers. Immigration and the experiences of migrants are common across many first world nations, such as the United States, and the more affluent European Nations (Ramsey, Williams & Vold., 2003, p. 5). Research has shown that a more proactive stance in addressing the issues have significantly increased the performance level and achievement ratings of the migrant students in schools. Despite the challenges that are encountered in embracing the multicultural approach, the benefits are remarkable and exemplary which will be discussed in the succeeding sections of the paper. In discussing multicultural education, three terms are often used and easily confused: race, ethnicity and culture. The race is referred to the â€Å"biological and genetic traits that distinguish one among populations that have originated from different regions†. Histori cally, races have been classified according to three major groups --- Caucasoid, Negro and Mongloid. Although there has been no scientific basis, racial categories are continuously defined by social, economic and political forces. In turn, the races influence the social status and life prospects of families and individuals. Ethnicity, on the other hand, refers to â€Å"primarily sociological or anthropological characteristics such as customs, religious practices, and language usage of a group of people with a shared ancestry or origin†.

Competition and markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Competition and markets - Essay Example Factors determining the elasticity of demand are market demand elasticity, the number of businesses in the market in addition, the firm’s interaction in the market. In monopolistic situation, the demand curve is always downward sloping and the industry demand curve is the firm’s demand curve. The marginal revenue of a monopolistic firm is always below its price and the marginal revenue usually changes with the changes in output but not equal to price. The marginal revenue decreases with increase in output since the monopolist can only sell more units by reducing prices. Average Revenue curve is the demand curve and the average revenue is similar to price, however, Marginal revenue must always be less than the Average Revenue even as output increases with fall in prices (Mankiw 2011). Firms in competitive markets sell absolutely similar or homogenous products and are referred to as price takers. Perfectly competitive market comprises of many suppliers who cannot single h andedly influence either the market price and the total market output hence each supplier can only control a small part of the total market demand. The suppliers output is greatly controlled by the market forces and the price in which the suppliers must sell their products is at prevailing equilibrium price such that any increase in prices may invite another supplier who may be willing and able to supply at the equilibrium price. The inability of producing more goods than the market demand and the incapability of raising prices results into a horizontal or perfectly elastic demand curve. As much as a supplier may be able to reduce product’s prices, it may result into a loss hence the need to embark on the market price (Mankiw 2011). 2. There are various characteristics associated with the perfectly competitive markets such as the large number of firms in the market, assumption of non-existence of externalities, minimal government regulation, homogeneity in the units of input, production of homogenous goods, non-existence of barriers to entry, and the availability of perfect knowledge. In perfect competition, different firms produce goods that are perfect substitute and whose prices cannot be easily changed by a single firm. Automobile may be produced under the market conditions similar to perfectly competitive market because of the fact that motor vehicles manufactured have very close substitutes. In addition, there is no barrier to entry and the suppliers cannot increase the vehicle prices abnormally. In case an automobile company reduces prices of its products, they may run at a loss. Moreover, the automobile firms can only manage and control a few customers in the larger market making it hard for them to determine the quantity of the automobiles to be manufactured and their prices (Mankiw 2011). Beer production also fits perfect competition conditions since beer product produced by one firm may as well be produced by another firm with may be very sli ght content changes. The fact that beer is manufactured by using almost similar product makes it challenging to differentiate the beer products. Furthermore, as a characteristic of perfect competition, there are many beer consumers as well as numerous beer manufactures. The beer consumers are always very loyal but highly sensitive to price changes thus any slight change in price upwards, may hinder the consumers from using one particular product. In

Social Policy On Homelessness Housing First

Social Policy On Homelessness Housing First Introduction The purpose of this paper is to discuss the social policy on homelessness Housing First. In this paper I will include the history of this policy, how it was created, when and the basic elements of this social policy. To every issue there are opposing views and I will present those views along with the policy. No social policy is perfect and along with the strengths I will also expose weaknesses, the points will be explained throughout this paper. First I will discuss what homelessness is and then what are the factors that lead a family, child, vet or anyone for that matter into the category of homelessness. Homelessness What does being homeless mean? It means not having shelter, a place to sleep, eat and be protected against natures elements. This issue is a concern to social service providers, government officials and policy professionals. Homelessness has been a major social issue In America but it is during financial crisis that this problem raises. The word itself Homelessness has a bad connotation, when the word homeless is uttered the immediate thought is that of a substance abuser, vagrant or a person with a mental illness. Although these are contributing factors they are not the sole reasons why a person ends up homeless. There are also other contributing factors such as poverty, unemployment, social exclusion (such as sexual orientation), natural disasters, foreclosures, war or disability. Now in 2012 and as of recent years we have seen the U.S economy decline economically a result from the housing bubble burst, bank crisis and wars. These events have skyrocketed chronic homelessness, it is of no surprise that the precursors to the U.S recession are a major contributor (Szep, 2008). Beyond Shelter In order to understand the social policy called Housing First we must first discuss the history behind it. Housing First was introduced by a nonprofit organization called Beyond Shelter, this organization is based in Los Angeles. The non-profit organization Beyond Shelter was founded in 1988 in Los Angeles to fight poverty and homelessness within families with children (retrieved from http://www.beyondshelter.org/aaa_about_us/aaa_about_us.shtml). This organization introduced a model system called Housing First aka rapid rehousing. In 1996 the United Nations selected this model as 25 U.S best practices. Housing First Housing First is a public policy it is an alternative to a system of emergency shelter/transitional housing progressions(http://www.beyondshelter.org/aaa about us/aaa about us.shtml).It focuses homeless families to be able to move back into permanent housing. This is done first acquiring housing as soon as possible then providing counseling. It also focuses on intervention providing social services after the housing has been acquired rather than providing temporary shelter or transitional housing first (http://www.beyondshelter.org/aaa about us/aaa about us.shtml). In contrast to other programs where the issues that lead the person to homelessness are addressed first before helping the person acquire housing hence the name given to this public policy Housing First. For example many social or public policies function first by getting the homeless person from the street to public shelter, from public shelter to transitional housing program and from there to their own apartment. In the housing first or rapid housing the homeless person is first placed in an apartment or house then pin pointing the issues that lead to become homeless. The federal government uses this to guide federal policies in attacking the problem of homelessness by rent assistance, housing stabilization. In 2009 The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) provides homelessness prevention assistance to households that would otherwise become homeless, and provides rapid re-housing assistance to persons who are homeless as defined by section 103 of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11302).In 2008 Congress appropriated $25 million in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants for 2008 to demonstrate the effectiveness of rapid re-housing programs to reduce family homelessness( retrieved from http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/housing_first ). Strengths The strengths of this policy is that homeless people get a housing as soon as possible without conditions. Thereby, afterwards getting the necessary help to assist them in maintaining a permanent residence. The common practice of assistance to family homelessness is some kind of temporary housing. The problem is, when that runs out, people are still homeless. ; This approach is simply to get homeless people off the street and into a stable, more permanent environment (http://www.beyondshelter.org/aaa about us/aaa about us.shtml). The idea is that a person can do better once placed in a permanent housing. Then receiving the services they need to maintain that permanent housing. This policy also helps to foster self-reliance instead of dependence (http://www.beyondshelter.org/aaa about us/aaa about us.shtml).Also, Intervention services, housing options, and transitional support for the foster care system are strategies to end youth homelessness. Weaknesses The federal policy formed on the model of housing first is a good idea but economically how long can the federal government sustain this program. The burden falls on state and local funding to non-profit organizations to support these services. Now with the current state of economy can this realistically continue to financially support this policy? There is a need for all types of housing for all kinds of homeless people, families with children, elderly and individuals with disabilities or addiction. When you champion one methods then what about the other programs that have transitional housing or shelters you create a competition for funds. The roots of the problems must be attacked first not the other way around and opposite of the Housing Readiness philosophy, which believes that people need to address issues that may have led to their own homelessness before they enter permanent housing. If anything in social work it is known and practical t used different methodologies .Housing first seems to ride on the idea that it is better to do the opposite. I dont know about this because I think I would rather attack the problem that has caused homelessness for example if the reason for being homeless is finding a job to sustain oneself, finding services to a mental issues or substance abuse then that is more viable than getting a house first . How can one maintain the cost of paying even if it subsidized by the government without being able to keep a job because of substance abuse lack of employment or perhaps a mental disease. I understand that the model of Housing First also assist with these social services after they have a permanent home but again the root of the problem should be taken care of first. I believe that one must learn to become long term self-sufficient before being placed in the responsibility of permanent housing. Also what about immigrants? How would an immigrant homeless person be able to even participate in such a program? They would be inelig ible to participate in such program without being a citizen or permanent resident. According to Paul Boden executive director of Western Regional Advocacy Project, he quotes How can they cut Section 8 but believe in Housing First as a concept? Theyre cutting housing but doing Housing First. Its not just ironic; its hypocritical (Law, 2007, NHI). My Interview Now as far as the person I interviewed as part of my homeless policy project I would not see how this policy would apply to him. My interviewee would not be able to participate in this program for the simple fact that he is an illegal immigrant. If are undocumented, you are not be eligible for federal programs. Perhaps he would be in a separate category because of immigration status. I think in his case immigration policy would have to change in his case before the homeless policy does. Conclusion This policy is a very good policy in my eyes but there are shortfalls regardless of these shortfalls it does not fall short form being innovative. When attacking social problems there are variables and different perspectives. Scenarios are case by case and a one size shoe fits all is not realistic nor is it practical. What works for one population may not necessarily work for the other. Now our public, social and federal policy on homelessness is well intended it is not perfect. Affordable housing is a must and in order for that to occur our economy must be stabilized. It is like a domino affect the fall of one chip knocks the rest down and to get these chips back up it must be done one at a time. It is a long ardous time consuming process that must be done carefully and patiently. Every policy that we instill must be carefully reviewed evaluated and make sure that it applies to everyone and not just a certain population.

The Minister’s Black Veil Essays -- Minister?s Black Veil Essays Paper

The Minister’s Black Veil The story â€Å"The Minister’s Black Veil† is symbolic of the hidden sins that we hide and separate ourselves from the ones we love most. In wearing the veil Hooper presents the isolation that everybody experiences when they are chained down by their own sins. He has realized that everybody symbolically can be found in the shadow of their own veil. By Hooper wearing this shroud across his face is only showing the dark side of people and the truth of human existence and nature. Hooper left the dark shroud on because he has realized that secret sin is a veil that can never be lifted from anybody until the day of their death. In a quote from the story Mr. Hooper says, â€Å"There is an hour to come, when all of us shall cast aside our veils. Take it not amiss, beloved friend, if I wear this piece of crepe till then.† By saying this Mr. Hooper expresses the feeling that while human beings are alive on the earth a veil shows their face. Hooper promised himself and made a life task of playing a mirror to the people around him. The veil cannot be lifted until the freedom of truth can be observed. The minister’s friends and neighbors are so upset by the veil because the veil becomes a wall between himself and his congregation. The first response is one of curiosity which then turns in suspicion. They cannot understand the meaning for the wearing of the black veil and in turn the people become very uncomfortable around him. The veil and it color ...