Microsoft And Government Essay

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The

economic system of the United States is modeled after the theory of capitalism.

"Capitalism supports free enterprise - private business operating without

government regulation (Janda 22)." The United States does regulate private

businesses. Sometimes special circumstances arise which threaten to weaken the

overall economic stability of the country. In order to sufficiently deal with

these situations, the United States government has passed many laws granting

certain groups the authority to bring attention to and to stop the threat. This

is extremely important in terms of its effects on individuals. It protects the

freedoms of individuals, maintains order and stability, and attempts to promote

equality. One example of the ability of the United States government to

interfere with the natural progression of the American capitalist society, is

the existence of antitrust laws. These laws regulate certain actions of

individuals, trusts, corps, and combinations of corps in an attempt to prevent

or forcibly end a monopoly (Gilbert 21). Since 1989, Microsoft has been

repeatedly accused of violating antitrust laws. Many times these accusations

have led to an antitrust case being filed against Microsoft. These antitrust

laws and law suits are extremely important. Despite the verdicts of the cases,

antitrust laws served their purpose - to maintain the balance of the concepts of

freedom, order, and equality. Freedom is one of the three main concepts that

government must pursue for its people. Freedom has two main contexts in which it

is used which are freedom of and freedom from. "Freedom of is the absence

of constraints on behavior; it means freedom to do something (Janda 10)."

These types of freedoms guarantee individuals certain liberties such as freedom

of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, and all other civil

liberties. These individual liberties are extremely important in a democracy.

"Freedom from . . . suggests immunity from fear and want." Freedom

from is also important in a democracy. It guarantees that certain things cannot

be done to anyone (Janda 10). This is important because it places limits on the

powers of the government. Another duty that government must pursue is

maintaining order. Order is "the rule of law to preserve life and protect

property. Maintaining order is the oldest purpose of government (Janda

A31)." There is also a third aspect associated with the idea of order. This

is a belief in maintaining traditional patterns of social relationships. Both

the preservation of life and the protection of property are pursued in similar

ways. The most common ways in which the government attempts to maintain order

are through government legislation, interpretation of the law, and enforcement

of the law. The final aspect of order is maintaining traditional patterns of

social behavior, also called social order. "Social order refers to

established patterns of authority in society and to traditional modes of

behavior (Janda 20)." Social order is, therefore, what society feels is

right. For this reason, social order is largely maintained by the society in

question along with the government. As the values, beliefs, ideas, etc of a

society gradually change over time, the social order will change as well. Even

though the social order is continuously changing, it is not upset. The norms of

the society change, butthe change is gradual. The social order is upset when

there is a sudden change in some value, belief, idea, etc of a large number of

the people within a society that is in contrast with the norm of the society and

causes the whole society to forget the original social order in order to argue

and put an end to the new "untraditional" values, beliefs, ideas, etc

that oppose the old societal norm. Order is a concept that applies to all

systems. Most of these systems use a completely unique way of maintaining order.

Similarly, different areas that humans try to maintain order within may have

other natural ways to better maintain its order. This is why the government must

work very hard in order to maintain order; it must decide whether government

intervention is needed or whether allowing the natural course of events is

appropriate to maintain order in the most proficient way. The last concept that

is essential for government to pursue is equality. The concept of equality has

many different senses in which it can be used. In terms of what government

should pursue, there are two main types of equality, political equality and

social equality. Political equality is defined as "each citizen has one and

only one vote (Janda 14)." The fact that all citizens have one and only one

vote is crucial in order for the American system of democratic government to

survive. From these two facts, equal votes for every citizen and a democratic

form of government, one might falsely assume that political equality in the

United States is in a perfect, ideological form where there is 100% political

equality. However, this is not the case. Individuals and groups of individuals

who control a large amount of some commodity such as wealth, power, or even a

respected family name are able to use their commodity to influence the political

agenda and the outcomes of legislation. The average American can simply vote on

election days and has no more say-so into government affairs except for possibly

writing a letter to or placing a call to a Representative, both with only a

minimal chance of having much of an impact. In the meantime, the wealthy are

also writing letters and making phone calls, but these letters and phone calls

are different. The letters are accompanied by large amounts of money, and the

phone calls are connected directly to a Representative. In this way, the wealthy

are able to influence a large amount of political decisions despite their small

percentage of the population. Because of these individuals and groups who use

their wealth or power to unfairly influence politics, many people argue that

equality in wealth, education, and status need to be guaranteed in order for

true political equality to occur. This concept in which everyone is completely

equal is the principle behind the second type of equality that government must

pursue, social equality. The success of social equality relies on two main

concepts. The first of these concepts is equality of opportunity. This

guarantees that everyone will have an equal chance of succeeding in life (Janda

14). In early America this ideal was believed by almost everyone. The idea of

laissez faire economics gave hope to everyone. It was said that everyone in

early America was "born bourgeois". From this middle class starting

point it was believed that everyone controlled their own future. Even today,

there is a sense of optimism in America. Equality of opportunity is not as much

a part of modern beliefs as in early America, but the belief that with hard work

anyone can succeed is still a firm belief held by most Americans. For true

social equality to exist, equality of opportunity had to be complemented by the

concept of equality of outcome, the concept needed for social equality. This

concept calls for the redistribution of wealth and status and for the government

to guarantee benefits such as housing, employment, medical care, and income

equally to all citizens (Janda 14). Some argue that, if implemented, these two

concepts would guarantee social equality and would, therefore, allow the ideal

of political equality to be reached. Whether or not these concepts would work is

under debate, but in terms of a system that has already been implemented and has

proven itself to work, the American system of government has made huge steps in

assuring equality to all of its...

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