The United States of America is one of the longest and leading democratic nations in the world. It thrives among many nations socio-economically. It boasts freedom of speech, religion, and property for the citizens, and enticing living conditions for immigrants wanting a better life. Separated from the Pacific Ocean is one of the few countries still practicing communism: The Republic of China. According to World Atlas, the Communist Party has been ruling the politics and economics of the country since 1949 when the group overthrew the Nationalist government. China has a growing economical influence around the world including in the United States. China and the United States are two examples of contrasting types of governments. The United States has long practiced representative democracy in which some people are elected by the citizens to govern the country in the interest of the people. China, with its long traditional Chinese culture, has evolved in adapting a few democratic systems to the government and has kept its communist governing. Communism is defined as a “political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control,”(Britannica). Communism, thus, opposes the means of political power of representatives. With opposing government styles, both somehow continue to prosper similarly. The type of governing style has split many people into supporting one or the other as they believe one is more effective and just than the other.
What makes a government good exactly? Oxford English Dictionary defines “good” as describing that the object described is up to satisfaction and worthy of approval. When describing governing as “good governing”, we are saying that the way of governing is satisfactory. But to whom should it be satisfactory? A country is ruled by the people. The government serves the people. Good governing means that the government is satisfying the citizens of the nation. Under the Declaration of Independence, it is stated that people are equal under the law. The excerpt, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
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The United States of America is one of the longest and leading democratic nations in the world. It thrives among many nations socio-economically. It boasts freedom of speech, religion, and property for the citizens, and enticing living conditions for immigrants wanting a better life. Separated from the Pacific Ocean is one of the few countries still practicing communism: The Republic of China. According to World Atlas, the Communist Party has been ruling the politics and economics of the country since 1949 when the group overthrew the Nationalist government. China has a growing economical influence around the world including in the United States. China and the United States are two examples of contrasting types of governments. The United States has long practiced representative democracy in which some people are elected by the citizens to govern the country in the interest of the people. China, with its long traditional Chinese culture, has evolved in adapting a few democratic systems to the government and has kept its communist governing. Communism is defined as a “political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control,”(Britannica). Communism, thus, opposes the means of political power of representatives. With opposing government styles, both somehow continue to prosper similarly. The type of governing style has split many people into supporting one or the other as they believe one is more effective and just than the other.
What makes a government good exactly? Oxford English Dictionary defines “good” as describing that the object described is up to satisfaction and worthy of approval. When describing governing as “good governing”, we are saying that the way of governing is satisfactory. But to whom should it be satisfactory? A country is ruled by the people. The government serves the people. Good governing means that the government is satisfying the citizens of the nation. Under the Declaration of Independence, it is stated that people are equal under the law. The excerpt, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,”(Declaration of Independence). All men are created equal. Freedom of speech, religion, property, and of the pursuit of happiness are some of the many rights inherent in the people born in the nation. When the citizens’ rights are honored and protected, the citizens are satisfied. Plato and Karl Marx are among the many authors that believe that the government should be created for the good of the people. Plato believed in the creation of a republic or representative democracy which is the type of government the United States has. In Plato’s “Republic”, he talks of the creation of a republic country to his student, Socrates. He talks of the inherent characteristics of men and the education they will gain to lead a country. From his work “Republic” is the quote “And in this way, the State and constitution of which we were speaking will soonest and most easily attain happiness, and the nation which has such a constitution will gain most,”(Republic 25). The quote concludes Plato’s idea of a prospering nation. He believes that when wise leaders govern a nation, the country will grow beautifully and that the people in it will be happy. On the other hand, Karl Marx believed in communism, in which the working class people collectively govern themselves. Marx protested that the bourgeois, or the “working class”, should have the right to lead the country as he believed that the working class people are the main contributor to a country’s survival and prosperity. His beliefs are written in his work “The Communist Manifesto” in which he argues that with the booming Industrialization, it is clearer that the bourgeoisie is the center of the growing economy. This is shown in the quote “We see, therefore, how the modern bourgeoisie is itself the product of a long course of development, of a series of revolutions in the modes of production and of exchange(Marx 15). Karl Marx believed that working citizens should have the right to property and lead the country, not a small group of representatives. He did not believe in a government ruling the people, he believed that the people rule themselves. Throughout history, we see that Plato’s republican system has made many countries, not just the United States, grow and continue to, over time. Therefore, I believe that having representatives to lead a country is a good principle. However, the political system of the United States, the country we live in, still has its flaw when it comes to the economic gap between the rich and the poor which is why I agree with the principle of Marx. Among the principles that these authors believe in, the three principles I agree to be essential to good governing are the principle of Plato that a good government should have a good leader, the principle of Marx that private property should be limited, and a mutual principle of these two authors that the people have the power over the government.
Good governing means that a country is governed by great leaders. In Plato’s work “Republic”, he talks about educating the minds of those who will lead the country. Throughout the reading, Plato explores the natural tendencies of human beings when it comes to decision-making. The excerpt opens up with the metaphor of a man born in a cave who sees sunlight after a long time. Plato reasons that a man has lived his life in the dark and finally sees the light, a man who becomes educated after being left in the dark, will see both sides of situations. He quotes “Anyone who has common sense will remember that the bewilderments of the eyes are of two kinds…will not be too ready to laugh,”(Republic 7). This means that a man who experienced the same as any other person, who sees what another sees, will not be quick to judge and hastily make decisions that will not only benefit him alone. Plato also brings in the idea that a man who is taught righteousness will not give in to personal desires. This is seen in the quote “There are also opposite maxims and habits of pleasure which flatter and attract the soul but do not influence those of us who have any sense of right, and they continue to obey and honor the maxims of their fathers,”(Republic 23). As young men are shaped to be the leaders with the knowledge and morals they will form, Plato believes that they will be wise and selfless to make laws that will not benefit them selfishly but the people. Furthermore, Plato says “And he will count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will pity the other,”(Republic 2). Plato’s argument here connects to how a man, or of many, will rule a government. He believes that with education and humility, these men will be brought up as unprejudiced and will make decisions that will benefit others and the majority. Additionally, Plato makes another point that women will also be treated equally under the law which is seen in the line “There you are right, he said, since we have made them to share in things like the men,”(Republic 24). Plato brings in equal rights between men and women in a country that will be governed by wise leaders. A great leader is wise, humble, selfless, and just. These are some characteristics Plato believes a great leader will gain as they are shaped to be. With great leaders leading the government, the people and the nation itself will be able to grow and be happy.
A country should have private properties limited. We have witnessed in history that the practice of pure communism has failed in countries like China and the Soviet Union. Even now, North Korea, one of the very few that still has a communist government, has not been able to grow its economy and its general way of living. While pure communism may not work, Karl Marx's idea of limited private properties will help the economic gap we are witnessing in the country. Since Industrialization started, the gap between the rich and the poor has increased over time and still has a long way to be minimized. Society in America has been divided into classes based on their economic abilities. While the middle class earns a fairly average income, the lower middle class struggles to finance their basic needs and the upper class continues to earn largely more than their living needs. According to Washington Post, the income of the richest 20 percent of families in America is ten times more than the average of the poorest fifth. Just like what Karl Marx strongly believes in, the middle class makes up the majority of the economy, and yet the middle class and the lower class are barely able to earn enough to sustain their basic human needs. Marx quotes “But modern bourgeois private property is the final and most complete expression of the system of producing and appropriating products, that is based on class antagonisms, on the exploitation of the many by the few,”(The Communist Manifesto 22). Marx argues that private ownership is a way of exploiting the majority for the few to gain from. In a capitalist country where there is very limited government intervention, the middle class makes up the majority of the workforce but struggles financially and the few who own the large corporations that make up the economy continue to earn more and more from the labor of the lower class. Certainly, the collective ownership of the businesses among the citizens will not work now, limiting private ownerships will help minimize the gap in which the working class people would have a fair chance of competing in a “winner takes all” world and lessen, even remove, the concern of meeting their family’s basic human needs.
Ultimately, while Plato and Marx clash on what kind of government they support and on what basis will they operate, the two still share the same sentiment that the people have power over the government. In the Declaration of Independence, it mentions that “It is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it and to institute new Government,(US 1776). People, if they feel that the government is violating their rights as citizens or if the laws are not protecting them, they have the right to change it. This is seen in the quote “For they are just men, and the commands which we impose upon them are just; there can be no doubt that every one of them will take office as a stern necessity,”(Republic 4). Plato emphasizes the importance of great leaders throughout his work “Republic”. Plato puts absolute faith that wise men will make decisions that will benefit the citizens equally. With this, as leaders make decisions for the good of the people, it is said that the people will have influence over the government’s actions. Moreover, Ralph Waldo Emerson, another author who advocates democracy, quotes in his work “Politics” that “In dealing with the State, we ought to remember that its institutions are not aboriginal, though they existed before we were born: that they are not superior to the citizen,”(Politics 1). Emerson explains that the institution or the government does not have authority over the citizens and cannot abuse their powers to exploit the people. In addition, Emerson remarks“that every one of them was once the act of a single man: every law and usage was a man’s expedient to meet a particular case: that they all are imitable, all alterable; we may make as good; we may make better,”(Politics 1). The representatives that will govern are chosen by the people, are still a part of the people, and the laws that they make are for the good of the people. The laws that they create, if it does not meet the people’s needs, can be changed by the people themselves. Another piece of evidence supporting this principle is a quote from Karl Marx. Though, the writer advocates for no government but the people governing themselves, he still believes that the people have the power. He mentions several times the power the bourgeoisie has, whether to overthrow a government or to build its own. This is shown in the quote “The bourgeoisie has through its exploitation of the world market given a cosmopolitan character to production and consumption in every country,”(Marx 16). Marx repeatedly emphasizes that the working class largely makes up the economy in his manifesto. He vehemently highlights that the working class, the people, have the power to govern themselves. Conclusively, it is important that a government, even with representatives elected to make the laws, will still be under the influence of the nation’s citizens. The representatives will lead and make certain that implemented rulings will be in the interest of the people.
With a representative democratic government, the United States has been a primary example of a successful nation in which citizens thrive socially and economically compared to any other nation. The way of living of the nation’s citizens has improved and continues to improve. The principles that they follow have resulted in satisfying the citizens. Though, the US government system still has its own flaw. With the growing economic inequality between the classes within the country is still an issue that needs to be solved. A good government will have wise and just leaders who will make, alter and enforce laws. These laws will not discriminate against people by their gender, color, age, religion, or beliefs. A good government will consider all citizens' satisfaction and not just the interest of the wealthy. It will do its best to give citizens a fair chance of competing in a capitalist economy. Limiting private properties is one way to do this. Finally, a good government means that the people will have control over it if it violates or does not honor their rights under the law. The people will have the power to change the laws or re-elect the representatives if they deem that their rights are violated. These three principles derived from Plato and Karl Marx’s works will overall make up a good government that satisfies all.
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