Follow the Money Trail* March 6, 2002
People lie, steal, cheat, and murder. Not all people choose to do so, but they all have the ability to. This choice is a case of morals and ethics, deciding what is right or wrong. Democracy puts the power in the hands of the people, but there is no assurance that the decisions made are moral. A democratic government can be nurtured or corrupted by Political Action Committees and corporations, especially in the form of campaign contributions.
Democracy, being the opposite of communism, is power to the people. A democratic country is run and represented by its people. These ordinary people are "considered as the primary source of political power" (Democracy). This is a big contrast to communism, where the party in power controls the people. In October, 1962, these two types of government collided, spawning the Cuban Missile Crisis. The Russians spent an undisclosed amount of money on offensive and defensive military equipment that was shipped to Cuba (Almasi).
U.S. reconnaissance photograph of soviet missile s...
Enron Duck
Cuban missile crisis alternate historyThis must have been an exorbitant amount of money, as "ammunition, light aircraft, military vehicles, and equipment for military factories", along with SS-4 ballistic missiles, are not cheap (Almasi). The American government has a $4.5 billion budget for missile defense alone (Kadish). The Russian Missile Defense division must have at least, if not more than this amount. If the conflict had not been addressed so late, such huge amounts of money would not have been squandered on this event (Almasi). During the 13 days, the Russians and Americans were suspicious of each other's anticipated ulterior motives - The Americans thought the communists were trying to take over and the Russians thought the democrats were trying to take over (Kadish). The wasting of valuable resources on the Cuban Missile Crisis emphasizes the flaws of...
Review
The essay as a whole is very informative but there is something wrong with the definition of communism in the beginning. The author states that the power in a communist society is supposed to be in the power of the party in control. While it works out this way in real life, Karl Marx's communist theory was to do away with our form of government altogether. In theory his view called for the elimination of social classes and distinctions but in reality it did nothing but give power to a privileged few. The author was basically right but still there was a slight misunderstanding. The works cited was very good.
4 out of 4 people found this comment useful.