Essay On Tyranny

Intro: Tyranny is something all people want to avoid. Even thinking a country is falling into a tyrant’s hands unsettles the people. Paul Houston is one of those people, as he writes about his country falling into chaos he states, “I think there is a rising tyranny in the now that worries me,” (Houston). What Houston didn’t realize is that there is a step further than tyranny. Totalitarianism can be confused as a tyrant, however, it is quite different as a tyranny is chaos totalitarianism is more of a forced unification. In Arendt’s “Ideology and Terror: A Novel Form of Government,” she explains that the government or ruler is trying to transform their subjects into their full human potential. Sounds good and dandy until totalitarians start

enforcing their views. They prefer to use fear in their enforcing their rules, and use the law of nature and history. They take what is from past and bring it to the future, except they refuse to translate what is good and bad. That type of government also has ideology in it’s works, using all the ideas of science and ideas to explain and back up reasoning. Many governments around the world have taken up different views, on in particular has adopted the totalitarian views quite subtly; the American government. In Arendt’s text on totalitarianism, it gives support to the belief that American Government is totalitarian: the use of fear, ideology, and not being afraid to sacrifice one person for the greater good.
POV1: The United States Government is totalitarian because, as Arendt points out, they use fear to control the people. In the country of the United States of America there is only one was for news to travel far a wide, as fast as possible. Media; social media, television, magazines, and text messages are always going around. One way the government puts fear into the people is through media. They let the news of disasters spread, or of other news that will raise fear. For example, in Carolyn Lawes article found in Journal of American Culture, she writes about death of people who were buried alive, she states, “The stories of premature burial, so often associated in time and place with the arrival of cholera, thus articulated the very human fear of dying before one's time,” (Lawes). (Could totally use Machiavelli). This fear drives subjects to believe in something, and the government wants it to be them. Also, the government makes all punishments for crime. The people do what it asked of them because they are too afraid of being caught. There are the minor crimes like speeding and J-walking, then there are the bigger and more serious crimes like murder and rape. Even though the smaller crimes, or sins, are considered trifling, there is still a heavy fine to pay. A ticket for speeding can be up into the thousands of dollars range. It’s not very trivial to the people issuing the tickets. With the weight of punishments over their heads, the people of the US do not want to break the law, and will try to get out of the punishments. These immense punishments keep the people in line and leave no room to get out. Arendt says that that is the goal of totally terror, “It destroys the one essential prerequisite of all freedom which is simply the capacity of motion which cannot exist without space,” (pg 92, ¶18). The terror that is brought across by the American government also has a lot to do with the way they say things, and the ideas they use.
POV2: Totalitarian views is found in the Government of the US when they use ideology in their rulings.

Ideology is a mixture of science and nature, and Arendt puts it, “Combine the scientific approach with results of philosophy relevance and pretend to be scientific philosophy,” (p 95 ¶ 26). They also take what is used from history to try to justify their cause as well. The American government does this as well. In 1787 the constitution was ratified, it is still being used the today. Which isn’t a bad thing, however, the majority of the population does not understand how people spoke back then. There are many different ways one line could be take. This is exactly the desire of ideologists, in Mark Lilla’s article “Our Illegible Age” which talks about exactly that point. He states that the people of now don’t know half the vocabulary people of the past knew, he then proceeds to explain that ideologists use this to benefit them by saying, “Ideology tries to master the historical forces shaping society by first understanding them,” (Lilla). The government makes the words of the Constitution fit their needs by whatever needs necessary. Since it comes from a historical document, the American people believe their point is sound and agree with them fully. Even when it comes to something

tragic.
POV3: Arendt also states that the totalitarian group isn’t afraid of sacrifice for the greater good, the government of the United States also supports this statement. (Taxation). Usually when the thought of sacrifice is brought up, the following thought is armed forces. Which is not a bad thought, it is true that the government allows men to die in the service of their country, by volunteer. The American people feel much sympathy to this, articles like the one in The Washington Post that is released to make people feel that sadness, in one of those particular articles it says, “Sometimes the sacrifice made in the line of duty and civilian service is the loss of lives,” (Wahsington). However, there is another way the American make sacrifices. For example, taxation. The government raises taxes to pay for military support. It is for a good cause, but it does not make the populations happy. Though the government isn’t looking for happiness necessarily, just a better whole. Arendt explains this act as well, “ultimate goal is not the welfare of men, or the interest of one man, but the fabrication of mankind, eliminates individuals for the sake of the species,” (p 91 ¶15). Again, the government is trying to bring the human race, or in this case, the American people, to their fullest potential. By this they choose to not focus on individual, but a group.
Conclusion: American Government is totalitarian, according to Arendt’s statues of the use of fear, ideology, and not being afraid to sacrifice one person for the greater good. The US Government uses fear to keep people in line and keep them from breaking the law. They use ideology to confuse and stretch the truth and law to make it work in different situations. They sacrifice the happiness of one man so the rest can prosper and be protected. Totalitarianism isn’t about having glory to the ruler like tyranny. Charles Krauthammer explains what totalitarianism is in simple words. From his article on where totalitarianism went he says, “Totalitarianism is about the perfection of power, the centralization of control,” (Krauthammer). The US uses totalitarian views, but they don’t let it show too dramatically. It’s a subtle way of doing it, and it works.