Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Democracy II

Democracy is supposed to reflect the views of the people. It is supposed to give the people what it wants. In the U.S. it doesn’t always do this. We have a representative democracy. We take part in elections to vote for leaders who express the same views as we do and the few who are elected speak for the many that elected them. This doesn’t help the people who voted against them at all. Those people are not represented in our government. Also it is not uncommon for people not to vote. It is also very common for a politician to promise one thing to get themselves elected, but then once they have the power to do what they promised they don’t do it. That is why democracy is good however, we may have to put up with these elected “liars” but when it’s time for the next election we don’t have to vote for them again. Also if it is really bad we can work for a recall.

Democracy

Democracies were invented by people who were looking for someone to rule them. Over the years these democracies have changed a lot. There are many types of democracies. Some are a good fit in certain situations, but others would not fit those situations whatsoever. For example the United States could not have a direct democracy because there are entirely too many people to have them involved in every aspect of our government. It would be way too expensive to poll everyone on everything at question. That is why we have a representative democracy. Even our representative democracy doesn’t work perfectly. In North Dakota we get to choose a senator, but even if his vote in senate reflects what the people of North Dakota want the most we may not get it if he is outvoted by senators from other states.

12 O'clock high

In some ways 12 O’clock high related to Machaveli’s “The Prince.” There were 2 different commanders in the movie that took control of the bomb squad. The second leader demanded respect and the men somewhat feared him. They began to do better in their missions under the second commander even though he didn’t love them at the time. Eventually he began to love his group just as the first commander did. This, in a way, showed how love was more powerful than fear. The first commander never tried to instill fear in his men. He was a better commander in my eyes, because even though his men may not have done as well under him they were willing to do anything for him and stood by him until the very end.

Anarchism

I do not feel that anarchism could ever work on a large scale. I don’t feel that people are very good in nature. They are very greedy. The rich always are trying to get richer, the poor always are trying to get richer as well! Even in a country like the United States where there are rules and enforcers (Law enforcement) there is still a very large amount of crime going on. We need guidelines provided by government to live. We also need enforcers for the rules that we do have.

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

I attended the Hugo Wolf Quartet last night and thought i would write about what i observed.
The concert environment was what I figured it was going to be. Mostly everyone dressed nicely and acted on their best behavior. People of the audience acted very professional and used proper etiquette. The performers were also dressed nicely and they acted very professional yet they were not stuck up. They seemed very nice and they also looked like they were happy playing for everyone.
The music I liked best was the music by Joseph Haydn. My favorite movement was the Presto scherzando because the performers really got into it and looked like they were having a lot of fun with it. The quickness of it really got my foot tapping, it was very exciting. It kind of reminded me of old fashion hoe down, even though it didn’t really sound like it. The tempo of the movement was mostly fast. I also really enjoyed the Italian Serenade for Quartet in G major. The thing I liked about it was that it built up and got really exciting. I also really liked the cello solo, very cool. Another part that I really enjoyed was the plucking of their instruments. And this piece reminded me of the movie “nightmare before Christmas.”
The performance was amazing; the sound of it all was tremendous. The performers sounded like they were in very good tune. Although I don’t know much about this, I thought they sounded great and never missed a note. They seemed very comfortable with the music. Excluding the Grosse Fugue op. 133; they didn’t really seem all that relaxed with that piece. They looked very tense, probably because it is such a hard piece.
I really enjoyed the entire performance, but if I had to pick my least favorite it would have to be the Grosse Fugue op. 133 by Ludwig van Beethoven. I didn’t really like this one because it was difficult to understand. The mood of it changed a lot and the performers didn’t seem very excited to play it. Nothing in this piece really stood out and grabbed my attention. I just wasn’t a fan of Beethoven’s composition.
The experience of this was very new to me. When I go to a concert I am usually in a standing room with a bunch of screaming fans singing along with the songs. What I expected wasn’t any different than how it turned out. I really enjoyed this experience and would recommend for all of my friends to attend one of these. I would definitely go to another performance like this again.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

my ideology

When it comes to politics i find myself somewhere in the middle. I tend to lean more towards the democratic side. but yet i do not now all that much about the government and the politics, that is why i am talking this class so i can hopefully learn more about it.