Meghan Stavig Term Paper Should Software Be Free? Part 1. The notion that software should be free is one that is highly critiqued within the technology industry. Free, as in the idea that users can obtain the source code for any given program, and modify and redistribute it as they like. Currently most all software produced is proprietary in nature. Corporations pay developers to create proprietary software that they then obstruct (so that no modifications can be made), and sell (to turn a profit). Richard Stallman has been fighting the idea of proprietary software, and specifically software ownership, for decades. Stallman holds the stance that software ownership is a detriment to society, and stifles innovation, education, and social cohesion. Stallman presents an argument for free software that is supported with an abstracted view of the harm the …show more content…
However, one argument that I can dispute is his first level of material harm, on software ownership damaging social cohesion. Stallman remarks on sharing software, otherwise you are betraying your community and being a bad neighbor, thus, damaging social cohesion. If this principle were true, it wouldn’t be limited to intellectual property, but would encompass material property as well. Of course, Stallman wraps it up to limit the problem to IP. This creates a sort of “Software Socialism” mentality. There are several reasons why the US is not a socialist government, one of the glaring criticisms is that it stifles economic growth. By taking from the successful and rewarding the less-successful, you are naturally going to have less successful people. Is this what Stallman imagined social cohesion to be like? The current state of the US economy, the free enterprise, (or more specifically, private enterprise) encourages creative competition by rewarding those who make (or own) the best
However, they also had a much wider reaching idea of democratic control over the economy . This is where I tend to disagree with Sinclair and socialism. He mentions corruption in the system at the time and implies that socialism may be a system without corruption. I don’t feel that a political and economic system ran by the people is any less susceptible to corruption than capitalism is. After all, it is still just people and people will do dishonest things for power. America was built on capitalism and it definitely has its flaws, but I feel that it promotes prosperity best when paired with democracy. The socialist movement played a great role in reshaping the US capitalist system. It definitely needed tweaking in the early 20th century, and still does, but the socialist ideas help push us in the right
Gates believes in earning what you work for, and that's usually what you get with a free enterprise system. He also believes that if you are intelligent and know how to use your intelligence, you can reach your goals and targets. People that are against the free enterprise system argue that it can be unfair, but if you have the initiative to do better than your competitors, you will do just fine. Although this type of economy relies mostly on its citizens to run, the government has enforced regulations and laws on businesses and entrepreneurs to ensure all consumers safety and best
At this time, Vanderbilt had emerged as a top leader in the railroad industry during the 19th century and eventually became the richest man in America. Vanderbilt is making it abundantly clear to Americans that his only objective is to acquire as much wealth as possible even if it is at the expense of every day citizens. Another man who echoed such sentiments is Andrew Carnegie. In an excerpt from the North American Review, Carnegie takes Vanderbilt’s ideas even further and advocates for the concentration of business and wealth into the hands of a few (Document 3). Carnegie suggests that such a separation between the rich and the poor “insures survival of the fittest in every department” and encourages competition, thus, benefiting society as a whole. Carnegie, a steel tycoon and one of the wealthiest businessmen to date, continuously voiced his approval of an ideology known as Social Darwinism which essentially models the “survival of the fittest” sentiment expressed by Carnegie and others. In essence, he believed in widening inequalities in society for the sole purpose of placing power in the hands of only the most wealthy and most
In Socialism Coincides with American Values, Jedediah Purdy produces an interesting insight and argument about the theory of socialism. He believes that socialism can be incredibly beneficial to the United States political and economic systems but are swept aside due to harsh misconceptions of the idealism. He states, “There are essential insights that we lose track of when we let ‘socialism’ be turned into a slur.” Purdy then argues socialism is more American than most Americans want to believe.
Another element of socialism in American society is the minimum wage law, as well as overtime laws. Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and Welfare are all socialist ideals that have infiltrated our capitalist society. Our uneven tax scale and universal healthcare for children are other examples. With this blend of capitalism with socialist ideals, the working class can be taken care of, but not at the expense of losing America's capitalist identity.
The minority of the economy during the early 1900’s was the wealthy Capitalist class while the majority of America’s population was the poor working class (Bakthawar 2). Socialism is a political movement with the goal of changing the Capitalist economy, so that it no longer exists. Socialists want a society where industries are regulated by the government (Merriam-Webster). Socialism works towards ending the misery of those in poverty by increasing wages, decreasing working hours, and improving working conditions. “[Jurgis] would no longer be the sport of circumstances, he would be a man, with a will and a purpose; he would have something to fight for, something to die for, if need be!
middle of paper ... ... ght watchman’ and social democrats think it should be used to counterbalance the inequalities in society, ‘third way’ socialists support a ‘competition state’, whose main goal should be to ensure national prosperity. It should improve the country’s infrastructure and concentrate on improving skills and knowledge - education rather than welfare should be the priority. In conclusion, I would agree that there has been a lot of disagreement within socialism, on whether it should be achieved through revolution or should gradually evolve through democracy, and also on how extreme or how moderate socialism should be.
Socialism is a word that has obtained a bad connotation in American society. Politicians are loath to lay claim to it, and often using it to lambast their political opponents with it. Yes in many ways America has seemed to embrace the economic benefits of Capitalism so whole heartedly, thoughts of a tangled bureaucratic mess of welfare and wealth distribution that is so contrary to the American idea of individualism are conjured up at the mere thought of Socialism. In fact many still equate Socialism with Communism and are given to thoughts of the Cold War, and the battle of ideologies that it entailed. Many Americans would perhaps be quite surprised to learn that Socialism had found a place in American society at one time, and that it held a considerable amount of influence over the direction the country would take.
That the president and his administration have taken away the car companies and the banks as well as other institutions and the healthcare system then that is socialism. Most of the opponents of the healthcare policy reforms that have happened in the recent years are basing their reasons on the myths that are being spread by the minority of the society members who can finance their health needs out of hands.
“When people in the United States are introduced to the concept of socialism - whether in the popular media or in a high school class - they are presented with a simple equation: socialism = a crippled economy that fails to meet people's basic needs + a totalitarian government” (Robertson). Robertson proves a good point in saying this, because generally children in the United States grow up either being taught that socialism is bad or evil, which is completely wrong, or they end up being taught nothing of socialism at all. It is until these children are exposed to a socialist government, through education or experience (which few usually have the privilege of doing) t...
G.A Cohen aims to provide a concise argument for the desirability and feasibility of socialism. To accomplish this task, Cohen first describes a situation in which applied socialistic principles appear to be universally preferred to capitalistic principles. He then builds off of this model in order to demonstrate the desirability of socialism. Cohen acknowledges that desirability alone is insufficient to pursue socialism, thus beginning his discussion on the feasibility of this ideology. His primary argument in favor of the feasibility of socialism is that, although past efforts to create societies based on socialist principles have failed, it has not yet been proven that these attempts will always fail.
Socialism is a social and economic system where the means of productions are shared indivisibly throughout the community or enterprise rather than in the names of a few individuals. Or more simply put Socialists believe that the Chief Executives of a corporation are not the ones who deserve the big pay check. They believe that the working men and women deserve more money because they are they ones out in the field doing the work. The main goal of socialism is to more evenly distribute the wealth. They care more about having more people living comfortably than just a few individuals getting wealthy. Socialist ideas in todays politics are what they believe will make it easier for Americans to live in America.
When considering the well being of all citizens, socialism is the best economic system. Command economies do not work, market economies only provide for the needs of a small elite group of people, and traditional economies are impossible in a world of this size. While there are certainly arguments against socialism, the arguments for it outweigh. Socialism is better because it allows for the government to provide for the basic needs of all citizens—this is impossible in a market economy, and outweighed by the negative aspects of a command economy. In time of great national economic and political turmoil, it is important that a consensus be made as to the best economic system for the U.S. and the rest of the world. In my opinion, this best system is socialism.
Tavani, H. T. (2007). Ethics and technology. Hoboken, NJ, USA: John Wiley & Sons Inc. (Ethical theories in the introduction)