Blog #1- Power and Citizenship in American Politics

In “Inverted Totalitarianism”, Sheldon Wolin discusses the topic of power and the differences therein. He shares with his readers the meaning of Inverted Totalitarianism—which means to “aspire toward unlimited power, but the methods and actions are inverse.” Wolin believes that The United States is increasingly becoming a controlled democracy and also explains how the government is becoming closer to their goal of “total power”.

“United States, however, it is the streets where democracy is most alive— while the real danger lies with an increasingly unbridled government.”

Wolin used this sentence as an example to explain the coined term “Inverted Totalitarianism”. The reason I chose this quote was because it is not only the truth but a reality.

In the United States, people are always advocating for change, whether it be from the gay community, the black lives matter movement, or any other social group. People gather around and come together to advocate for a change they deem is necessary for the greater good. Activities like riots, marches and public speaking has taken in place in various neighborhoods all for the purpose of receiving acknowledgement and hopefully a better lifestyle. As for the government, it is decisions and laws that are shared with the people but not how the decisions and/or law was made. For example, the controversial topic of abortion has once again regained popularity amongst many US citizens, in that those in government have decided to dictate a woman’s choice regarding her child’s life. The majority believes that abortion should be legalized regardless of how many weeks the woman is pregnant; however, the government overlooking these concerns still abide by their decision of soon illegalizing abortion in all states. This issue goes much deeper than the surface scratched, but it goes to show that democracy is always active within the people and tuned out by the government. The reason Wolin expresses the government  as “unbridled” or “uncontrolled” is because when a decision is made and agreed upon, there is no rebuttals; hence the term danger associated with it.