The article I found on tyranny doesn’t straight out define what tyranny is. They use examples from the current government which allows you to use context clues so you can come up with your own definition of tyranny. The one example they used was President Trump’s abuse of power in efforts to accomplish a one hundred seventy-five mile long wall on the border of Mexico. The article clearly shows how he used tyranny by blocking Congress’s power to check the president, often referred to as checks and balances. After Congress declined to give money to President Trump signed into law, the legislation that denied him the funds he sought and then spent the money regardless of their appeal[1]. The example on President Trump allowed me to create a definition of tyranny; a form of government in which the leader uses excessive power to gain control of all of the state’s resources. Once I read through the article I looked up the definition of tyranny to see how correctly the term was used in the article. According constitution.org, the definition of tyranny is the lack of legitimacy, in which power becomes increasingly oppressive[2] . The article did a fair job explaining what tyranny was by providing examples from not only current day but events that occurred in the U.S. decades ago. I do not believe that President Trump is a one hundred percent tyrant but according to the article there are some acts that show oppressive power being used. The reason why the article is not one hundred percent correct is because tyranny is a very extreme behavior that usually represents the worst kids of acts by leaders, prime ministers or presidents. Of course, president’s act of dismissing Congresses power to build a wall isn’t the most extreme kind of tyranny the world will see. When I see the word tyrant I think of people like Hitler, Joseph Stalin or Kim Jong II. I believe media plays a large role in how most people image the definition of tyranny. Often times the news will minimize the acts of our presidents, just so we carry a good reputation to the world. News stations may exaggerate situations of other states involving there leaders. I don’t think this articles definition of tyranny would equal the one of ancient times. I believe this primarily because back in ancient times the definition of tyranny would be a lot more extreme, similar to the cases of Hitler or Stalin. Back in ancient time’s tyranny was seen more as a response to deficiencies in battles or corruption throughout the states government.
Dakare Coston
Word Count: 469
[1] Napolitano, Andrew P. “The Temptation of Tyranny.” The Washington Times, The Washington Times, 4 Sept. 2019, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/sep/4/temptation-tyranny/.
[2] “Principles of Tyranny.” Constitution Society: Everything Needed to Decide Constitutional Issues, http://www.constitution.org/tyr/prin_tyr.htm.
1001 HH215 The West in the Pre-Modern World 