Plato the Allegory of the Cave Term Paper

Allegory of the Cave, the evaluation by Plato and Socrates of politics and ethics are very relevant to the policies of the Bush Administration. An immoral war, tax breaks for the wealthy and a hard stance on the punishment of criminals rather than the prevention of crime are all examples of Bush's policies that make Plato and Socrates seem as though they are analyzing actual current events.

The Bush-supported war is morally wrong. His reasoning for entering the war was based on ignorance, which supports Plato's theory that anyone who behaves immorally does it because they are ignorant. Weapons of mass destruction, the original justification for invading Iraq, were never found. Economically, the war has driven up debt, signaling a need for higher interest rates and a cut in social programs to help the poor. Surely, a more scholarly approach to Iraq would have meant a different course of action with a better outcome.

Just as Socrates said, tension between the haves and the have nots is on the rise. Today, the income gap has steadily increased between the richest Americans, who own homes and stocks and got big tax breaks, and the middle class and the poor. Census Bureau data shows that the wealthiest twenty percent of households in 1973 accounted for forty-four percent of total U.S.income. Their share jumped to fifty percent in 2002, while everyone else's fell.

Prices for health care, housing, tuition, gas and food have increased dramatically, placing a tremendous burden on the poor and the working class. However, the rich, thanks to Bush's tax cuts favoring the wealthy appear to fit the characterization of Socrates as basing their lives on consumption of goods as others struggle to make ends meet. The sales of luxury items are booming. Porsche Cars North America Inc. had sales that were up seventeen percent for the year. And, strong sales at Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue overshadowed lackluster sales at stores such as Wal-Mart, Sears and Payless Shoes.

Further, as Socrates predicts, the poor are becoming beggars or criminals and their right to vote has been taken away. The number of Americans….....