Down is Up and Up is false? All in the world of Muckraking.

I believe that not only has the world gone topsy-turvy, but that it has been picked up and thrown at a wall. People, during these times, are confused and mislead beyond belief. The muckrakers of the Gilded Age believed the same and wanted to change it. They were strong believers in the notion that power resides and will always be in the individual people. This means that the world's distribution of power is equal and is truly a socialist world, therefore the argument of who holds power and superiority are rendered completely moot. I don't believe that anyone else is committed to understanding theory enough to say that, but it brings up a touchy matter. Most journalists believe that power exists in a material form, but are unsure of wether or not the individual has the same magnitude of strength.

However, there are few modern muckrakers who are brave enough to support this radical assumption, and favor a more common view that power comes from the people and filters down into the government. Eric Schlosser, the author of the book Fast Food Nation, which probed the issue of the Kwik n' EZ food market, is an example of a well-known contemporary muckraker. Even the literary critics praised him for his views about the power of the people, comparing his works to that of Upton Sinclair, author of The Jungle.

Not only do the modern muckrakers show their support and belief in the theory of "power comes from the bottom up", but there are much of the American people now believe this. The American people want to take hold of their lives and their government. As we can could see in the presedential campaign in 2008, the political parties recognize that the people want to have "my government", not a "government". Of course, you remember the catchphrase that lead Obama to victory, "Yes We Can." It is an obvious example of attracting the people through empowering them to feel that they can make a difference in their government. Obama ran his campaign through mostly Progressivist ideas, but when he came into office we realized that he was just another Democrat.

Because of this time of economic fatigue, it is evident that we have many more politicians and journalists talking to the people about the idea of being able to change their own government, and people wanting to make a difference in their society for their own good.