Oil Spill Interesting Facts

The Deepwater Horizon oil rig, worth over $560 million, sinks to 5,000 feet below the surface and a five mile oil slick emerges.

17 people wounded, 11 dead. This is the deadliest oil rig disaster since 1968.

Nearly 2.5 million gallons of oil have spilled into the ocean since the explosion on the oil rig.

After initial attempts to stop the oil leak failed, new attempts will include drilling to 18,000 feet below the surface of the ocean and injecting cement and various chemicals to stop the leak. The plan is to use over 100 tons of cement.

Every day, the threat to the coastline of places like Louisiana increases and for now, wildlife in the affected areas is in serious danger. The only hope is that the containment methods for the oil spill work out.

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill Citations

Oberman, Mira. "Ships rushed to Gulf islands as first oil arrives" Yahoo News. (5/4/10)

Oberman, Mira. "BP to use domes to capture giant US oil spill" Yahoo News. (5/4/10)

CNN Wire Staff. "As oil spill nears Gulf Coast, experts issue dire warnings" CNN U.S. (5/1/10)

Polson, Jim. "Rig Sinking Prompts Fears of Gulf Oil Spill, 11 Still Missing" SFGate. (4/26/10)

Seba, Erwin. "Factbox - Chronology of Gulf of Mexico oil spill" Reuters. (5/2/10)

'I can't afford surgery in the U.S.,' says bargain shopper

An Indiana man needed surgery on his nose, but could not find a hospital that would do it for less than $33,000. So, he looked for surgeons in other places and found that he could save about $30,000 by traveling to the UK. The number of people traveling outside the US to get medical assistance is greatly climbing as prices for medical aid continue to rise in the US. This trend can relate to many times in the past where trade with other nations became necessary during times of hyperinflation or general economic struggle. This also benefits less wealthy countries by giving them more business and allowing them to have a chance to bounce back from their financial deficit.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/04/26/cheaper.surgery/index.html?hpt=C1

WWI Battles and Burials

This picture shows the aftermath of just one small battle during WWI. These are a few out of the millions of soldiers that were killed and had to be buried.

New Diary Entry - Nearly Buried Alive on the Battlefied

"One section was busy with digging a common grave for the dead. We took away the papers and valuables of the dead, took possession of the eatable and drinkable stores to be found in the saddle bags attached to the horses and, when the grave was ready, we began to place the dead bodies in it. They were laid close together in order to utilize fully the available space. I, too, had been ordered to "bring in" the dead. The bottom of the grave was large enough for twenty-three bodies if the space was well utilized. When two layers of twenty-three had already been buried a sergeant of the artillery, who was standing near, observed that one of the "dead" was still alive. He had seen the "corpse" move the fingers of his right hand. On closer examination it turned out that we came near burying a living man, for after an attempt lasting two hours we succeeded in restoring him to consciousness. The officer of the infantry who supervised the work now turned to the two soldiers charged with getting the corpses ready and asked them whether they were sure that all the men buried were really dead. "Yes," the two replied, "we suppose they are all dead." That seemed to be quite sufficient for that humane officer, for he ordered the interments to proceed. Nobody doubted that there were several more among the 138 men whom we alone buried in one grave (two other, still bigger, graves had been dug by different burial parties) from whose bodies life had not entirely flown. To be buried alive is just one of those horrors of the battlefield which your bar-room patriot at home (or in America) does not even dream of in his philosophy."

This diary describes the wartime experiences of a German soldier during WWI. He describes the scene of a mass burial of soliders that were buried in rows of 23 and stacked 2 people high. This seems pretty normal for WWI because of how often people were getting mowed down my machine guns or blown to pieces by mortars. However, at this particular burial site, one man noticed that one of the men being buried still had life in his limbs. He saw that man move his fingers. The grave diggers had buried a man alive next to almost 50 other bloody bodies without even taking a second look to make sure he was dead. The supervisor of this burial asked the people who were doing the actual burying if they made sure everyone was dead before they buried them. A simple "yes" was enough to convince the supervisor that no living soldiers were being buried. They knew that there were almost definitely live soldiers being buried still, but they simply kept going.

This entry kind of disturbs me because of how little the supervisor of the grave seems to care about burying people alive. He didn't even go over to check on more of the bodies while they were being buried and when he found out a solider had been buried alive, all that he needed to continue burying all of the bodies his eye could see was a simple "yes" that made sure that all of the buried bodies were dead. This passage also shows just how much violence was going on in WWI. There were so many motionless, bloody, disfigured bodies laying around that some people couldn't even tell if they were dead or not. The grave diggers were just burying everything that was on the ground without paying much attention to what they were actually burying so they wouldn't fall behind with their work. No soldier should need to add to his list of fears the fear of being buried alive by a man from his own side of the fight.





http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php"/VIII_NEARLY_BURIED_ALIVE_ON_THE_BATTLEFIELD

A German Deserter's War Experience: VIII

NEARLY BURIED ALIVE ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Nearly Buried Alive on the Battlefield

We then went after the rest of our attackers who were in full flight. The machine guns kept them under fire. Some two hundred might have escaped; they fled in all directions. The artillery thereupon began again to fire, whilst we set about to care for our wounded enemies. It was no easy job, for we had to draw the wounded from beneath the horses some of which were still alive. The animals kicked wildly about them, and whenever they succeeded in getting free they rushed off like demented however severely they had been hurt. Many a wounded man who otherwise might have recovered was thus killed by the hoofs of the horses.

With the little packet of bandaging material which we all had on us we bandaged the men, who were mostly severely wounded, but a good many died in our hands while we were trying to put on a temporary dressing. As far as they were still able to speak they talked to us with extreme vivacity. Though we did not understand their language we knew what they wanted to express, for their gestures and facial expressions were very eloquent. They desired to express their gratitude for the charitable service we were rendering them, and like ourselves they did not seem to be able to understand how men could first kill each other, could inflict pain on each other, and then assist each other to the utmost of their ability. To them as well as to us this world seemed to stand on its head; it was a world in which they were mere marionettes, guided and controlled by a superior power. How often were we not made aware in that manner of the uselessness of all this human slaughter!

We common soldiers were here handling the dead and wounded as if we had never done anything else, and yet in our civilian lives most of us had an abhorrence and fear of the dead and the horribly mangled. War is a hard school-master who bends and reshapes his pupils.

One section was busy with digging a common grave for the dead. We took away the papers and valuables of the dead, took possession of the eatable and drinkable stores to be found in the saddle bags attached to the horses and, when the grave was ready, we began to place the dead bodies in it. They were laid close together in order to utilize fully the available space. I, too, had been ordered to "bring in" the dead. The bottom of the grave was large enough for twenty-three bodies if the space was well utilized. When two layers of twenty-three had already been buried a sergeant of the artillery, who was standing near, observed that one of the "dead" was still alive. He had seen the "corpse" move the fingers of his right hand. On closer examination it turned out that we came near burying a living man, for after an attempt lasting two hours we succeeded in restoring him to consciousness. The officer of the infantry who supervised the work now turned to the two soldiers charged with getting the corpses ready and asked them whether they were sure that all the men buried were really dead. "Yes," the two replied, "we suppose they are all dead." That seemed to be quite sufficient for that humane officer, for he ordered the interments to proceed. Nobody doubted that there were several more among the 138 men whom we alone buried in one grave (two other, still bigger, graves had been dug by different burial parties) from whose bodies life had not entirely flown. To be buried alive is just one of those horrors of the battlefield which your bar-room patriot at home (or in America) does not even dream of in his philosophy.

http://wwi.lib.byu.edu/index.php/VIII_NEARLY_BURIED_ALIVE_ON_THE_BATTLEFIELD

A German Deserter's War Experience: VIII

NEARLY BURIED ALIVE ON THE BATTLEFIELD

The Na'vi

Na'vi flag of Ewya

The four stars on the right side represent the four clans of the Na'vi. The blue background represents the color of our skin. The tree in the middle is what we call home tree and it is where we live and where our culture is based. The red triangles make it look kinda cool and serve no purpose whatsoever. The black and white circles represent our peace with between the good and bad in nature and our unity with nature and our home tree.

National Anthem:

O land of the Na'vi, of rivers and plains;
Made rich by the sunshine, and lush by the rains,
Set gem like and fair, between mountains and sea,
Your children salute you, dear land of the free!

Green land of Pandora, our heroes of yore,
Both bondsmen and free, laid their bones on your shore.
This soil so they hallowed, and from them are we,
All sons of one Mother, Pandora the free!!

Great land of Earth, diverse though our strains,
We are born of their sacrifice, heirs of their pains,
And ours is the glory their eyes did not see,
One land of two peoples, united and free!

Dear land of Earth, to you will we give,
Our homage, our service, each day that we live;
We guard you, great Eywa, and make us to be
More worthy our heritage, land of the free!

http://naviblue.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=122&start=10

National History:
We are known as the Na’vi. Our nation is located on the eastern coast of what is know Brazil, but we are spread out all across South America. There are 4 major tribes that fall under our nation, each one having its own unique dynamic that makes the Na’vi so powerful and diverse. The first tribe is known as the Omaticaya. The capital of the Na’vi empire is located in the center of the Omaticaya tribe in the dense forests of Brazil. We live in what we call the Hometree were everyone in the tribe is located. We all live in this tree because it enables us to connect with the one thing we value most, and this is our bond with nature. We feel that all beings including animals, plants, and humans are all connected and share one common bond. We feel that you should try and differ yourself from your common being but try and be with them. Some ways we try and make ourselves one with our planet is we wear minimal clothes. This helps be as much part as the Earth as the animals we live with. The only time we use accessories is when we go into battle, which has only been one time in our history. This is when the British came over to our homeland and tried to change our ways. They wanted to bring us new technology that would diversify ourselves from nature. They insisted on bringing new technology and even diseases to us, we resisted. We then summoned all 4 tribes of the Na’vi to fight off the evil Englishmen and were able to defeat them fairly easily. This truly send a message to the rest of the world that our land was not going to be taken over and we were not open to this outside influences that wanted to change our ways. We then broke back into our four tribes and went on with living our way of life.

One thing that is very unique to our people that no other nation obtains is our special bond we have with nature. We strongly believe in a secret bond that we share with all organisms and this helps us be that much more with our Mother Earth. This is a special ritual we do and accomplish this ritual by putting our feet in the roots of the plants. These plants then give us the nutrients that help them survive and let us be even more one with the world. We do this with animals by taming them completely and being able to rid the animals across the plains of Nagat. When we able to accomplish this, we are accepted into manhood because our Mother has accepted us as part of her. Our Mother is also called Ewya by our people and it is what we value most in We believe that all creatures on Earth’s fate is controlled by the sentient intelligence Ewya. We have no choice but to live in harmony and natural equilibrium with their surroundings. If we become too numerous, Eywa will devise a way to limit their numbers before they cause an ecological imbalance. Over the years of our existence as a nation, we have a healthy respect for their surrounding environment. In return, the environment has provided them with sufficient food and shelter, creatures to ride for ground and air transportation, and an ambient, comfortable temperature throughout one creature, but only for the balance of nature.

At first we were willing to interact with humans, but after concluding that humans had nothing of value to offer to them, they break off contact and start engaging in guerrilla warfare to resist the human's mining operations. The Na'vi have no far-reaching political structures on the scale of nation-states, but are organized into relatively structured clans. Occasionally different clans from far-reaching areas will cooperate in times of great crisis.

sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na'vi_language

http://james-camerons-avatar.wikia.com/wiki/Na'vi

Alliances and Connections:

Australian National Anthem

Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in Nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing,
"Advance Australia fair!"

Beneath our radiant southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

Up until 1984, Australia used "God Save the Queen," the United Kingdom's national anthem. However, it then switched over to what it is known as today, "Advance Australia Fair." This new anthem was decided upon by a survey of the nation, which determined the overall will of the country (and continent). "Advance Australia Fair" beat out "God Save the Queen" and "Song of Australia" easily, and easily stood out as the winner over "Waltzing Matilda" in the second round of voting. The anthem was first used for Australia in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.

The anthem tells of Australia's place in the world, surrounded by ocean and full of nature's gifts. War is not a very important aspect to the life of Autralians because there are few people to fight with. Natura matters more to then and this can be seen in their views of their "golden soil" and how they will "toil" to save their sacred land.

http://www.nationalanthems.info/au.htm

Genro Statesmen

The Genro statesmen were a group of elders who collectively rules Japan, beginning at the end of the Meiji Restoration (around 1868) and ending in 1932. These new leaders were all "westernizers" and they modernized the Japanese society ever more when they came to power. A cabinet was first assembled in 1885, although the statesmen had been acting together since 1881, and the genro statesmen drafted a Constitution in 1889. The genro were the also ones to to choose the prime ministers of Japan. The statesmen ruled Japan successfully for twenty years, until they gave away their leadership in 1901. During its prime, this system worked very well, but after a few decades, a new system consisting of four prime ministers and court officials took over.

http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-genro.html

Why take a test?

Personally, i believe that taking a test/quiz is a good way to see how well someone has learned a particular topic. However, when tests get longer and longer, it becomes less about understanding and more about memorization. This is why it is better to take multiple small quizzes than one big test. Quizzes can be focused on one small piece of material and are an excellent way of judging how well a student know a topic because often, quizzes are either hit or miss. You either get it or you don't, there's not much of a middle ground. Quizzes are also easier for teachers to grade. Another benefit is that if a student bombs a quiz, they can make it up by maintaining a decent grade on the other small quizzes. If a student bombs a test, it could take a whole quarter of 100%'s to bring that student's grade back up. Doing bad on a test would also bring down the moral of a student, causing him to dislike the class more and be less inclined to learn.

Richard Owen

Sir Richard Owen was the person who came up with the term "dinosauria." Dinosauria came from the Greek words "deinos" (fearfully great) and "sauros" (lizard). He recognize these beings as very large, but extinct reptiles.

From a group of fossils of a few different dinosaurs, he found a couple big differences between the bones structures of living reptiles and these fossils. One big difference was that the fossilized reptiles all had column like legs (legs that were directly underneath the body like a lion's or a dog's) instead or legs that sprawled out to the side like the common lizard's. Another thing he found was that the fossils contained five vertebrae that were fused together and attached to the pelvic bone.

Owen first published his findings in 1842 in the Proceedings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He mentioned the new distinct class of creatures and how they were enormous in comparison to the reptiles living at the time. He also went over his reasoning behind the name "dinosauria" and some basic characteristics of what he thought dinosaurs were probably like. In total, Owen named and described around 20 different dinosaurs and was the first person to ever do such work.

Enchanted Learning. Sir Richard Owen. 1998. <> December 1st, 2009.

Race and Tribe

Towards the end of the 1800s, many African thinkers began defining "African identity." Before this mini-revolution, there were virtually no people on the continent who regarded themselves as Africans. People were often defined by their language, kinship, and their land of origin. One other way to define Africans was to contrast them with European cultures. The word "tribe" started appearing more and more.

As Europeans continued to overtake Africa, the Africans did the best they could to continue there traditions and keep their spirits alive. The British found that the Africans were easier to control if they separated them into different clans. This wasn't easy, though because the Africans usually just wanted to be able to live how they wanted, and not be split into certain sections of society. They would rather be one big community than a divided nation. However, they did not have much of a choice when the colonial government required people to identify what tribe they were a part of on things like applications for jobs and ID cards. Although they initially did not seem in favor of the whole idea of tribes, the Africans began to take a liking to the new system and found the labels useful, especially in areas were urbanization was happening very rapidly.

It was much easier to organize people when they were part of a tribe. In colonial colonies, people that were new to the city found themselves new "tribes" of people who spoke the same language, came from the same place, or worked in the same field. Another step in society came when people started to include themselves in more than one tribe. A man could be in a clan of factory workers at the same time he was in a group of people who all spoke the same language and lived on the same block.

Colonization of Africa

European leaders from numerous places all over Europe had intense rivalries over the newly important land of Africa. They spent 25 years splitting up they land and at first, it seemed like this method would be successful. However, everyone just ended up fighting over the land again and things got very bloody. Some wars over certain parts of land even lasted decades, taking huge tolls on the military forces of each  territory. Not all negotiation were through fighting, though. There were still a good amount of peace treaties, but, predictably, a lot of the peace treaties ended up just stirring up another war when the territories realized that they didn't agree with the treaty after all.

After a while, when taking on huge empires in battle wasn't working anymore, military leaders began taking over territories village by village. Every once and a while a village would go down easy, but heavy resistance was encountered pretty much the entire journey. But no matter how hard it was to continue conquering land, many military powers continued to try to do so, no matter how great their losses were.

Game Reflection

From the beginning my family did not do very well. By drawing a 4 and starting off with less money that pretty much every one else, I was already struggling. In the first round, I made $5 more and my wife made $4. I had four kids that could have worked, too, but the boss of the textile factory refused to hire them for any pay whatsoever. I'm not sure why the industrialists were reluctant to hire more people because it seems like they would just make more money. So after the first round, where I didn't but anything except for potatoes and clothes for my family, I was $4 in debt. Even if the debt went away, I wouldn't have a place to live or the slightest thought of a luxury item. 

In the second round, the industrialists were slightly more willing to hire workers, and all of my family members got jobs. The pay slightly increased for my wife and I, and, surprisingly, our four kids received the same wages as my wife and I. So when the round was over I had the opportunity to buy a room and go to the beach a couple times. I was also able to ay off our debt from the previous round. Even though our family was started to be able to live a normal life, it was still annoying how much money the industrialists hoarded. While 6 people in my family brought home around $30 for their hard work, the industrialists were bringing home hundreds and hundreds of dollars for just sitting and watching everyone else do their work. It seems like the average person in society would live a much better and healthier life if their bosses just weren't so greedy.

Manchester

Hello, my name is Frederic Williamson, I'm 32 years old, and my family and I have recently moved to Manchester. We moved with another family, the Williams, and are currently sharing a house together. I have a lovely wife, Elizabeth, and four kids. James, who is about 4 years old stays with his mom most of the day. Marie, who just turned 9, helps out around the house and babysits James when necessary. John and Peter are 11 and 13 years old respectively and they just got jobs in textile factories in Manchester. 

Before we moved out to Manchester, we lived on a farm. It was a very simple life, but the work was very strenuous and the pay was not spectacular. John, Peter, and I worked countless hours every day plowing, seeding, harvesting and doing any other small jobs the farm owner needed us to do. We were forced to leave the farm because we lost our jobs as technology on the farm continually advanced. The labor force in the farm we worked on was cut in half in just over a year. So, like many other families, we moved to the city, where we found work in factories.

I found a job in a a coal mine just outside of the city and got payed slightly more than I would have for working at a factory, but i made John and Peter stick to the factory work because I didn't want them to have to deal with the tough conditions in the mines at such a young age. For now, it seems that life is pretty steady. We're not making huge profits at work, but it's enough to get by. The oldest Williams boys, Teddy, just received a huge cash bonus at work for being in the top three most productive workers in his factory and, being very generous, he is planning on using the money to renovate our house and add on two more rooms.

The Spinning Jenny

The spinning jenny was a huge part of the industrial revolution and along with the flying shuttle, cotton gin, and spinning frame, the textile business thrived in Europe. It was invented by James Hargreaves, who was born in England in 1720 and never learned to even read or write and had no formal education. The purpose of the spinning jenny was to increase the speed at which yarn/thread could be produced and to make things in the textile mills.

When the spinning jenny was first invented in 1764, it did the work of eight men by using eight spindles instead of just one like the original spinning wheel. So, a spinning jenny could do the work of eight men at one time. Later models of the spinning jenny had up to 120 spindles.

In 1768, a group of spinners broke into Hargreaves house and destroyed all of his machines because they were worried about losing their jobs. It turns out that they were right and the spinning jenny ended up replacing people all over europe. However, the spinning jenny produced thread that was too coarse for some kinds of cloth, so it did not completely wipe out the spinners (workers who spun thread) of the 18th century.

Part of the reason that the industrial reason began in the first place was the agricultural revolution. With more advanced technology in the fields, farmers could harvest their crops much more efficiently and less laborers were needed around the farms. This lead to a large number of jobless people who soon found places to work in Europe. This surplus labor was used to develop and advance industry in Britain, especially the textile industry.

Robespierre Trial

Although the whole trail was very confusing, I agree with the decision of the jury and the prosecution of Robespierre. He ruthlessly and pointlessly killed too many people to be considered an innocent man.

For me, it was hard to figure out exactly what each side was arguing in the trail. Most of the witnesses mumbled, a majority of the examiners' questions were objected to, and the whole thing just seem a little disorganized with people yelling across the room the whole time. The only major and confirmable point that I found relevant was that Robespierre was responsible for numerous deaths that were uncalled for every single day. I think the actual statistic was an average of 28-30 deaths every day.

This trial just seemed less controlled and less on task than the Napoleon trial. Part of it might have been that it was the end of the day, but the countless interruptions, both through objections and by random comments from the jury, slowed down the trial and made it very difficult for any valid arguments to come up. There was too much arguing over tiny rules and not enough legitimate interrogation of the witnesses. Also, when objected to, the examiners seemed unwilling to change their question for the witness and this didn't help move anything along either.

I think the idea of having trials for Napoleon and Robespierre was an effective way to learn a lot of the material, but i think everyone would have learned more if it had been more controlled/organized and if we had gone over more of the rules within a "courtroom" beforehand. It doesn't matter if we go over the rules in class or in our trial teams, but i think that people were not familiar enough with the rules, especially for objections, to effectively run a trial.

Napoleon Trial

Personally, I agree with the decision of the jury that Napoleon violated the ideals of Enlightenment.

Ideals of enlightenment include equality of both status and gender, freedom, and liberty. Ideally, the government should be there to help maintain these aspects of enlightenment and should take care of everyone to the best of its ability. This means including the opinion of the general public as well.

One very obvious way that Napoleon violated these ideals is by making himself emperor. How can a society be equal is one man is in control of everything and does whatever he wants. Napoleon claimed to ensure equality within his people, but, in reality, he did a terrible job of this. First of all, he was in favor of having slaves. Also, under Napoleon, men and women were of very different social status. Even before the Napoleonic Code was enacted, men held the more powerful jobs while women usually just stayed at home doing chores. Then, when the Napoleonic Code was enacted in 1804, Napoleon gave even more rights to men. Men were in complete control of all of a family's property and a husband automatically had custody over his kids in the case of a divorce. Men were also able to divorce their wives if they suspected their wife of adultery. Women were not able to get a divorce if the circumstances were flipped.

All of this just shows that Napoleon did not do a good job in power and that he violated the ideals of enlightenment.

Trial Reflection

I feel that the trial preparation process not only helped me better my understanding of revolutions, but it also helped me learn more about what goes on in a trial.

Obviously, to prepare for the trial, I had to research a lot about the times of revolution and more specifically, Rousseau and Napoleon. Although I didn't concentrate on other important people of the time and I probably don't know as much about them now, I learned a great deal about Rousseau and Napoleon.

Before the trial, I had underestimated the effect of knowing what's going on during the trial. Luckily, there were other members of my team that thought trial structure was more important, especially Cy. Things like objections and bringing in evidence really helped our argument and are part of the reason why we (the prosecution) won. Not only did objections make things easier for our side, they made it harder for the defense. For example, there were multiple times where the defense asked our witnesses questions that dealt with the witnesses' opinion. Had we answered these questions, we would have just given the defense more evidence to work with. Instead, we objected to these questions, making it easier on our witness because they didn't need to try to make up another answer, and leaving the defense with less helpful evidence.

Jean-Jaqcues Rousseau

Jean-Jaqcues Rousseau (1712-1778) was born in Geneva, Switzerland and moved to Paris at the age of sixteen. Early in his life, we worked as a tutor and a musician and he didn't start sharing his opinions on the government until when he was around 40 years old.

Rousseau believed that people could live in peace without a government as long as they all treated each other equally. However, in his society there was a large amount of inequality because of the way that money and property were distributed. The wealthy men tricked the poor by creating a government that protected the property and money of the rich, which the less fortunate people had been trying to scrounge back.

To try to counteract the wealthy taking advantage of the poor, Rousseau thought it would be a good idea to set up the government as a monarchy or an aristocracy. In a perfect world, the best way to include everyone's opinion within the society would have been to let everyone rule as they please, but this obviously would not have worked. The government proposed by Rousseau gave leaders the responsibility of acting on behalf of the general will of the people and speaking for them when necessary. He also said that a single ruler with absolute power was allowable when direly needed, but only temporarily.

Rousseau's ideas about government were somewhat similar to those of Hobbes, Locke, and Montesquieu. Hobbes believe that the role of the government was to protect people and represent them, as Rousseau also believed. Montesquieu thought that government should be a democracy, so that no one person consumes all of the power, which is also very similar to Rousseau's opinions. Locke was in favor of the checks and balances system. This can also relate to how Rousseau thought things should work because in this system, no single person can have to much power.