The Human Condition: Freedom Expropriated by Multinationals Arendt's ideas in The Human Condition laid the foundation on which American society is based and are particularly useful for looking at the America today. American citizens have been displaced by the Arendtian model of the modern age. The American government has lost its freedom by being dispossessed of the reign of liberty in the vita activa. Capitalism and large corporations now hold the most power and economic influence in America today. This explanation has become increasingly appropriate in describing the role of multinational oil companies in America, in light of the actions taken by America after the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Freedom, as Arendt perceives it, can only exist in the form of a public space in which all citizens, free from the demands of necessity, can gather and actively participate in political discourse. According to Arendt, this notion of freedom disappeared with the modern age, where alienation and introspection of the world led to a society far from a common world, leaving human beings isolated and alone. America is a testament to Arendt's ideas, as such freedom no longer exists. The public sphere has disappeared; government has degenerated into mere administration, government affairs have become the privilege of the few, and the average American citizen no longer participates in the political process. Capitalism in America has removed freedom from the political realm and dispossessed politicians from their place in the world. Big business holds the American government captive with excessive contributions in the form of soft money from political action committees. The 'hunt for money'... through paper... to take further advantage of the government. Arendt's vision of vita activa, expressed in The Human Condition, can be applied to modern America. The political realm of democracy today has been dispossessed of its place in the world, and the displacement of the average citizen into the Arendtian model has left the general public simply as a tool for capitalism to manipulate to get what it wants from government. This directly opposes the classical ideal of freedom in vita activa and supports Arendt's belief that such freedom no longer exists in the modern age. Multinational oil companies have influenced recent American foreign policy toward the Middle East, and the American public has been deceived into believing they are fighting for freedom, when in reality Americans have been used to pressure the government to act in the Middle East..