The economic system of the United States is sculpted after the concept of capitalism. Capitalism supports free enterprise - private business operating without government regulation. The United States does standardize private businesses. Sometimes special circumstances arise which threaten to deteriorate the overall economic solidity of the country. In order to adequately manage these situations, the United States government has passed many laws permitting certain groups the ability to bring attention to as well as stop the threat. This is particularly important in terms of its effects on individuals. It defends the freedoms of individuals, preserves order and stability, and attempts to endorse equality. One example of the ability of the United States government to interfere with the natural progression of the American capitalist society, is the presence of antitrust laws. These laws regulate certain engagements of individuals, trusts, corps, and combinations of corps in an effort to thwart or forcibly end a monopoly. Since 1989, Microsoft has been repetitively accused of violating antitrust laws. More than once, these allegations have led to an antitrust case being filed against Microsoft as a company. These antitrust laws and law suits are tremendously significant. Despite the outcomes of the cases, antitrust laws served their purpose- to uphold the balance of the concepts of freedom, order, and equality. Freedom is one of the three key theories that government must pursue for its citizens. Freedom has two core circumstances in which it is used; which are freedom of, and freedom from. Freedom of is the absence of constraints on behavior; it means freedom to do something. These types of freedoms ensure individuals specific liberties such as freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and all other civil rights. These individual freedoms are extremely vital in a democracy. Freedom from . . . advocates invulnerability from fear and want. Freedom from is also vital in a democracy. It guarantees that certain things cannot be done to anyone under these laws. This is imperative because it places limits on the authorities of the government. Another responsibility that government must pursue is maintaining order. Order is the rule of law to preserve life and protect property. Maintaining order is the oldest purpose of government. There is also a third aspect associated with the idea of order. This is a belief in maintaining traditional patterns of social relationships. Both the preservation of life and the protection of property are pursued in similar ways. The most common ways in which the government attempts to maintain order are through government legislation, interpretation of the law, and enforcement of the law. The final aspect of order is maintaining traditional patterns of social behavior, also called social order. "Social order refers to established patterns of authority in society and to traditional modes of behavior." Social order is, therefore, what society feels is right. For this reason, social order is largely maintained by the society in question along with the government. As the values, beliefs, ideas, etc. of a society gradually change over time, the social order will change as well. Even though the social order is continuously changing, it is not upset. The norms of the society change, but the change is gradual. The social order is upset when there is a sudden change in some value, belief, idea, etc. of a large number of the people within a society that is in contrast with the norm of the society and causes the whole society to forget the original social order in order to argue and put an end to the new "untraditional" values, beliefs, ideas, etc. that oppose the old societal norm. Order is a concept that applies to all systems. Most of these systems use a completely unique way of maintaining order. Similarly, different areas that humans try to maintain order within may have other natural ways to