Adam Smith on the Wealth of Nations noted that liberalism’s devoutness to capitalist free market. Smith discussed that the superior approach for a society to produce prosperity is over the separation of labor and making a distributed decision for its interest to create wealth for all. Liberalism “is a group of political, social and economic theories that centers on the values of individual liberty, equality, economic freedom, limited and democratic government and the rule of law.” Moreover, it encompasses financial independence with includes funding for free markets and private property rights. Liberalism embraces that all individuals must have equal treatment before the law irrespective of sex, race, and social status. Consequently, how …show more content…
This paper examined general questions in which I tried to enhance in the concept of democracy, in evaluating the challenges through distinctive spheres of ideas and developments. All in all, democracy comprise of four essential principles; “a political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections. In a democracy, the citizen vote in free and fair elections, for their leaders who after being elected are accountable for their policies and their comportments in office. In a democracy, the people are sovereign; maintaining active participation, as citizens, in politics and electing their civic rights. In a democracy, the society must become knowledgeable about public issues and must participate in elections. However, the society should not be obligated to participate in elections nor to join a political party or an organization against their will. A democracy must persevere the human rights of all citizens. All citizens have essential rights that the government cannot take away from them. Those rights are freedom of religion and to express your own opinion and interest. Democracy and pluralism in the mass media. The right to form and join organizations as to associate with other people; to assemble freely and protests against the government. As well the right to move in and outside the country and no one can interfere or oppose those rights. However, everyone must exercise these rights concerning the law and for the rights of others. The rule of law, in which all laws must be applied equally to all citizens. For democracy to work, a system of regulation by statutes must be obeyed and not a system by individuals. The rule of law must protect the rights of citizens and limits the power of government. Still, after the critical review of theory and concepts, this paper proposed a research strategy using references from the readings of Richard
“It’ll be the ballot or it’ll be the bullet. It’ll be liberty or it’ll be death.” These are the famous words of Malcolm X in his speech The Ballot or the Bullet. In April, 1964 Malcolm X stood in front of a large crowd in Cleveland, Ohio and explained what the ballot or bullet meant. He was a leader in the Civil Rights Movement and fought to make all African-Americans equal. Malcolm X explained to his audience using a great appeal to ethos, pathos and logos that African-Americans should fight for racial economic and social justice without different religion views standing in the way. He told his audience instead of fighting, meaning the bullet, they could vote for their own leaders or better leaders to represent them, meaning the ballot.
Liberalism is an ideology which advocates equality of opportunity for all within the framework of a system of laws. It includes a belief in government as an institution whose primary function is to define and enforce the laws. Furthermore, a Constitution, must be developed not solely by one ruler but by representatives of the elite groups. Therefore, liberalism invariably involves a belief in the need for legislative bodies which represent the influential groups. The Constitution then defines ...
Classical liberalism is an ideology that embraces the principles of individualism such as rule of law, individual rights and freedoms, private property, economic freedom, self-interest, competition. Classical liberalism stresses the importance of human rationality. Just as it values political freedom, classical liberalism also holds freedom to be the basic standard in economics, and believes the most beneficial economic system to be the free market. Whereas, the term socialism, when generally used refers to any ideology that believes that resources should be controlled by the public for the benefit of everyone in society and not by private interests for the benefit of private owners and investors. From the description of both classical liberalism and socialism provided above it is clear that the two are conflicting ideologies where one supports individualism the other supports collectivism that believes in the wellbeing of all citizens in a community.
“Intellectuals and Democracy” by Mark Kingwell (2012) captures the essence of the commonality between higher education and philosophy and democracy. The author, who is a philosopher expresses his notion of the connection between the democratic system and that of the education system. Often, as the article expresses there is a preconception regarding the validation of careers promised with certain university degrees where other programs result in uncertainty or questioning from others. The use of rhetorical appeals used by the author throughout the article works towards building his article. I argue that through rhetorical appeals the author works his audience to grasp his personal stance of the education system as he attempts to persuade
Adam Smith was a philosopher whose political philosophies was based off of economics. He believed to some extent that there should be a redistribution of wealth, but at the same time there should be a limit to government interference in economy. He wanted the state to end politics that favor industry over agriculture or vice versa, and that business should be left to the business people. He also believed that the government cannot make people virtuous with laws, and that the state should not promote religion or
Democracy has been a topic discussed for hundreds of years and a general idea of the topic would be the “governing of people by the people”. Many people have attempted “to sketch characteristics, or outcomes or preconditions, because democracy itself” (4) has been seen to be a difficult concept to define. In John L Anderson’s ‘What is Democracy?’ (2004) he takes an alternative approach to understanding democracy. Anderson explains that there is no “tidy set of ideas”, but rather “an indirect approach to defining democracy” (4) in order to understand and teach the concept of democracy. He states that there are four notion to achieve this: seeking the public interest helps us develop a morality based upon concern for others; governing others
Adam Smith was a philosopher who believed that no government interferences in the economy would result in a much more stable and prosperous economic system. “[Without government interference] the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord” (document C). This shows how one’s self interest of gain drives the economy and no government interference should be made. Smith also talks about a happy and unexpected result when people pursue their own economic gain which basically supports the economy. “By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more [effectively] than when he really intends to promote it” (document C). This shows how personal interest and self gain end up driving the economy as more goods are bought and sold. Mary Wollstonecraft was another philosopher that shared common ideas with Smith. She believed that women should get equal rights and education as men. “... women must be allowed to found their virtue on knowledge, which is scarcely possible unless they be educated by the same pursuits [studies] as men” (document D). Wollstonecraft implies that equal education can lead to equal rights. This again goes back to individual freedom and decision making. “... reason and experience convince me that the only method of leading women to fulfill their peculiar duties is to free them from all restraint by allowing them to participate in the inherent rights of mankind” (document D). This shows how equal opportunities with both sexes can lead to success. It would just require women to have their individual freedom and rights. Both Smith and Wollstonecraft, Enlightenment philosophers, argued about individual freedom and person decision making without outer influences like the government or
Throughout his speech to Congress in support of the Voting Rights Act, President Lyndon B. Johnson employs a clear strategy to garner support from both Congress and the American people. Johnson appeals to the patriotism, character, and pathos of his audience by citing historical events and documents, shaming the American people for their systematic oppression, and revealing the plight of both poor whites and the African American citizens as a result of the attempt to uphold segregation and racism in America. Firstly, President Johnson utilizes historical American documents in his speech to sway his audience. In the first paragraphs of his speech, President Johnson mentions unifying moments of American history “in man’s unending search for freedom” at Lexington and Concord as well as Appomattox.
In making this argument this essay seeks to five things. Firstly, to define democracy within the contemporary context offering the key characteristics of a modern re...
“Democracy is a personal way of individual life; that it signifies the possession and continual use of certain attitudes, forming personal character and determining desire and purpose in all th...
Capitalist economies hold that individuals have the means of production and that people have the potential to gain unlimited wealth. Rather than the government, private sectors oversee production, employment, and investments for the population. These tenants are made possible with the idea of laissez-faire in which the government is hands off and there are no regulations in the economy. According to Adam Smith, a distinguished expert in modern capitalism, a society free of government intrusion and rules is one where the economy and the people can thrive the most (Magstadt). In theory, laissez-faire allows all people to attain the level of prosperity they want and use their self-interest to do so. Upon further examination, it is found to be the opposite, that not all people are equally gifted this opportunity.
Rhetoric is the art of effective speaking or writing, and persuasion. Most people use rhetoric numerous of times in their everyday life without their concern or knowing.
In comparing the average citizen in a democratic nation, say the United States, to that of a non-democratic nation, for instance Egypt, it will be found that the citizen in the democratic nation is generally better off – free of persecution, free from fear of the authorities, and free to express his opinions on governmental matters. And while national conflicts occur everywhere, incidents like violent revolts have shown to be more prevalent in nations where citizens are not allowed to choose who governs them. It is slightly paradoxical that democracy, so inherently flawed in theory, can lead to such successful outcomes in practice. The question, then, becomes: “If democracy has so many weaknesses, why does it work?”
There have been enormous efforts to spread democracy as a political system throughout the world by the developed democratic countries and the international development organizations including the World Bank. By the late 1990s the United States alone spent over a half billion dollars to promote democratic expansion throughout the world (Diamond, 2003). These were done considering that the democratic system leads towards development. As a result in the late 20th century we saw a huge political transformation towards democracy. During the last few decades a huge number of countries adopted democracy as their political system. However, it retain a big question how far democracy is successful in bringing development of a country? At this stage, some people also criticizes the effort of democratization arguing that it is done without considering the context of a country, sometimes democracy is not ideal for all countries and it is an effort to extinct diversity of political system. In studying the literature regarding the debate, we found a paradoxical relationship between democracy and development. Some argue that democracy has failed to ensure expected outcomes in terms of development. While others confronted that democracy has a considerable impact on development. Another group of people argue that form of political system actually does not have any impact on development process. On the verge of these debates, some development institutions and academics throw light on why democracy is not working properly, and what measure should be taken to make it more successful in bringing effective development of developing countries. Consequently, this writing is an effort of revisiting the different views about impact of democra...
In a democracy, free and fair elections which are held after around half a decade, guarantee social rights and equality. These elections ensure that every citizen has the right to vote, and hence they create social stability among the society. Each and every individual casting his vote in the elections reduces discrimination among the people. Citizens are not judged on the basis of religion, race, color, social status and so on. In this way, the dignity of nationals is not damaged and people can live in peace. In addition to voting rights, a democracy also assures access to other services like security, education, property rights, and healthcare facilities. These human rights maintain social equity and involv...