Assess The Difference Between Liberal Contractarianism And Libertarianism

Political ideology within a state is established by examining individual ideas about politics and how they are related (Shively, 2014). Even though, not every political ideas are equal, however, they bear some sort of relationship or resemblance. Generally within a state, “ideologies are usually determine by intellectual structure from which one can derive number of disparate policy positions” (Shively, 2014, p. 25).

Another area in which it is suggested that modern liberalism has departed from classical liberalism is freedom. Classical liberals believe in negative freedom. This is simply that there should be an absence of external constraints on the individual and as such they should be left alone to make their own choices. In this way classical liberals were heavily influenced by the natural rights theories of John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson claimed that we were born with inalienable rights and therefore no individual or government had the right to take these away. Freedom from constraints is therefore an essential condition for exercising these rights. In practise, this has meant that classical liberals have advocated a minimal state or what John Locke referred to as the ‘night-watchman state’. The activities of this state should be limited to the enforcement of contracts, maintaining order and protection from foreign threats to prevent the state from infringing on individual liberties as much as possible.

One of the biggest political topics in today's society is the federal minimum wage and whether it should be raised or kept at where it is now at $7.25 an hour. Arguments could be made for both sides on whether it should be raised or left alone. The majority of minimum wage in today’s job market are unskilled positions. Minimum wage jobs were created for teenagers and colleges kids as a way to get into the workforce and to have a little extra money for themselves. It was not designed to be a wage for people to live on. Increasing the minimum wage would hurt the economy by hurting small businesses, a huge loss of jobs and it would increase the competition between teens and adults. Overall if the federal minimum wage is increased it will have many negative effects on the economy.

The second point is that liberalism upholds the principle of equality for all regardless of name, social status, and gender, racial, cultural, or ethnic background. Liberalists advocate for a level playing ground which calls for the government to strictly control the economy and also have more power in the social arena so as to protect people from economic exploitation. Liberalists strongly push for controlled corporations, an economy that is well

Raising minimum wage would affect teenage workers. With younger adults and teenagers finishing up school, about half look for a job, while some don’t want to or have other plans such as going to college. If minimum wage were to be increased, it would make more people want to get a job. Increasing minimum wage would put more money in consumer’s pockets to spend in stores; therefore, stores would require more staff. Teenagers would have more money which would enable them to apply more funds towards their education to improve themselves. Supporters feel if people are going to get paid more, they would want to get a job. An increase in your pay would increase the consumer rate of purchasing things, and would require more staff due to more customers since they have more money to purchase things. According to Economic Policy Institute, “Over three-quarters 3.4 million of the affected workers were adults age 20 or older. The other 1.1 million workers were teenagers, age 16-19. Despite the relatively small number of affected teens, this nevertheless represents a large share, 19.9%, of all teen workers.” (Heidi Shierholz). Those who oppose believe that increasing minimum wage would cause prices of products and services to increase rapidly and cause people to limit their spending. As prices go up,

Libertarian conservatism is very different. Libertarianism sees liberty as a priority over all other values, and many conservative ideas are libertarian in that they support the greatest possible economic liberty and the least possible regulation of social life. Libertarian conservatism differs from liberalism as it advocates these values alongside a more conservative social philosophy based on authority and duty. This is linked to the ideas of Edmund Burke.

There is a lot of controversy over whether the minimum wage should be increased to 15$ an hour in all states. Proponents say that current wages in America are not livable because inflation is way higher than the current minimum wage; Minimum wage was 1.60 in 1968, which is equal to 11.60 today. Opponents say that many cannot afford this, will have to close down, make cuts, raise prices and lay off people because they will need to pay them more. Most economists believe that that high of an increase would hurt job growth. I believe that Increasing the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour nationwide will do more harm than good. Raising the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour nationwide is too big of a jump and would just cause businesses to cut off workers, force small businesses to close and increase inflation.

There are two major political aspects in our society today, liberals and conservatives. Both of these ideologies share a similar goal in which they both try to find solutions to the society’s issues. But the way liberals and conservatives perceive a problem and try to find solutions is what differentiates them both. Liberals tend to favor a change to promote growth, while conservatives on the other hand stick with traditions and religious values and are not in favor of a change. Although liberals and conservatives share a similar goal, they have opposing perspectives on social, economic and political issues.

The first reason that America should not raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour is that millions of jobs being potentially lost. Do you remember the great depression ? Do you remember how millions of people lost their jobs? My father lost his job and our family had to dig into our life savings to stay afloat. Millions of jobs were lost and many people were forced on the streets because they could not pay their bills. This is related to raising the minimum wage in the way that this same effect may happen. More than 8.4 million americans work for minimum wage. If the minimum wage is suddenly increased to $15 per hour people will be fired to pay for the raise of the other workers. That will then cause jobs to become tighter and many people will be forced on the streets because they don't have a job to pay their bills. That will then have an effect similar to the great depression regarding jobs.

Personally, I believe the minimum wage should be raised to $18 an hour. This would double all McDonalds and Walmart salaries and provide a more efficient way for their employees to live. Conversely, the sociological perspectives interpret raising minimum wage differently. The functionalist who are more conservative, are against raising minimum wage. David Croteau claims that functionalist believe those who are higher and more educated in their field deserve a raise, so minimum wage workers should work harder and become more educated in their field (2014). The functionalists do not consider disabled veterans or uneducated adults who cannot afford to return to college. On the other hand, conflict theorists believe there should be a way to raise minimum wage without causing more debt (Croteau, 2014). And the main problem caused by increasing minimum wage is the increase in power the employees receive. Since the CEO’s of McDonald’s and Walmart are too cheap to raise their employees pay, I think the workers should rise up and

Beside the increase in cost to businesses and customers, other people can potentially be hurt by this policy. By increasing the wage, small businesses will suffer a higher cost that can lead to cutting jobs, stalling new hire or even shutting down. On the other hand, the economic plight of these minimum wage workers should also be considered. Therefore, the $15 plan would produce unpredictable consequences, while not doing anything would doom minimum wage workers to live in in poverty and to consume public resources.

A small amount of the core ideals of libertarians has changed. According to the current Libertarian Party website; “We seek a world of liberty; the world in which all individuals are sovereign over their own lives and no one is forced to sacrifice his or her values for the benefit of others.” This party is notorious for values that are socially liberal, and economically conservative. This platform has also been referred to as neoliberalism. The United States Libertarian party focuses on personal liberty, self-ownership, privacy, economic liberty, free markets, protected environments, strong national defense, and minimal war actions. The LP is supportive of gay rights, gun rights, pro-life ideals. They stand against labor unions; universal health care, restricted markets, government surveillance of citizens, and government provided security. Libertarians like to think of themselves as defensive whenever it comes to foreign policy, and to refrain from attacking unless they are

In America, there are three major civic stances: conservatism, liberalism, and libertarianism. The liberal stance is the only stance, which offers the foundation to move forward. The following paper will briefly explain, certain aspects of conservatism and libertarianism, and will advance the idea, America must move forward with a more liberal attitude. At heart, this writing will argue a strong government is of the utmost importance in moving this country forward to the future. While other political agendas advocate liberty and freedom, the liberal stance truly offers a realistic approach and method of achieving those aspects of American life.

In a paper titled “Four Reasons Not to Increase the Minimum Wage,” the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, offers four empirically backed consequences of increasing the minimum wage; these consequences include: the loss of jobs, low skilled workers being disproportionally affected and priced out of the job market, a minimal effect on reducing poverty, and higher prices for goods. The paper compiles a number of studies to support these

Compare and contrast Realism and Liberalism as theories used in the study of International Relations