Intrinsic Human Dignity and Equality in Relation to Liberal Democracy

Moreover he works on identifying the advantages of the liberal democracy by comparing it to the nondemocratic systems in the last

Fourth, the definition of the word "democracy" has changed. The way Americans see the word doesn't refer to a static system as it once did, it is ever changing and improving.

Since the dawn of human civilization, individuals have been constantly immersed in conflict with each other. Whether these conflicts stemmed from socio-economic inequalities, political disputes, property rights, religious disagreements, or any other contentious matter, the creation of human governments has necessarily been to handle, organize, and resolve conflicts between people within communities in the least destructive manner possible. Governments act as a formal instrument through which individuals in a society can agree upon shared rules, solve problems, and engage in cooperative behavior, and it helps avoid the severe repercussions resulting from revolutionary social upheaval. The purpose of government – as spelled out in the Preamble of the Constitution – is to “establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” While countless forms of government have sprung up over the centuries, only one has been resilient enough and has had the pervasive influence necessary to stand the test of time: democracy. While there are many different types of democracies, this paper will focus on liberal democracy specifically. A liberal democracy is a form of representative democracy that operates under the paradigm of classical liberalism. According to the Center for Research on Globalization, liberal democracy is defined as:

The United States is no longer the democracy it stands for. Democracy stands for a government controlled by the majority of the population. The United States is no longer controlled by the majority. America is controlled by the powerful corporations and rich elite. The combination of an uninformed, disinterested public, a flawed election process, and an economy controlled by 1% of the population have all led to the formation of the American Oligarchy.

Democracy did not occur in a matter of seconds, it took years of evolution to become what it is today. The thought of a self-government during a world ruled by monarchs would have you locked up in a mental hospital. As you can figure, democracy did not just come out of the nowhere, it had to be planned out and modified over the years. The earliest contributions and influences of The American Government came from philosophers, some of them are the part of our founding fathers and others influenced them to develop the strong nation we are today.

Democracy, as most people think of it today, did not exist during the first few decades of U.S. history.

Liberty and equality are the fundamental values liberalism is based upon. Its main goal is to protect and enhance the liberties of the individual, and states that a governing body is essential in defending citizens of the state from maltreatment from others, however the governing body can itself jeopardise citizens liberties. I shall be exploring specific aspects of the concept, such as the ‘natural rights’ of the rights to liberty, equality, security and private property when it comes to Marx, and the ‘rule of law’ which is a part of liberal constitutionalism when it comes to Schmitt. Both of these are central when it comes to liberalism being put into practice in a society, and to be taken seriously they need to be able to withstand harsh

The general understanding of democracy is that it is a state of leadership where citizens of a country participate equally either directly or by representative individuals in the establishment of laws, which run the society. However, like many other forms of leadership, democracy has its cons and may not give the citizens the necessary freedoms that they think they have. Different philosophers have different insights on democracy in terms of concepts such as liberty, which they embraced. This paper will look at Benjamin Barber and Joseph Schumpeter’s idea of democracy contrasting their definition in terms of citizenship, obligation, rights and duties of each individual in the society declaring whose idea of democracy creates a compelling vision (Terchek & Conte, 2001).

Popular government is an arrangement of government in which the ability to settle on choice is vested upon the individuals. This force is practiced either specifically or by implication. The immediate methodology would be run with a straightforward vote to settle on choice. The circuitous methodology is to choose collectively a gathering of delegate and engage them to settle on the choice in the interest of the individuals. In this way vote based system is an administration which is for the individuals and by the individuals. Popular government can be followed back to sixth century B.C. Athens is viewed as the origination of majority rules system. At present majority rules system developments is seen over the world. There are not very many

With its roots retreating back to the 13th century, the Enlightenment has been a fundamental period in history that has influenced many different contemporary ideologies we see today. There were multiple thinkers, referred to sometimes as “schoolmen” or even “doctors”, during this time that played important roles in creating a society based on human reason and insight. Many of their ideas and concepts help construct the aspects of modern systems of societal government, one of the most evident being Democracy. To this day, we take appreciation to the connections manifested between the Enlightenment and Democracy. Both Democracy and the Enlightenment believe in:

A weakness of democracy is the “Tyranny of the Majority”. This is an inevitable pitfall, because in a democracy, the power is vested foremost in the people the constituting the society itself. Alexis de Tocqueville wrote on this concept:

The Value of value of human dignity in any society can never be emphasized enough, for this is recognized as a necessary condition for true advancement; and as such, every society must endeavor towards achieving this. We have seen in history how failing to observe this led many devastating outcomes. In his book "The Road to Serfdom," Hayek points out the value of limiting powers of the state, as past events such as the Nazi atrocities occurred only by the absence of this. Also, this helped in the rise of the totalitarian regime that almost wiped out an entire group of people. However, the most important thing to note is the significance of a strong constitution the absence of which can significantly blur the line between liberal regimes

one essential conviction, expressed in the word democracy itself: that power should be in the hands of the people. Although democracy today has been slightly inefficient in this idea, with the wealthy, elite class challenging this right, “it nevertheless claims for itself a fundamental validity that no other kind of society shares….” To completely understand the structure of democracy, one must return to the roots of the practice itself, and examine the origins in ancient Greece, the expansion in the Roman Empire, and how these practices combined make what we recognize as today’s democratic government.

In The Politics of Friendship, Jacques Derrida boldly declares: “no deconstruction without democracy, no democracy without deconstruction.” Accordingly, this democracy to come could not exist without some semblance of freedom. This deconstructive form of freedom is certainly not an individual freedom to do as one pleases, nor is it simply freedom from constraint. The freedom which constitutes deconstruction is aporetic in nature, thus making it difficult (or rather impossible) to give a straightforward definition. However, this lack of a definition for freedom is not a problem for Derrida. In fact, the undefinable nature of freedom is the condition for its existence. If a full definition of freedom were to be given, its ability to thrive would be crushed. However, this does not mean that discussions regarding the nature of freedom are without meaning. In discussing what freedom could be, what freedom could mean, one can better understand how to maximize freedom in both societies and our individual lives. To recognize the tension that lies within the word freedom is to better understand what its existence could actually entail.

We live with complex ideologies. When you think about it, all of these ideologies have different forms and ways, but the fundamental purpose is the consideration for how people can achieve a better life (having better life shall be defined as having happiness or peace). I will deal only with ideologies related to Liberalism. Before jumping into the thesis, it is important to define what liberalism is and where it comes from. Human beings had been tied down within the hierarchical limit in the past and tried to find the identity of ‘I’ and the desire for becoming an upright person has increased. According to my opinion, liberalism is a political principle which holds