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Comparing Levi's Essay On Democracy And Trust In Democracy

Decent Essays

Trust is an important human connection that is inherent for connection. We have trust from our earliest months that we are alive. However, politics is often seen as a place where trust is carried on the winds. To quote Cesar, “Et tu, Brute.” In politics having too much trust is a person or a system (such as a system with the Roman Empire, or an authoritarian regime), will have you end up like Julius Cesar, dead with the knives of you friends in your back. Many western nations have come a long way from the Roman Empire, and there is both trust and distrust built into the systems.
Trust in democracy is even more important. It is a tenant that there should be trust in the government and trust in the people, as well as, trust in the other branches of government. There is trust that the laws will be fulfilled. Margaret Levi’s discussion of political leaders of governments accept this underlying notion of the rule of law and the ruled believe they have a right to be included in the system and to be treated fairly within that system. They believe that their leaders should to be held to that system as well. This flows Levi’s discussion of the conditions necessary for constituents to contribute to the tax contract under quasi-voluntary compliance. People have to trust the taxation scheme to be fair and that others are contributing to it as well. They also have to trust that their leaders will uphold their end of the social contract, and benefit in some way knowing if they get too

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