Will Democracy Guarantee Freedom Term paper
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WILL DEMOCRACY GUARANTEE EQUALITY?
A Democratic nation is said to be a free nation, but
that is simply not true. To begin with, I should like to
offer some discussion regarding the concept of democracy.
Democracy is a form of government in which a substantial
portion of the citizens, directly or indirectly, participate
in ruling the state. It is thus distinct from government
control by a particular social class or group, or even by a
single person. In a direct democracy, citizens vote on laws
in an assembly, as they did in ancient Greek city-states,
and as they do today in New England towns. In an indirect
democracy, citizens elect officials to represent them in
government; representation is typical of most modern
democracies. Today, the essential features of democracy, as
understood in the Western world, are that citizens be
sufficiently free in speech and assembly. An example of
modern democracy is to form competing political parties
where voters are able to chose among the candidates of the
parties in regularly held elections. The origins of a
democracy may be traced to the Greek city-state during the
6th century B.C. Aristotle's Constitution of Athens shows
that in Athens all citizens rich and poor alike, fully
participated in government. It was not until the 17th
century that democratic ideas reappeared on a large scale.
After the fall of Rome, Europe produced societies which were
primarily concerned with security rather than democratic
institutions. In the 20th century most states have called
themselves democratic. However many such governments rule in
the name of the people, without allowing popular
participation. During most of the 20th century, this was
true in the Communist world, where Marxist-Leninists
theorists rejected Western style democracy as the creation
of capitalism. They argued that true democracy is only
possible with full economic and social equality, which can
only be achieved by overthrowing the capitalist class and
establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat (working
class). Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev had his rise to
power in the 1980's where traditional Communist opposition
to the ideals of Western democracy began to break down To
some extent Communist theorists abandoned the rigid
positions they had held in the past. In some countries,
Communists joined with other socialists in working towards
their goals for a democratic institution. Equality is
another of those ancient ideals, and is inseparable from the
democratic methods. The right to vote means little, unless
votes are equal and voters have the same influence. Like
freedom, equality of treatment under the law is a method of
democracy. Some theorists would add equality of resources,
or at least equality of opportunity, to the ideal
characteristic of democracy. Such goals could conflict with
the idea of economic freedom and certainly cannot be taken
as a defining characteristic of existing democracies.
Democracies are not easy to establish and possibly even more
difficult to maintain. The concept of a democracy naturally
requires two sets of rulers; one to govern (the president
for example)and the other (possibly the vise-president)to
take over when the first person loses an election. The worst
defect of democracy is that politicians are under constant
pressure from lobbyists of special interest groups to
support particular public policies. Obviously an interest of
a smaller special interest group is not necessarily the
popular public opinion. Since their future depends on
winning elections, and because elections are won by
attracting marginal voters, politicians seek the support of
marginal voters who belong to such groups by promising to
vote for legislation they favor. This can weigh, and even
corrupt, the legislative process (and we all know how
corrupt our legislation is). These types of expenses have
contributed to the downfall of democratic governments up
until the 20th century(Agar, 1965).
I would now like to turn my attention towards the U.S.
Constitution, and how it addresses the rights and liberties
of its citizens. To begin with, the Bill of Rights contain
the first Ten Amendments of the U.S. Constitution. This
Constitution represents the protections for individual
rights of citizens of a democratic nation. The Bill of
Rights, in my opinion, represent the most essential aspects
which relate to democracy. This is to say, that a person s
individual rights and liberties are best understood within
the U.S. Constitution through the Bill of Rights. Similarly,
these may well be traced to the American colonists and their
struggle for independence. The early colonists came to
understand that their individual rights were not secured
unless they were specified and systematically arranged in
constitutional documents. As a result, a movement sprang up
to adopt binding constitutions which limit governmental
powers and protect the individual s rights. Seven of the
thirteen colonies adopted constitutions that included
specific Bills of Rights; the other six states included
specific guaranties of individual rights, as well as various
provisions contained within the constitutional documents.
The first state Bill of Rights was the Virginia Declaration
of Rights, adopted as part of the state's first constitution
on June 12, 1776. Many of the United States laws and
interpretations of freedom, rights, and liberties as
supported by the U.S. Constitution, may be found within the
English Bill of Rights (Dec. 16, 1689). This became the
culmination of the so-called "Glorious Revolution of 1688"
which forced James II to vacate the throne. The 1689 Bill of
Rights served notice on the King that royal efforts to
overthrow Parliament must cease. The English Bill of Rights
declared that an election of the Members of Parliament
should be free; that freedom of speech and debates in
Parliament should not be questioned in any court or other
place; and that Parliament should be held frequently. The
Bill of Rights declared "That the pretended power of
suspending of laws or the execution of laws by regal
authority without consent of the Parliament is illegal"
(Passage of the English Bill of Rights; 1689). A similar
provision outlawed the dispensing of power "As it hath been
assumed and exercised of late" (Alderman, Kennedy, repr.
1992). Freedom, rights, and liberties of the citizen have
been an inherent part of the U.S. Constitution for quite
some time. The status of natural rights and freedoms
recognizes the supremacy of God and the rule of law. It
further recognizes the right of an individual not to be
deprived of life, liberty, security, and property, except by
due process of law. Other rights and liberties include
freedom of religion, speech and the press as well as other
media communication.
An attorney is one who will initiate a lawsuit for the
plaintiff (the person bringing suit). The summons is a
notice to the defendant (the person against whom suit is
brought) that he or she is being sued and specifies the time
and place of the hearing and the nature of the demand being
made. The complaint is a brief statement of the essentials
of the plaintiff's case that is made under oath before an
official who is empowered to charge people with offenses.
There are many duties which are carried out by an attorney.
These for the most part, I believe serve to reinforce and
secure the rights and liberties as stated by the U.S.
Constitution for the individual. Due process of law is a
concept in the U.S. and English juris prudence (the study,
knowledge, and science of law(Cornell; internet site))that
establishes the limit to powers of government. It
specifically limits against the absolute depravation of
life, liberty, and property. In my opinion, due process of
law is the most important facet within our understanding of
the attorney's role in developing rights and liberties, as
stated in the U.S. Constitution. It is in contrast to the
range of partial or partisan appropriations of Alexis De
Tocqueville; Pierre Manent's book, "Tocqueville On The
Nature Of Democracy" makes this particularly clear. Manent
is the most vocal of the new generation of French
post-Marxist political theorist (Mahoney; 101). Among other
things, Manent is a former assistant to the great French
anti-Communist political thinker, Raymond Aron. Aron
initiated the French rediscovery of Tocqueville in the
1960's. He is an independent learned scholar who has
contributed to the revival of liberal political thought in
France (Mahoney; 101). It is in small part due to his
efforts, that Tocqueville's writings are now widely
recognized as an absolutely necessary guide for
understanding modern history and our society. While avoiding
any traditionalist or reactionary rejection to liberalism,
Manent stands apart from the current crop of non-Marxist
French political thinkers by his considered refusal to
idolatrize "individual rights" and liberties as the
spiritual lodestar of modern society (Mahoney, 1996).
Throughout the literature concerning democracy and democracy
in action, it is Alexis De Tocqueville who is so often
represented in the literature. He is an outstanding
exemplification of democracy and individual rights and
liberties.
Tocqueville shows that there is an alternative for
supporters...
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