Democratic Capitalism & Individual Liberty - Admission/Application Essay Example

Democratic Capitalism and Individual Liberty The republican form of the government is involved with the aspect of considering the opinions and ideologies of the majority within the society. Republican principles are aimed at establishing a consensus between a nation’s population and the laws used to govern that nation. In this political context, the majorities’ interests are given priority for deliberation during legislative processes. The objective of republicanism within a state’s governing institutions is to promote the concept of individual liberty in the social, political and economic aspects of the population. The republican administrative system has devised mechanisms and meant to address the aspect of liberty in each aspect mentioned above. Republican principles have been applied extensively within the economic aspect through elements like capitalism and free market in the society (Rauchut 204). The political system of any society has direct influence on the economic activities practiced by the society’s members. In this context, the principles and philosophies of republicanism directly influences the economic activities of the American population. The concept of individual liberties in the context of economy may be referred as democratic capitalism. Individual liberties are practical in achieving economic equality in any nation. The republican form of government plays a great role in co-coordinating all the systems and legislative principles that facilitate the establishment of a capitalistic environment. In its efforts, this form of government seeks to modify and restructure its systems to establish favorable legislations pertaining commerce, finance and the nation’s social development associations. Legislation of the relevant regulations by republicanism has ensured the existence harmony between the production and consumption elements of economy within the American society. The society is able to produce as much as they wish and the consumers can purchase whatever suits their interests at whatever time they prefer. The attainment of this state of economic liberty within the society has been facilitated and protected by republicanism (Rauchut 209). Democratic system of governance advocates the aspect of division and distribution of state powers to all the stakeholders. On characteristics of this principle of dividing and distributing power is seen in the three levels of government. Each of these levels handles all the issues which fall within the scope of its existence. In the context of democratic capitalism, the legislative level of government is concerned with the restructuring and regulation of laws that facilitates and protects the existence of a free market state. On the other hand, the judicial level of the same government will ensure all the legislations relating to commerce and economy stipulated by the legislature are followed to the later (Rauchut 212). Among the laws characterizing a free market environment includes the elements of ethics and industrial safety. Every economic enterprise within a state is charged with the responsibility of conducting its business practices in a fair and ethical manner. Every firm should apply the business technique of competition in a manner that meets the required standards and conforms to the stipulated rules. In addition to ethical practices, a business entity in a free market state should stick to the principle of product and service quality and safety. An enterprise on any one industry should not exploit the aspect of free market in a manner that can endanger the lives of the consumer population. Therefore, government regulations should be used to provide directions to private enterprises and ensure fair business practices between the consumers and the producers in a America’s economy (Rauchut 217). The involvement of the government in aspects relating to the establishment of a capitalistic society and a free market environment may present negative consequences at some point. Democratic societies blend social values into political principles while governing the society. This context of integrating social and political principles is seen in the concept of equality within the society. However, the concept of equality seems to possess contradicting virtues with the concept of capitalism. Capitalism advocated for the liberalization of a nation’s economy to allow the population to engage in legitimate economic activities of their interests. The freedom associated with liberalized economic engagements automatically results in an environment characterized by economic inequality within the society. In this regard, a free market may begin to suffer if the government imposes heavy regulations aimed towards achieving economic equality. The problems that may rise in such a case would include inflation, unemployment or even depression. Therefore, a democratic government should carefully handle their activities to avoid a conflict between their mission and the existence of a free market in a state (Rauchut 219). No. Government intervention within a nation’s economic sector should be kept at the lowest level possible. A capitalistic environment should be regulated by the relevant internal economic factors like competition and performance and not by external forces like government intervention. The role of a government in respect to a nation’s economy should only fall within the scope of creating a favorable environment for conducting fair business activities. Such roles include the legislation of industrial rules and regulations and the establishment of a fair judicial system to ensure that business enterprises conform to principles of business ethics and safety. Therefore, the government will be violating the rules of capitalism if it bails out companies experiencing financial difficulties (Rauchut 223). It is true that one of the responsibilities of a democratic governing system is to address social injustices relation to economic inequality within a nation’s population. With respect to this, the relationship between government’s actions and capitalism should be given some exception to address gross social injustices that results from a free market economy. It is within the rules of capitalism that members and business organizations in the society should be at liberty to produce and consume as per their economic capabilities. However, total liberalization of a nation’s economic sector will propagate the element of wealth or material inequality. Exemptions should be availed in situations pursuing the goal of establishing an equal society. In the case of financial predicaments, the government should be allowed to facilitate the acquisition of financial assistance by small and medium enterprises within the economic sector (Rauchut 227). Myrdal evaluates the association between the welfare aspect of societies and the establishment of a free market in any given nation. The principles advocated for by the welfare state ideologies were to facilitate the realization of an economically equal society. These ideologies were applied in many social institutions before other forces came into effect. Welfare states were aiming at distributing a state’s wealth equally among its’ members. However, the concept of capitalism presented new challenges to the practice of welfare in a nation. Capitalism involves the liberalization of a nation’s economic sector and detachment of the government from providing financial assistance to other members of a society (Rauchut, 572). According to Tocqueville, the American society is characterized by democracy in all the social, political and economic aspect of life. The pursuit for happiness has been facilitated by democracy in all the aspects of the US society. First, the principles of moral relativism are the main cause social democracy in the US. Secondly, the rule of capitalism in the nation’s economic sector creates economic democracy (Tocqueville, 583). In addition, the actual application of capitalism within the economic sector has been bolstered by the stable democratic political environment in America. Individual’s economic situations in America are as dynamic as the individual’s social situations. Every individual in the society strives to gather as much material possession as possible within the shortest time available. In conclusion, Tocqueville asserts that the concept of democracy in all the aspects of life is the underlying principle guiding America (Tocqueville, 584). According to Smith, the nature and causes of wealth in any nation is attributed to the principles guiding the economic practices within the boundaries of that nation. In his quest, Smith discovers that domestic commerce presents great opportunities to a nation’s economy. A nation that encourages and practices domestic commerce retains the economic powers within its boundaries (Smith 586). In this context, a nation’s population should be motivated and mobilized to embrace the concept of domestic business activities to ensure material wealth is not drained away from the society. In addition, the government plays a significant role in creating an environment that favors domestic commerce. Therefore, a nation should accumulate its wealth by structuring systems that encourages domestic investments by the nation’s population (Smith 588). Marx and Engels highlight the issue of inequality in the society trough the values held by the communist population in the world. In economic concepts, Communists holds contrary opinions to capitalists. Communists aim at providing a solution to economic inequalities in the society through distribution of wealth. On the other hand, capitalism aligns itself to the liberalization of a country’s economic sector. In their writings, Marx and Engels try to depict the conflict of principles that exists between capitalism and communism. These two writes asserts that a consensus must be reached to harmonize the main philosophies held by both the groups in a society. Marx and Engels add that social systems must seek to address the problems caused by capitalism through the application of some communism ideologies but in a careful manner to avoid interfering with the freedom in a nation’s economic sector (Rauchut 589). Buffett addresses the importance of freedom in developing a nation. In his examples, Buffett highlights different situations that serve to prove the benefit of political, social and economic freedom in the society. The strong economic foundation of America can be attributed to the elements of concept of democracy and freedom enjoyed by the nation’s citizens (Buffett, 599). Democracy in the political platform facilitates the establishment of effective governing systems that addresses the citizen’s interests. In addition, freedom of economy is responsible for the active and increased productivity of American societies compared to those in other parts of the world. Therefore, freedom has worked to the best interest of America’s economic sector (Buffett, 601). Williams illustrates another context of capitalism, which is the element of entrepreneurship in his writing. The integration of democracy and capitalism, which are both products of civilization led to numerous discoveries and innovations in the world’s economic sector. Capitalism encourages innovation trough competition. In the process of scrambling for the resources, other people devices skillful and intelligent means of acquiring a share of the pie. Devising of other legitimate means of acquiring capital apart from government employment is embraced within the American society. One of such intelligent skills is entrepreneurship. The richest self-made people in the world are entrepreneurs who applied the rules of capitalism in creating and accumulating their wealth. Therefore, the concept and benefits of entrepreneurship is acknowledged and widely practiced within the American society (Rauchut 604). According to Ebeling, the aspect of liberalism in the society provides the foundation of free markets. Individual liberty and the element of free markets facilitate the creation and retention of wealth at an individual level. However, the application of principles guiding individual liberalism is limited and falls within the boundaries established by the rule of law. Free market activities are also governed by the rule of law. In this context, Ebeling asserts that the society should thoroughly understand the democratic provisions of liberalism and its applications in the economic sector. In addition, Ebeling highlights that despite the presence of liberalism in a society, failure by an individual to honor the rule of law in a capitalistic environment will result in economic consequences (Rauchut 607). In the story of ‘I, Pencil’, Read addresses the importance of economic and political freedom in developing skills and techniques of production. The production of goods and services in the society incorporates the application of enormous scientific knowledge that ought to be acknowledged. All this knowledge is obtained from research activities done by members of a free society. In addition, Read addresses the role played by invention and innovation in a nation’s economy. According to Read, human beings will always invent new ways of addressing their economic problems if they are given an opportunity to do so by the political authorities. Therefore, economic freedom and capitalism facilitates the establishment of a prosperous and modernized society (Rauchut, 615). Works Cited Buffett, Howard. The Economic Foundation of Freedom. In Rauchut, Edward and Mason (Eds), Kirkpatrick Signatures Series Reader. Bellevue: Bellevue University Press, 2006. Print. Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America. In Rauchut, Edward and Mason (Eds), Kirkpatrick Signatures Series Reader. Bellevue: Bellevue University Press, 2006. Print. Smith, Adam. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. In Rauchut, Edward and Mason (Eds), Kirkpatrick Signatures Series Reader. Bellevue: Bellevue University Press, 2006. Print. Rauchut, Edward. American Vision and Values. Bellevue: Bellevue University Press, 2006. Print Read More