America has core principles guiding its political ideologies. These concepts are namely equality, justice, and freedom. The three scopes of political ideas are explained in different ways and with proper implementation; they can demonstrate a nations democratic framework. For instance, political freedom refers to individual rights and a guarantee to exercise them as per the working constitution. Political equality, on the other hand, is the adherence of peoples voice in a countrys governance. While political justice is the judicial processes where the governments authority is either initiated to gain or limited. Nonetheless, they are all crucial to the smooth running of the country and ensuring that its citizens and those in authority adhere to the Constitution as its framers had initially intended. However, at some point, social controversies arise about how each of these three concepts is exercised. Therefore, this study will define each ideology, why it matters in the political platform and the social controversies that arise from each.
Freedom
Freedom on a political concept explains that people should live in a social system which adheres and runs by exercising individual rights altogether. In other words, freedom prevents those in authority from initiating force on its citizens and fellow men from forcefully engaging with their fellow citizens. The first ten amendments to the US Constitution demonstrate the framers desire to let American citizens live and enjoy their individual rights as opposed to being governed by a centralized government. That is when they framed the bill of rights. In these rights the founders felt that there was a need to uphold certain truths, that all people are created equal, they have an unalienable right to live (House 2014, 31). Moreover, it was felt that people should pursue their happiness, be liberal, and a right to participate in the national governance and consent to whatever happens within its boundaries. Due to the fear of having a centralized government the framers formulated laws intending that individuals retain their political freedom. They, therefore, affirmed that all American citizens have the freedom to worship, have free and fair elections, an independent press, organize protests, and mandated the national government to protect its citizens basic individual liberty. Further, it was substantiated that economic freedom should also be safeguarded. Individual economic freedom maintains that people have the right to choose their occupations and change them to their liking, join labor unions, spend the countrys resources, divide time between leisure activities and working, and others. By safeguarding the freedom of its citizens, the federal constitution prevents those in power and other men from the initiating force on those under them and fellow men consecutively. They explained that once an individuals right are violated their mind stops functioning and becomes distorted thus defiling their only means of survival.
Having a liberal political ideology matters in several aspects due to the impacts it has on a particular society. For instance, in America political freedom has made this society better in many ways. First, it is said that a free society guarantees a better economy. By focusing more on the liberties of its citizens, America has the most competitive and diverse economy. The American political platform upholds individual freedoms protect them from monopolization, standardization, and government control. Secondly, a society whose political freedom is exercised guarantees its stability. This can only be reached by providing free forums where citizens can petition their grievances and freely express the frustrations they have with their government (Lawless & Lucas 2011, 342). Some of the platforms that individuals can use are the media and participating in other political discourses. Whenever, a government provides for its people a proper forum then the dissenting groups do not feel marginalized, disaffected or suppressed. By proper implementation of political freedom, the state prevents violent revolutions and regime changes by the military. Lastly, political freedom allows people to embark on realizing their personal transcendence. When a government guarantees its people that they are free to worship and put into practice any religious belief at their liking, then individuals feel more open to seeking a higher understanding of their existence.
Nonetheless, although political freedom is essential to the growth and stability of a country social controversy often arise when individuals misuse their rights. Their actions then tend to pose safety problems to the public or cause shortcomings to a governments stability. Freedom of expression, for instance, has shown to result into a lot of shortcomings if not well managed. These days people have a large digital domain where they can express themselves (Shirky 2011, 28). However, these platforms have been misused by individuals with others being offensive and abusive too. By so doing such individuals infringe on the rights to safety of the offended person. Moreover, on these same platforms, individuals can pose statements that can destabilize a government. In such cases, the government may end up restricting the freedom of expression to prevent people from civil unrest or rioting in a bid to constrain any impending violence. Therefore, free speech on the digital platform is the greatest player of social controversies on political freedom. Due to these controversies the government is often left in bewilderment on how much or little they should censor their citizens freedom of expression and for how long they should allow individuals to keep continuing with these disparities.
Political Equality
Political equality is defined as the extent to which all citizens in a particular country have an equal voice when it comes to the governance issues within their society. Thus, everyone under the law is entitled to a proper legal representation. Moreover, political equality maintains that all people must obey the laws of the land regardless of their religious beliefs, creed, race, sexual orientation, and gender (Dahl 2006, 28). Political equality is embedded by one principle which is equal consideration of peoples interest and preferences in a particular society. By so doing a government practices the one-person vote, equal rights to speech, and equality under the law. By an equal consideration of peoples preferences and needs a government fosters same political activities for all its citizens in all forms without just considering the voting turn out. Some of the activities that contribute to equal voting turnouts include working in political campaigns and participation in their contributions. Also, partaking in the activities within their local communities and contacting those in power directly are part of equal activities. By participating in even political activities has proven to be an essential mechanism through which the people communicate their personal interests, needs, preferences, and exert pressure on their governments to respond.
Political equality matters a lot for the people within a democratic state. First, political equality establishes that the people are considered by their constitution. This explains that whenever individuals participate in the political views of their country, they get a sense of selfhood, belonging, and agency. Also, political equality is a constructive way of building a strong government and society. It is explained that a country can only be made if its people actively participate in cooperative activities with a commonly shared objective. By taking part in the political operations of the country the citizens formulate its social capital. And because political equality involves horizontal connections this implies that those at equal levels are always actively engaged. The third reason as to why a political equality matter is because by participating in the politics of a country an individual creates legitimacy. Legitimacy can only be realized through voluntary acquiescence to ones government. By so doing individuals agree to obey the laws without needing police control, and peacefully consenting to all electoral outcomes by those on the losing side. Political equality with its insistence on legitimacy explains that individuals should respect all laws and electoral outcomes even if they are not for them. It is maintained that these procedures are carried out through proper channels, processes, and by the citizens themselves. Further, political equality through participation demonstrates an educative importance. Through participating in the political procedures of their country people can understand their politics, democracy, and about their preferences and needs (Salomon 2011, 2143). Political equality is as valuable as equality in education. Lastly, political equality ensures that individual interests are equally protected under the law. In clarity, those who speak their political voices through voting or by other means enjoy the government policies within their society. With consideration that these statutes are formulated with close attention being paid to their preferences and needs.
Despite the prospective developments that have been evidenced in political equality, this approach in politics still faces several social controversies. These disagreements are mostly evidenced when it comes to adherence to equal gender rights. Although most governments have set down, laws that mandate all genders to be treated right under the law women are said to be facing plenty of barriers preventing them from enjoying equal recognition under the law. These obstacles are often related to religious beliefs and traditions of some societies (Fox & Lawless, 2011, 62). Moreover, women to date still face discrimination, female genital mutilation, and violence like rape cases. Furthermore, women in their workplaces are still paid less and given the lower ranking jobs unlike their male counterparts with claims that they are, the weaker sex.
Political Justice
In a political perspective, justice is defined as the use of judicial process purposefully to initiate gain by enlarging or upholding a law or to limit any governments political influence or authority. Political justice further may accompany or agree to a military or political action and also sometimes act as a substitute to such actions. Political justice upholds several approaches when it is being implemented. First, there should be distributive justice, which is concerned with the fair and just distribution of the available resources to all individuals within a state. Then there is retributive justice this approach is concerned with punishments (Banai 2012, 38). By using this method, political justice maintains that all those who violate the law should be penalized in a fair and just manner according to the crimes they have committed. The third approach is corrective justice. This concept is concerned with correcting any damages that have occurred after an individuals rights have been violated. For instance, if a person intentionally burns down another individuals house then according to political justice the culprit should both be punished under the law and also compensate the owner of the lost property. Lastly, there is procedural justice maintaining that all people should be accorded fair legal proceedings and trials. Political justice does not only involve just results, but these outcomes should grant a very fair procedure.
Political justice greatly matters in several aspects. Political Justice acts as the primary constrainer of government powers. The main vehicle through which the political right binds those in government is through institutional and...
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