The Death Of Liberal America Essay -- essays research papers

Americans seem to present lost any sense any(prenominal) of what liberalism means and what it strives to insure. Liberals have insisted that tyranny can only be combated by the multiplication and fragmentation of power. A free society is one in which there are various centers of power, various positions from which people have the big businessman to influence conclusions. Thats the whole point behind creating three branches of government, the vaunted separation of powers. Liberalism aims to insure peace and prevent tyranny in pluralistic societies. Liberalism strives to guide lots of individual actions outside the pale of politics and beyond arrest from the state or other powers. And, cultur every last(predicate)y, it strives to promote tolerance, where tolerance is, at a minimum, indifference to the choices and actions of others and, at best, a recognition that diversity yields some companionable benefits. Liberalism guarantees through freedoms of speech, the press, and assoc iation, and through the institutional mechanisms of election, jury trials, and legislative advisements, the active interlocking of citizens with one another. Liberals should promote in every way possible the initiation of a vibrant, accessible, and uncensored civil society. In short, liberalism proliferates the occasions where citizens of different opinions, backgrounds, creeds etc. mingle with one another, express their views, and argue about specific issues. And in some, but not all cases, these settings have to move to a closing that is then accepted, even when not very satisfying, by all the parties involved. participatory procedures of decision making which guarantee to all interested parties their chance to scan their piece (their chance to sway others by argument), and use the vote and bulk rule to adjudicate differences, are a vital liberal politic for keeping the peace. Thats because democracy, amazingly enough, has proven an astoundingly effective way to pay peopl e to accept - peacefully - the fact that they have ended up on the losing side of a political debate that was resolved by a vote. Liberalism, we might say, relies to some extent on the desire of all the participants to maintain the social peace. But even more fundamentally, it expects that the process of deliberation will move participants to an appreciation of the others involved, and the desire to come to an eventual decision that satisfies as m... ... strife. There are few things worse in this worldly concern than sectarian violence. Do the Republicans really know what fire they are playacting with when they encourage sectarian divisiveness? And just look at the electoral occasion of the past two presidential elections. The South and the West are run along up against the Pacific Coast States and the North. We havent had such a regional divide since 1860. How long can California and the Northeast be shut out from issue power? A population laid into set divisions, a populati on without a big percentage of vacillation voters is in bad shape a population where those divisions correspond to geographical boundaries is really courting disaster. If the South and West maintain their current coalition, we have a reversion to the regionalism that culminated in the Civil War. Certainly, there is plenty of turn out to suggest that the South continues to be the fly in the ointment of American democracy. It has never been as fluid in its awarding of votes in national elections as the other regions, and that has been a constant problem. The fact remains If you arent outraged, you arent paying attention. Seems like a lot of people arent paying attention.