He describes government in such a way that nearly, but not entirely, advocates anarchy. Paine calls government, “even in its best state [a] necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one;” (6). He attempts to predispose the reader’s mind to new ideas of government, namely one that involves American independence from England. Paine accomplishes this through an ideal definition and concept of government. He describes the purposes of government such as protection of property and citizens.
Outline Although the founding of the Constitution was a revolutionary, positive turning-point in American history, the US Constitution has a few unconstitutional and democratic shortcomings. Introduction In order to understand the shortcomings of democracy of the US Constitution, is it is important to know the background of its’ founding and how each article serves our country. Federalist No. 10, written by James Madison, asserts the importance of having the image of a democracy without its real substance. There seems to have been a very strong opposition towards democracy at the Constitutional Convention, although the framers were in the midst of creating democratic principles to appeal to the majority of the country.
However, he noticed during his travel in America that the American democratic government had some dangers. In his book, Tocqueville were focus on the tyranny of the majority over minorities, the development of bad tendencies such as individualism and materialism but all those derived from a major problem which is the structure of the government that maintains liberty and equality in America. The fundamental principle of democracy is the sovereignty of the majority and that what Tocqueville states by saying in the beginning of the chapter seven that “The absolute sovereignty of the majority is the essence of democratic government, in democracy, nothing outside the majority is capable of mounting resistance to it”3. According to that statement, there is only one way to run the society and all decisions have to be on the will of the majority. But this led to despotism.
The Totalitarian democracy is where the government uses power to treat everyone equal by controlling people’s lives and not allowing any political opposition. Power is the ability to get others to do what they would not do voluntarily. It is used in authoritarian regimes. These are non-democratic countries. There may be elections and parties but they are mostly limited by one and the range of candidates is very low.
One main point is that without voter identification laws, such as registering in your home state, Americans will try to vote in several states in hopes of increasing their candidates chance of winning the election. This would create in unfair advantage to the candidates at the polls and would not result in an honest election. Another argument is that these laws reduce the chances of Americans voting under fake names or under deceased names. If someone is using another person’s identity or making up a name, it can only be concluded that they do not want their actual identity discovered or known for whatever reason. Not only is it dishonest but it’s also against the law to use a deceased persons information for any reason.
But what is this feeling that marginalizes Americans? How can Americans discern this feeling from any other if their entire lives all they have known is a two party system? Arguments from supporters of any emerging third party are only speculations of a better system, in reality there is no concrete proof that in America a multi-party system would work. Americans know this and whatever the desire for change is the current system provides democracy that has been seen, felt, and lived. The two-party system is so resilient because it has become a part of politics that no amount of speculations will
Their basic altitudes towards the democracy and nonviolence conflict with each other. King’s own account of his philosophy of nonviolence indicated the extent to which he was influenced by Thoreau’s theoretical framework for thinking about civil disobedience and political obligation. Thoreau has confidence in democracy and the belief of unifying individuals of the society to realize it. However, Nietzsche overtly objected to democratic politics, with thinking that love, freedom and democracy are all the results of recognizing the right. Although democratic practices were on the way in the capitalist countries, he asserted that democratic politics possessed no advancement.
Government has its origins in the evil of man and is therefore a necessary evil at best.” He goes on to say that “government's sole purpose is to protect life, liberty and property, and that a government should be judged solely on the basis of the extent to which it accomplishes this goal.” Basically, Paine is stating to the common people that they have the opportunity to form their own representation of government and do it in a way that truly represents their wants and needs. He is also knocking the form of government the British have and elaborating on why they need to separate due to their own needs for America. Paine would later go into more depth of the style of government Great Britain rules with. The second and perhaps most important key point Paine was trying to explain was the Monarchy rule
This form of democracy ensures that each person of the country is conscious and acknowledges the government’s decisions, as well as being part of the decision-making. The quote strongly opposes the ideology of democratic liberalism, but identifies with classical conservatism as well as elitism. Therefore, the concept of elitism contrasts the ideology of democratic liberalism. The second source addresses a neutral comparison of democratic liberalism and classical conservatism. The author of the quote, Louis Brandeis, states that by both ideologies cannot coexist in the same society.
Civil Disobedience Analysis Henry David Thoreau in his essay “Civil Disobedience”, brings up many valid points about the government. The essay might be a little ahead of its time but Henry talks about the injustice of the government and how it wrongfully forces people to do its will. The government has gone passed the line and has been abusing its power. Thoreau expresses in his essay “that government is best which governs least”, and then also goes on to say “that a government is best which governs not at all.” What Thoreau is saying is that the people should be making most of the decisions in society, not a group of men in a position of power. In the American government, and many others alike, there are taxes you must pay.