Ideology And Politics Essay, Research Paper

Ideology and politicsThe purpose of this paper is to treat the similarly and differences of liberalism. Iwill use John Locke and Adam Smith to represent classical liberals. John Stuart Mill andJohn Maynard Keynes will be used to show contemporary liberals. John LockeIn John Locke s Second Treatise of Government he develops a theory ofgovernment as a product of a social contract, which when broken justifies the creation ofa new government for the protection of life, liberty and property. He begins his argumentby developing a theory of the state of nature which is…what state all men are naturally in, and that is, a state of perfect freedomto order their actions and dispose of their possessions and persons as theythink fit, within the bounds of the law of nature, without asking leave ordepending upon the will of any other man.1The state of nature includes the …law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone;and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind who will but consult it… 2 The stateof nature also includes inequality…since gold and silver, being little useful to the life of a man in proportionto food, raiment, and carriage, has its value only from the consent of men,whereof labour yet makes, in great part, the measure, it is plain that menhave agreed to a disproportional and unequal possession of the earth.3In Locke s state on nature there are also three distinct problems.First there is no established settled known law. As each man consults his own law ofnature he receives a slightly different interpretation. Secondly there no known and indifferent judge. Which creates the problem of trying todecide which is the correct law of nature which will be followed in an impartial manor. Thirdly there is insufficient force of execution. This is the problem of how to carry outthe decision of the law of nature on another when he has a different interpretation ordoesn t consult the law of nature. Locke states that the three problems in the state of nature would be best solved bycoming together to form a new government to protect there property. The great and chief end therefore, of men s coming into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property…4And goes further into what this new government should be empowered to dofirstly…established, settled known law, received and allowed by commonconsent to be the standard of right and wrong, and the common measure todecide all controversies between them…secondly…there wants a knownand indifferent judge, with authority to determine all differences according tothe established law…thirdly…There often wants power to back and supportthe sentence when right, and to give it due execution. They who by anyinjustice offend, will seldom fail, where they are able, by force to make goodtheir injustice…5In Locke s government men only give up the right to the above mentioned things,to create the law for themselves, to judge the law for themselves, and to execute the lawfor themselves. These are the only rights that the government has the right to interfere inas it is the only reason that people entered into a commonwealth. Locke also explains thenew social contract that the new government should operate under. The first point of thecontract is that the people agree to form a body politic, in which the majority rule.Second the body politic selects a government of the day. (elects people on a regular basisto the government to legislate the law)Locke laid out who should be allowed the right to vote, who shouldn t be allowedto vote and gives his reason why. …all men as members for the purposes of being ruled and only men of estateas members for the prepossess of ruling. The right to rule (more accurately,the right to control any government) is given to the men of estate only: it isthey who are given the decisive voice about taxation, without which nogovernment can subsist. On the other hand, the obligation to be bound by lawand subject to the lawful government is fixed on all men whether or not theyhave property in the sense of estate, and indeed whether or not they have madean express compact.6Johns Stuart MillThere is no difficulty in showing that the ideally best form of government is thatin which the sovereignty, or supreme controlling power in the last resort, isvested in the entire aggregate of the community.7It is with this statement that Mill begins his augment in The Ideally Best Polityshowing his believe in Locke s democracy but saying that all people could be best servedby the government if everyone could vote. As this is the only way the government learnswhat it needs to know in order to govern. He comes to this concussion by saying thatparticipatory democracy is the best answer to the two questions that he poses as to whatmakes a good government. …namely how far it promotes the good management of the affairs of societyby means of the existing faculties, moral, intellectual, and active, of its variousmembers, and what effect in improving or deteriorating those faculties.8Mill believes that it is necessary to expand the role of government not only toprotect the people from the government but to promote liberty by putting limits on whatcan be expressed as public opinion against a minority, and to involve people in thegovernment so as to give them stimulation and help them develop. In Mill s writings he also discuses the idea of liberty and what limits government

and public opinion should have on interfering with a individuals liberty. …the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over anymember of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm toothers. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.9Differences Between Locke and MillAlthough Locke and Mill both believe in government by and for the governedthere chief difference is in the idea of who the government is for. Where Locke believesthat the purpose of government is to protect property, there for if you did not haveproperty you didn t have anything to protect and shouldn t have a voice in thegovernment. Mill believes in an participatory democracy in which everyone should havethe right to vote as it is a way of bettering society as a whole and making sure thateveryone s interests are consulted. They also differ on the role the government shouldplay in the lives of the governed. Locke advocates a government which doesn t have anypower to interfere in the lives of the governed out side of protecting their property.Where Mill would like to see a government which attempts to better the lives that itgoverns and protect them form the tyranny of the majority. Adam SmithIn 1776 Adam Smith published a book titled The Wealth of Nations in which herecorded his ideas on the way the money and the economy worked. He had came tosome important concussions about how the market worked which went hand in hand withwhy the government shouldn t interfere in its workings. There are three main points in his idea of capitalism the first was self interest…a drive to maximize income…by concluding the best possible bargain onthe marketplace into which everyone ventured, either to sell his or her laborpower or other resources, or to purchase goods.10 Second competition would act as a regulatorFor each man, out to do the best for himself with no thought of others, isfaced with a host of similarly motivated individuals who are in exactly thesame position. Each is only too eager to take advantage of his competitor sgreed if it urges him to raise his price above the level set by the market.11Thirdly the idea of supply and demand would automatically regulate what is produced,the quantity produced, quality of goods, and increase efficiency in the productionprocess. …the changing desires of society lead producers to increase production ofwanted goods and to diminish the production of goods that are no longer as highlydesired. 12John Maynard KeynesWhile Keynes agreed with Adam Smith on the way the market place works henoted that the wealth of an economy depends on the amount of money flowing and therate at which it flows. This means that the market place was prone to certain types ofmacro economic illness. These illesses areFirst, that an economy in depression might well stay there; there was nothinginherent in the situation to pull it out. Second, that prosperity depended oninvestment; for if savings were not put to use, the dread spiral of contractionbegan. And third, that investment was an undependable drive wheel for theeconomy threated with satiety, and satiety spelled economic shrinkage.13Keynes reasoned that…if investment could not be directly stimulated, why then, at leastconsumption could. For while investment was the capricious elementin the system, consumption provided the great floor of economic activity…14He looked to the government to maintain the macro economy. Saying that ifconsumption could be controlled in a way to heat up the economy when it is running coldand cool it down when it is running hot. This was to be done through the policies of…monetary control, mainly centered in the Federal Reserve banking system. By easing or tightening the reserve requirements that all banks had to maintainbehind their deposits, the Federal Reserve was able to encourage ordiscourage lending, the source of much economic activity. In addition, bybuying or selling government bonds, the Federal Reserve was able to makethe whole banking system relatively flush with funds when these were needed,or relatively short of funds when money seemed in excess supply. …second was tax adjustment…By raising or lowering taxes, particularlyincome taxes, the government could quickly increase or diminish this broadflow of purchasing power. …third was the federal budget…In inflationary times, a budget surplus wouldsere to mop up part of the inflationary purchasing flow. In depressed times,a budget deficit (covered by borrowing) was a mechanism for generating adesired increase in that flow.15Similarities common to liberalsClassical liberals held the believes that the government should be for thoughtswho were governed and held property. Inaddision that the governments only role shouldbe to protect peoples property and shouldn t interfere in any other part of peoples lives. Contemporary liberals believe that the government should take a much moreactive role in the lives of the governed both to better society and to protect it formfluctuations of the business cycle. All liberals believe that government should be held responsible to the governed toserve there secular purposes. That capitalism is the corner stone of the free marketsociety and that the government should not directly interfere in the micro economy. Andlastly in individualism that we are all free, rational, equal, act only according to our ownconsent, and have a right to voluntary association. ConcussionIn drawing this brief account of the liberal-democratic analysis of equality toa concussion we are properly struck by the significant distance which separatesthe contemporary, revisioist idea from that of its classical predecessors.16

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