Democratic Principles - Political Science Essay Sample

Democratic principles form an integral part of the American society. The nation was founded on the premise that all peoples were created equal and should receive equal and fair treatment not only from fellow citizens but also the agents of the state. For equality and fairness to be realized, the principles hold that each and every American should be accorded all opportunities to do as they please in pursuit of their happiness, including the right to economic freedom. Among the democratic principles that Americans treasure is the right to create wealth and own property. The significance of democratic principles in the United States can be demonstrated by the robustness of values of governance and a prosperous population. However, our governance system has several imperfections that erode the principles of democracy. The paper will discuss the benefits democratic values, in particular, creation of wealth and ownership of private property.

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Evidence suggests that democratic principles have a significant bearing on economic freedom and equality. In a democratic society such as the United States, citizens get the opportunity to pursue personal happiness through the acquisition of property and wealth. To create wealth, citizens are accorded to the freedom to access education which, in turn, assists them to engage in entrepreneurial activities that generate income and encourage ownership of property (Santas, 2007).The benefits of such rights can be seen in the ownership of land with the intention of generating various goods for the economy. This way, citizens can access services such as health and education which are essential for the well-being of citizens.

The right to own private property not benefits the persons involved in the pursuit of individual happiness but also confers certain gains to the larger society. According to Concersi (2008), the right to own property builds stable communities as well as engenders social cohesiveness for economic growth. Citizens who enjoy the right of private property ownership exploit resources to create value which translates to the remittance of taxes to the Republic. The collection of taxes from various property owners raises revenue for the government which it applies in the delivery of various public goods and services that enhance the quality of life of communities. As a result, this economic system allows the ownership of private property to benefit all citizens regardless of their economic status. For instance, revenue from taxes is used to finance public schools and also channeled to the efforts of conserving the environment.

Ownership of private property is as important and intertwined as the democratic ideal of wealth creation. Unlike the concept of private property ownership, wealth creation accords citizens the appropriate environment to undertake the process of deriving value from the property they own. The value that is created is manifested in goods and services which build not only the economic status of the owners of the property but also improves the lives of communities through the payment of taxes to the Republic. While operating in a liberalized economy and an individualized society, citizens, through free enterprise environment and entrepreneurship, gain access to various avenues of wealth creation which, in turn, builds the economic position of the country (Santas, 2007).Evidently, each citizen has equal and fair opportunity to create and access wealth through hard work and entrepreneurship. As such, a democratic society allows every individual to unleash all of their potential in building stable individual economic status as well as that of the nation.

Whereas results from the principles ownership of private property and access to wealth show significant positive results in terms of economic stability of a nation and its citizens, evidence suggests that their application can be destructive when government policies are discriminative. According to Santas (2007), the quest for wealth can be destructive if the democratic environment favors a small group of people in the society while making the rest of the population poorer. Usually, the small segment of the population that is wealthy uses its economic privilege to influence the decisions of the Republic which often favors their position and disadvantages the rest of the population (Conversi, 2008).For instance, wealthy individuals bankroll political campaigns for candidates during elections. Once such candidates are elected, the rich persons push their agenda through the politicians who end up making policies that favor their economic positions. Often, policies that pertain to tax are designed to offer more benefits to the persons who hold vast amounts of wealth (Conversi, 2008).In effect, few, wealthy individuals make decisions on behalf of the rest of society on the assumption that what is beneficial to them also benefits the larger portion of the citizenry. This scenario erodes the principle of equality as the economic issues of the majority are ignored.

Erosion of democratic principles is as a result of actions of both the leaders and ruled. Factors such as ignorance and selfish policies that advance the interests of a few play a significant role in undermining democratic values (Gilly, 2009).In other words, each faction fails to perform its role; public as a watchdog and the leaders as public servants. In the case of the citizenry, they elect leaders but fail to hold them accountable during rest of the period during which such leaders exercise the powers accorded by the people. In this regard, citizens are partly to blame for the wrong policies that are implementing by their elected leaders. Similarly, leaders design policies that benefit a small, wealthy group instead of articulating the issues that negatively affect the lives of the citizens (Conversi, 2008; Gilly, 2009). As a result, interests of the public are ignored, undermining the principles of fairness and equality.

In conclusion, democratic principles have been integral in the growth and development of an economic environment in the US. Notably, democratic values that advocate for the creation of wealth and ownership of private property have been instrumental in making the country as a prosperous as it is today. The pursuit of wealth through free enterprise systems allows citizens to create value from the private property. This value is shared with the state in the form of taxes, which is turn, distributed to the larger portion of the citizenry in terms of public goods and services. However, these democratic principles have been eroded to the detriment of most citizens. The mentioned situation results from the tendency by political leaders to implement policies that favor the interests of a few and wealthy individuals. Evidence suggests that citizens are partly to blame for the irrational policies that are implemented by their leaders. For this reason, citizens must exploit their democratic rights and hold leaders accountable for the bad decisions they make in regards to public priorities.

References

Conversi, D. (2008). Democracy, Nationalism and Culture: A Social Critique of Liberal Monoculturalism. Sociology Compass, 2(1), 156-182. doi:10.1111/j.1751-9020.2007.00063.x

Gilley, B. (2009). The right to rule: How states win and lose legitimacy. New York: Columbia University Press.

Santas, G. (2007). Plato's Criticisms of Democracy in the Republic. Social Philosophy and Policy, 24(02), 70-89. doi: 10.1017/s0265052507070173