Politically oppressed citizens

✍ Scribed by Bill Lawson

• Book ID: 104642590
• Publisher: Springer
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 192 KB
• Volume: 25
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-5363
• DOI: 10.1007/bf00148981

✦ Synopsis

Jennifer Hochschild gives the following characterization of Liberal Democratic Theory:

Liberalism asserts the unique value of all persons, political equality of all citizens, liberty of all humans, It insists on natural rights, autonomy, opportunity, dignity. Since the 1820s, Americans have used majoritarian democracy to translate liberalism's assertion into mass governance. Democracy calls for the sovereignty of citizens over government actions through collective choice of policies or leaders. All citizens have an equal right to express their political wishes and equal opportunity to act politically. Freedom is assured by keeping government responsible to the citizenry and channeled within constitutional bounds of rights and laws, which are themselves shaped through democratic processes. Thus in common American parlance, liberalism and democracy are inextricably entwined; the phrase liberal democracy embraces the vast corpus of philosophy and ideology. 1