Does Democracy Ensure Freedom?

Most of us at one point in life we might have asked our self, does democracy ensure our freedom? According to me, democracy ensures freedom, however, it does not always ensure freedom. Democracy is a type governance where the supreme power established by people for them is controlled by then indirectly with the use of representatives. According to Abraham Lincoln,democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. (Buccola, 9) Thus democratic nation sums up all their supreme powers and vests them the people they elect to represent them. On the other hand, freedom can be defined as the state of being free to do anything that you want. Additionally, in democratic countries, freedom is a political right. This paper will discuss broadly if really democracy ensures freedom?

Democracy is made up of two main principles which are equality and freedom. Hence, in democratic nations, their citizens are viewed as all equal before the law, and thus they all have a similar approach to the supreme powers of the country (Miller78, 447). The principle of freedom assures all certain legitimized freedom and liberty in democracy, which is mainly protected by the country's constitution. Freedom is also classified into two main concepts, which are negative freedom and positive freedom. In Positive freedom is the freedom to do anything apart from the freedom of interfering. While the negative freedom comprises of all options of all freedoms which are open to a person or a group people in general which interferes with the freedom of others(Arendt, 33).

In defining democracy, the most essential element is self-rule. The term democracy is made of two Greek words that are 'demos' and 'Kratos,' which mean people rule. This element of democracy is a very the fundamental concept of democracy since it secures the rights and freedom of people being governed. In a democratic of government people are sovereign, and thus they are the highest system of political authority (Hayward, 269). From this, we see that its citizens people must fully accept all the decisions created by the government. For instance, during elections period, all political candidates are given a chance to campaign freely so that can share their ideologies and policies with the voters allowing the voters to scrutinize every candidate's ideas.

According to Lewis, consent is an essential element in a democratic nation. However, it's not a different component. The most significant thing is not whether a large population of the voting population agrees or approves the government and their policies, but its the manner in which the consent is secured. Having the power to vote for someone to represent you in making laws is freedom (Miller78, 447). This is because it likes you are employing somebody to work for you, and he or she fails you replace them with another.

The ultimate goal of every government is to govern its people for their betterment. Thus most government today use democracy since it reflects the need for this form of government which allows the voice of its citizens to be heard through the elected representative. Since every voter's vote count and the majority votes trumps. The elected legislators later go to legislate laws and regulations which resolves the issue affecting populations. This provides the citizens with a fair access to the legislative process and equality before constitution making sure that the population is protected because they pass the laws and for them to protect their rights and freedoms (Hayward, 270). Hence it is essential for all elected legislators at all levels of government be it national or local level; they should listen to the voice of the people and respond quickly to their needs because the taxpayer employs them.

Another importance of democracy in providing freedom is the presence of a variety of political parties which represent different ideologies and policies to the people. In a democracy political parties are very strong and very active, hence playing a major role in the national political arena of the country. These parties also give the citizens a chance to exercise their freedom of speech and association. Additionally, the opposition party also helps to supervise the government, thus keeping the government on toes making them deliver to their citizens. Multiple parties also help in the protection of the human rights by upholding the dignity of all citizens and ensuring that all their voices even the weakest citizen is heard (Hayward, 270). Democracy ensures freedom for the people because for a county to be democratic, all it's citizens must have the freedom to decide whether they will take part in the political activities and hand over the power of legislation to a group of people or a person who is more qualified in making laws and solving serious political issues, like an elected legislator.

According to scholars, democracy is a type of government which depends on the constitution of a country. In the most nation, this constitution treats all people equally no matter their differences in culture, ethnicity or race. Thus everybody will participate in the process of legislation by electing representatives who will act on their constituent's interest and address the issues affecting them. Protecting peoples freedom properly by using legislation means people freedom will be ensured (Blais, 86). However, a democratic type of government favors the majority making the elected representative cater for the issues of the majority so that he can secure votes to maintain his seat and power. This makes the representative forget the minority hence no one will solve the problems facing them, and their voices won't be had. As a result, the minority will lose their freedom since the elected official will no longer hear their voices because he is busy appeasing the majority. Consequently, democratic type of government rewards politicians with the excess power which they use for self-benefit forgetting the common citizen. Unfortunately, not all elected officials are always a reflected desire of the whole population.

According to Dunn, democracy is not just the rule of the majority. Democracy is not also the right for anyone acts in whatever way they feel like with a callous disregard of other people. Consequently, democracy believes in the value and the opinion of every citizen thus it gives every citizen one vote so that we can all be equal. Even though it's the majority ruling, important foundations of democracy believe that everybody is equal and they should be treated equally even the individual who is a minority member.

The ultimate goal of every democratic government is to govern its people for their betterment. Thus most government today use democracy since it reflects the need for this form of government which allows the voice of its citizens to be heard through the elected representative. Because of every vote counts and the majority vote trumps. The elected legislators later go to legislate laws and regulations which resolves the issue affecting populations (Blais, 86). This makes the citizens have fair access to the legislative process and equality before constitution making sure that the population is protected because they pass the laws and for them to protect their rights and freedoms.

In conclusion, I do believe that democracy type of government ensures freedom for all. This is because the option and the will of the people are what matters in this type of government, since people have full control of their rights and freedoms. Democracy cannot be classified as the best type of governance because it has some disadvantages. However, it's the best option as compared to other types of government. This has made most countries in the world to adopt this types even though there is still some nation still using the traditional types of government. Democracy is better than this form of government since it aims at making everybody equal and striking balance in governing people thus allowing people to make their own rules. Democracy has ensured we have freedom through its core values which are freedom, fraternity, equality, accommodation of diversity and ensuring that justice supports all the human rights and freedoms as well.

Work cited

Arendt, Hannah. ""That is Freedom?."" (2014): 32-49.

Blais, Andre, Alexandre Morin-Chasse, and Shane P. Singh. ""Election outcomes, legislative representation, and satisfaction with democracy."" Party Politics 23.2 (2017): 85-95.

Buccola, Nicholas. Abraham Lincoln and Liberal Democracy. University Press of Kansas, 2016.

Dunn, John. Setting the people free: the story of democracy. London: Atlantic Books, 2005.

Hayward, Katy. ""Defining Democracy: Voting Procedures in Decision-making, Elections and Governance."" (2015): 269-271.

Miller 78, David. ""Citizenship and national identity.""? Democracy: A Reader? (2016): 447.

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