The Liberal Backbone of America :: essays research papers

The Liberal Backbone of AmericaWithin the fabric of democratic capitalism, the American Constitution and government structure have a fundamentally heavy(p) backbone. Viewed as a affectionate contract, the relationship mingled with the state and the individual is expressed in the Constitution which dictates the liberal determine intrinsically woven into American history. Combined with the Bill of Rights, the Constitution holds the substitute government accountable for its actions and sets finite limits on the power it wields over the individual. A capitalist society such as that of the linked States uses taxation and wealthiness distribution as a tool for controlling genial equality, an requisite hypocrisy of liberal values in a democratic upbeat state. Classical liberal values that hold the individuals rights as paramount have been modernised to accommodate a mildly paternalistic social welfare system. Classical liberalism suggests that the state and society can be viewed as an immense social contract. In a liberal democratic country such as America, the composition is the fundamental part of that social contract it is a contract between the state and the elegant society. The American constitution is a guide to legislation and its interpretation. An essentially liberal contract, the constitution binds not only the government, but also the people. Through the constitution, the people conjointly commit to certain institutional procedures for managing worldly concern affairs and resolving social conflicts. The constitution not only limits the arbitrary power of the government, it also prevents public administration from being poisoned by peoples short-term tempers and passions. Through the constitution, the people jointly commit to certain checks against those capricious human sentiments. A central liberal principle which the American constitution serves, is to limit and separate governmental power. The classically liberal distrust of majoritarian tyranny has continued into present-day American regime through its role in the Constitution. In a liberal underlying system, there is an important difference between the constitution and ordinary laws. composition ordinary laws can be modified or annuled to protect civil liberties by the national legislative body, or be declared illegal or un ingrained by the process of judicial review (Burns et al, 1993, p.21), the national legislature usually has no unilateral power to modify or repeal the constitution, and the judiciary has no power to declare the constitution illegal. For example, in the United States, the constitution can only be modified after the legislatures (or constitutional conventions) of two-thirds of the states approve, or by a two-thirds vote of both houses of Congress, followed by check from three-quarters of the states or their ratification conventions (Burns et al, 1993, p.