Growing up, I can remember my Social Studies teacher telling us that her class was going to give us an introduction to democracy. I thought the word itself must have a simple definition, but class and life experience later revealed how multi-layered and complex it is.<\/p>\n
My definition of democracy was linked to a form of government that allows Americans rights and privileges that aren\u2019t extended worldwide. More particularly, the right to participate in governmental affairs and the participation of such comes through the voting process as eligible voters are given the unrestricted right to exercise this at ballot boxes nationwide.<\/p>\n
From my perspective, democracy is rooted in freedom and equality coupled with the foundational principles of fairness, justice, and respect for human rights. My deeply held convictions about liberal democracy stem from its ability to balance collective decision-making with individual rights, creating a framework for justice and accountability.<\/p>\n
At the heart of my belief in liberal democracy is its respect for individual liberties. Freedom of speech, religion, and association are cornerstones of American human dignity, allowing people to express themselves without fear of persecution. These freedoms are called to be protected by the law, ensuring no one, including the government or its officials, can be above the law. This principle resonates deeply with my belief in fairness and equality, as it provides a stopgap against abuse of power.<\/p>\n
Deneen argues our political and economic system is facing a self-inflicted crisis. From his vantage point, liberal ideology is premised on a change in the way we think about liberty. He walks a fine line in his description of Democrats and Republicans by introducing that both are divided but united by the same ideology. This was eye-opening as I wrestled with the fact that, in many ways, all political parties can quickly and unintentionally become an anti-community.<\/p>\n
One point that resonated with me was Deneen\u2019s take on the need for community, which individualism has deeply impacted. He claims that people have never been more lonely. Citing Americans have grown to become more unhappy through loneliness, he says, ” More than any other people, Americans have pursued a living arrangement that promotes the conception of ourselves as independent and apart.<\/em> [1]<\/strong> Speaking to autonomous liberty, he says it expands without limit. Liberty, so defined, requires liberation from all forms of associations and relationships, from family to church, from schools to village and community. [2]<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n As America must contend with a multitude of issues, such as populism and authoritarian tendencies, inequality and social division, as well as political polarization, no one can deny liberalism is under attack. Deenan affirms my beliefs when he states nearly every one of the promises that were made by architects and creators of liberalism has shattered.<\/em> [3]\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Liberalism was founded on the principle of inclusiveness. The rights of minorities and a platform for diverse voices to contribute to public discourse are inherent to liberal democracy. This inclusivity fosters unity within diversity, a value that aligns with my belief in mutual respect and coexistence. Additionally, liberal democracy promotes accountability and transparency. Free and fair elections and a free press ensure that leaders remain answerable to the people. This system empowers citizens to challenge corruption and advocate for their rights.<\/p>\n As Deenan calls for a shift in our understanding of liberalism, I cannot fully wrap my mind around or endorse his political method of superior ideology for countering the flaws held by liberalism. Deneen has some map-making of his own; he weaves between statism and individualism and how they advance together as powerful forces of liberalism. Another point that paused me to ponder was his look at the loss of liberty and technology. Deneen highlights the increasing anxiety tied to technological development. Our anxiety arises from the belief that we may no longer control the technology that is supposed to be the primary tool of our liberty\u2026 an inevitability to technological advances that no amount of warnings about their dangers can prevent. [4]\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The role of technology and our reliance upon it has become near mandatory. If one does not have an e-mail, website, and arguably a social media presence in some form, an individual can be defined as antiquated. Gen Z has now become the first digitally native generation serving as the pioneers of the digital demographic. How technology further impacts liberal democracy is now something I will keep my eyes out for.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1] Patrick J. Deneen, Why Liberalism Failed<\/em>, Kindle (New Haven\u202f; London: Yale University Press, 2018), 3.<\/p>\n [2] Deneen, 37.<\/p>\n [3] Deenen, 2.<\/p>\n [4] Deenan 109.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Growing up, I can remember my Social Studies teacher telling us that her class was going to give us an introduction to democracy. I thought the word itself must have a simple definition, but class and life experience later revealed how multi-layered and complex it is. My definition of democracy was linked to a form […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[3400,2967],"class_list":["post-39988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-deenan","tag-dlgp03","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39988"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40003,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39988\/revisions\/40003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}