Political Ideologies and Political Theories of Political Thinkers - Essay Example

?I. Political ideologies a. Liberalism Liberalism is a political ideology that advances the idea of liberty and equality that became popular during the enlightenment period in the western world. It supports popular democratic idea such as freedom of the press and speech, freedom to worship, freedom to chose its officials through free election and the right to life, liberty and property. It rejects the autocratic idea of absolute monarchy, Divine Rights of Kings and enforcement of state religion. The great political upheavals in history that ushered governments toward democracy was driven by liberal idea such as those in French Revolution’s Liberty, Equality, Fraternity and our very own American Revolution that believed that if governments no longer serves the interest the people, then it has to overthrown and changed. In our present political system, the Democrats can be considered as liberals due to the parallelism of their party ideology to liberalism. a. Conservatism Conservatism is often considered to be a right wing political ideology that seeks to uphold the traditional institutions in society. As an ideology, conservatism seeks to emphasize stability of how things were done and values continuity. Famous thinkers who advocated conservatism were Aristotle and Edmund Burke who presupposed that to change societies, it has to be understood at its present form, accept them as they are and help them evolve rather make a radical change. Conservatives, as what the proponents of conservatism are called, believed in the evolution of society as an agent of change rather than the radical or revolutionary change. In principle, conservatives were opposed to the kind of revolution such as the French Revolution and its kindred revolution. Conservatives believes and favors more the gradual change that does not shake society to maintain its stability rather a radical transformation. It grounds its ideology based on the reality of society and not on certain ideas of what an ideal society should be such as the society that Marx’s Communism envisioned. Such, conservatives are known to be realist than idealist. b. Socialism Socialism differentiates from capitalism in a way that its mode of production are owned or controlled by its workers and business does not exist. Industries exist only to satisfy a certain need or demand and its production and distribution is done through a centralized planning or planned by the state. Socialism is said to be the stage before achieving the final stage of communism. As a political ideology, socialism is characterized with the common ownership of the modes of production that it is not intended for profit but rather to satisfy a demand and to fulfill human needs. Since ownership of the modes of production is communal, it meant that no individual has the right to control the modes of production or resources. Production also is not intended for business but for use and to satisfy the needs of society rather than the accumulation of wealth through profit. Proceeds of the output of production is distributed according to individual contribution instead of salary as we know it. c. Fascism Fascism is a political ideology that aims to consolidate a country in terms of their national identity based on their heredity or race under a state that mobilizes its citizen through stringent discipline and mass political indoctrination. Its government is dictatorial and considers conflict as a necessity to achieve national goal. Fascism shares a trait with socialism that the modes of production are not controlled by an individual but by the state. But unlike socialism that does not entertain private enterprise, fascism promotes the regulation of private enterprise when it is beneficial to the state. Its economic goal is self-sufficiency. Governments that once were fascists were Italy under Benito Mussolin and Germany under Adolf Hitler. d. Anarchism.  The mainstream anarchist ideology such as that of Bakunin opposes any form of authority or institutions that will govern individuals and society and instead prefer stateless societies and voluntary associations of individuals. There is however a variation of anarchism such as the type of minimal anarchism espoused by Robert Nozick in his book Anarchy, State and Utopia published in 1974 whereby the state only performs limited function such as the protection of its citizen against violence, theft, crime etch. His version of anarchism intends to achieve utopia and in Nozick’s version of utopia, “is equivalent to the minimal state” (333) and is way better than the any political system because “the minimal state treats us as inviolate individuals, who may not used in certain ways by others as means or tools” (333). Unlike Bakunin’s version of Anarchy where anarchy follows after the abrogation of the state and all institutions, Nozick’s version of minimal anarchism argues that the minimalist state will naturally follow after anarchy. II. Political theories of political thinkers a. Emma Goldman Just like Bakunin, Emma Goldman was also an anarchist who was known for her political activism, fiery speeches and writings and played a major role in defining the anarchist political philosophy in America and Europe. She stood for free speech, women’s equality and unionization of workers. Emma Goldman is best remembered in the Homestead Strike in June 1892 where she and her friend/lover Berkman planned to assassinate its factory manager Henry Frick who was against unionization of the workers in the factory. The plan was to carry out a Propaganda of the Deed an anarchist political tool to spread its message through violent political action. Beckman will carry out the deed of assassinating Frick while Goldman will do the propaganda of the word. They hoped that their Propaganda of the Deed will instigate a revolt among the workers against the capitalist system. Bakunin influenced Emma Goldman not only in her belief of employing radical action to advance a political agenda but also in annihilation of organized economic system that exploits such as capitalism. The Homestead Strike in June 1892 and their planned assassination of Henry Frick is a representative of her belief that by assassinating Frick, this would instigate the workers to revolt against capitalism. These acts encapsulated Propaganda of the Deed and anarchist political ideology of annihilating organized institutions and systems that exploits. b. Martin Luther King, Jr. Martin Luther King political philosophy is non-violent activism. He believes in ending the discrimination against the Black Americans through a non-violent Civil Rights Movement and the brotherhood of man whereby one is not judged by the color of his skin but by the quality of his character. His peaceful and non-violent means of protest can be attributed to his deep religious background being a Christian minister and a president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization formed to provide new leadership for the now burgeoning civil rights movement. The ideals for this organization are taken from Christianity; its operational techniques from Gandhi. In the eleven-year period between 1957 and 1968, King traveled over six million miles and spoke over twenty-five hundred times, appearing wherever there was injustice, protest, and action; and meanwhile he wrote five books as well as numerous articles. In these years, he led a massive protest in Birmingham, Alabama, that caught the attention of the entire world, providing what he called a coalition of conscience and inspiring them through his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail", a manifesto of the Negro revolution. He planned the drives in Alabama for the registration of Negroes as voters; he directed the peaceful march on Washington, D.C., of 250,000 people to whom he delivered his address, "l Have a Dream", he conferred with President John F. Kennedy and campaigned for President Lyndon B. Johnson; he was arrested upwards of twenty times and assaulted at least four times; he was awarded five honorary degrees; was named Man of the Year by Time magazine in 1963; and became not only the symbolic leader of American blacks but also a world figure. c. Malcolm X Malcom X was born Malcolm Little on May 29, 1925. His father was a Baptist preacher who supported the Back to Africa movement. He was one the most articulate leaders of black America in the 1960’s and the leading spokesperson of the black separatist movement and was known for his Ballot or Bullet approach as enunciated in his speech in ending the discrimination against the Black Americans. In Malcolm X’s philosophy in ending the discrimination against the blacks, it has to be decided through elections or they will resort to violence if blacks were denied of their right to vote (Cohen and Fermon 637). Unlike Martin Luther King who advocated the end of segregation and separatism, Malcolm X advocated for black separatist movement that includes urging black Americans to cut political, social and economic ties with the white community. Malcolm X differed from Martin Luther King who called on for the equality of the blacks with the whites and sit together “on the table of brotherhood” because Malcolm X called for his own version of black supremacy. Works Cited Mitchell Cohen and Nicole Fermon. Princeton Readings in Political Thought. Princeton University Press. 1996 Robert Nozick. Anarchy, State and Utopia. 1974 Read More