How Liberalism Upholds the Public Good by Examining Power, Order, and Justice

Introduction

The social and political philosophy help in the classification of the current stake that liberalism has in modern society while using the concept of the public good. Scholars have generated approaches that examine the nature of common good and how the community can serve the best interest of the people through the use of this concept. The relationship between liberalism and the common good, yields to the satisfaction of the individuals' interest in society. Hence, the need to uphold these practices. Moreover, when culture combines the basic concepts of liberalism and the public good, it yields benefits that promote power, order, and justice (Magstadt, 2015).

Power

Power is the epicenter for any governance. It forms the necessary foundation in which the government conducts its most important activities such as the collection of taxes, law enforcement, security provision, and general regulation of the economy. Power has no equal distribution (Magstadt, 2015). However, due to the need to promote the common good, there is a need to concentrate power among the majority of the people in the society. Again, the liberalism approach also focuses on the significant aspects that relate to the exercise of power and authority over the people in any given community. It seeks to establish significant concerns about the potential in terms of determining who wields power, what interest will the power serve, and to what extent should the exercise of power reach.

Order

There are several levels over which order occurs. Jasinski (2016) states that since the society consists of the individuals sharing a collective identity, there is a need to observe order to enhance more aggregation of the people. The idea of the common interest among the people living in a given community helps to instill common sense into the people with the view of promoting the public interest. Moreover, the advocacy for order through the concept of the public good, enhance the levels of proximity since the people share experiences while at the same time upholding their values and skills. Findings, however, indicate that emerging democracies despite being liberal cannot easily maintain order since they have geographical concentrations of minority groups. Hence, they face a significant obstacle in the creation of rule within their systems of the ruling.

Justice

Advanced levels of common good may lead to the acceptance of the minority rule over the majority. This concept can best define justice. Just like in the major political powers, the idea of justice is also integral in the creation of order in society. Most importantly, the organization practicing the principles of justice can examine its liberalism channels to ensure that there is a moderate exercise of power on the people, for their most significant benefit and not to favor the rulers. Moreover, justice is fundamental in life since it establishes links between public exercises and political powers that determine the extent of the rule of law. Hence, using the concept of liberalism and public good allows the members of the society to question the ruling authorities about justice (Magstadt, 2015).

Conclusion

In essence, liberalism and standard good practices are the main determinants of a productive relationship between the people and the authorities in power. Again, there is a creation of satisfaction of individual interest through the combination of liberalism practices and the public good. Most importantly, society can teach the virtue of power, order, and justice that benefit the members of the community in all spheres of life.

References

Jasinski, K. (2016). Liberalism and common good. Studia Koszalinsko-Kolobrzeskie, 23, 305-319. doi: 10.18276/skk.2016.23-20

Magstadt, T. (2015). Understanding politics, ideas, institutions, and issues. Twelfth Edition. The Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Printed in the United States of America.

Martin, A. (2016). The Limits of Liberalism: Good Boundaries Must Be Discovered. SSRN Electronic Journal. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.2812146 (Martin, 2016)