Sidney Shemanski

Western Cultures 2

Professor Beatty

April 26, 2022

My Ideal Liberal Society

If I were put in charge of the entire American political system and I was told that I

have total freedom to organize society however I see fit, I would honestly have a very

hard time doing so. I think the way America’s society is run today is very successful and

sufficient, however there are a few things that I wish were fixed. I would choose to make

my ideal society a liberal society for many different reasons. I never really had a

preference for any ideologies before this class whether it be liberalism, conservatism,

socialism, ect. However, after reading about many different ideologies and learning more

in depth about them, I tend to fall more towards a liberal side. I believe that if I had the

chance to build my own society it would mainly be liberal however with a little bit of

conservatism.

After reading, “The Declaration of the Rights of the Man and the Citizen,” I can

agree with a lot of the views more so than Conservate views. The very first number listed

in the declaration states that all men are born free and equal in rights. The lack of these

rights are believed to be the cause of corruption of government which is why the

Declaration was created. The National Assembly of France, creates this document and as

a whole, touches base on every man's right (before the law of course) allowing every

citizen to feel equal. Now I do believe that it should have said, “all men and women '' but
the fact that it says everyone is equal no matter what is fair and just. The main reason I

side with liberalism is because of social and political change. I personally believe that to

be able to grow and improve, change needs to be done no matter what the situation. The

only way a society can improve is by trying new things which I have never been afraid

of. Conservatives on the other hand like to keep the traditional ways and believe that if

it's not broken then why fix it. This is true however after a while society changes,

technology changes, and our whole country continues to grow which is why trying

change is not a bad idea at all. Another key thing liberals believe in is freedom of speech,

freedom of press, and freedom of religion. Number 10 on the declaration specifically

says, "No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious

views, provided their manifestation does not disturb the public order established by law"

(Declaration). This perfectly shows the idea of liberalism due to the openness of a

citizen's opinion and freedom to religion. No one should feel that they cannot voice their

own opinions or follow different religions. Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy

based on equality before the law, liberty, and consent of government. Like I mentioned

above, it is heavily based on the belief in the value of social and political change in order

to achieve progress which I really believe needs to happen to be successful. Yes, if some

specific things are working well at the time there is no need to change those specific

things, but there is always room for improvement.

While the first thing I would do would make my society a liberal society, I would

make sure my society is run right in other ways. One thing I would also build my society

around is anti-racism. When we talked about Martin Luther King Jr. I forgot how
impacting he was towards the African American community. He is such an inspirational

person and to learn more about him writing in jail was very interesting. I am a person

who is not judgmental towards race, religion, ethnicity, ect. One thing I cannot stand in

today's world is how people still treat others differently because of their race. I would

make sure that my society and everyone in my society is inviting and treats everyone

equal no matter their race. It doesn't matter what color they are, we should all have the

same rights and be able to have the same opportunities as everyone else. One thing that

really stood out to me that Martin said was, “little children will one day live in a nation

where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.”

This quote gave me chills and even though we have improved since when he gave his

speech, we can be so much better and stop the racism that still lingers here.

Aside from my society being liberal and antiracist, it would certainly focus a lot

more on environmentalism. Today, we treat our Earth poorly with all the chemicals we

put in the air and all the trash we litter with. My society would put so much effort and

focus into treating our planet better and work on making our Earth last longer. Right now,

a lot of the things we do kill our atmosphere, and really hurt our ecosystem and the place

we call home. The planet is warming up faster than ever because of the vast amount of

greenhouse gasses that us humans are pumping into the atmosphere. We do this by

burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and gas, driving cars and cutting down trees. My

society would run on all electrical cars. I would not want to worry about all the chemicals

the vehicles are putting in the air and all the gas that has to come with it. In my society
we would work so hard on finding other ways to do these things and be able to treat our

Earth like it deserves to be treated.

Overall, my society would mostly be a liberalist society while also focusing on

equality for all and working on treating our beautiful Earth better.