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Essay on Liberalism-3
Liberalism is an ideology, philosophy, and political tradition which hold liberty as the primary political value. Broadly speaking, liberalism seeks a society characterized by freedom of thought for individuals, limitations on the power of government, wealth, and religion, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market economy that supports private enterprise, and a transparent system of government in which the rights of minorities are guaranteed.
John Locke is considered one of the first philosophers of the Enlightenment and the father of liberalism. John Lock’s ideas formed the foundation of liberal democracy. His ideas emphasize individual rights, mainly the right of one's person not to be interfered with and the right of justly acquired property. He held that people can acquire rights to unoccupied property that did not require the agreement of government. He argued that the purpose of government is to protect those rights and that we can be justified in rejecting a government that interferes with them.
Locke developed a version of the social contract as rule with the consent of the governed derived from natural rights. The role of the legislature was to protect natural rights in the legal form of civil rights. Locke built on the idea of natural rights to propose a labour theory of property. Each individual in the state of nature "owns" himself and, consequently, his labor. Any fruits of his labor become his by merit of his or her own effort. With a society of individuals thus owning their labor and its fruits, an economy naturally emerges based on private property and trade, with money as the medium of exchange. (Steven M. Dworetz).
Locke said that God gave man "certain rights that shall not be taken away from him, those rights being life, liberty, health and possessions; but, in the "Declaration of Independence", the pursuit of happiness is mentioned instead of possessions................
