A Comparative Essay
After reading America's Constitutional Soul, by Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr., and The True and Only Heaven, by Christopher Lasch, I came to the realization that while they have varying ideas on many topics, they have similar conservative views regarding citizenship and civil rights. Specifically, Mansfield discusses his belief that people are best served through a representative government and does not believe that all citizens should be allowed to rule directly (Mansfield 141). In this regard, Mansfield contends that people, in general, tend to be irrational and rely too much on feelings as opposed to reasoned conclusions (Mansfield 29-30). Therefore, if a true form of participatory democracy were practiced where all citizens have the right to actively participate in the decision-making processes, Mansfield believes that our society would not benefit. Mansfield, in maintaining his views that citizens are easily swayed by their feelings instead of by intellectual reasoning, believes that professional, special interest groups that are savvy enough to capitalize on this human weakness, would sway the votes of the majority and earn themselves a majority vote. To combat this problem, Mansfield believes (as did our Founding
This document requires that actions be formal. Finally, Mansfield discusses a problem with modern constitutionalism in that it makes civil liberties secondary to the natural rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (Mansfield 207). civil rights movements] weakened the spirit of sacrifice" (Lasch 80). Mansfield believes that it is necessary for our democratic nation to always be striving towards equality. He points to the fact that our United States institution is an institution of formalized behavior. Mansfield goes into great detail regarding how our government, through its formalized Constitution, protects the distinction between a person's rights and their abilities to exercise those rights. The underlying topic involved in the obtainment of rights and their exercise is "equality". Lasch and Mansfield seem to agree on these issues even though their perspectives are so different, with Lasch discussing them from more of a social science level and Mansfield discussing them in terms of policy and form and both with more than a hint of conservatism in their thinking. In fact, Mansfield discusses how a democratic society, "must necessarily comprise of unequal relationships" and that true equality is really only attained by maintaining a sense of "dignity of inferiors and by restraining the pride of the superiors" (Mansfield 194). Natural rights are those rights that a civil society is founded on (i. Mansfield is a staunch supporter of the Constitution, believing that it, in itself, is a Bill of Rights because it secures rights and is responsible for setting up the institution that makes the policies regarding those rights (Mansfield 184). As with any discussion of civil rights, it seems that the most obvious desire for equality surfaces as the next logical debate and, once again, it appears that Lasch and Mansfield concur that there is an obvious need for a more equitable distribution of wealth, but neither provides us with an idea of how to ascertain such a lofty goal (Lasch 532). Similarly, as Mansfield would concur, Lasch appears to be against reparation for those whose civil rights were hard fought and finally realized. Civil rights, on the other hand, are the more specific and limited rights that are established in a civilized society (Mansfield 182-183).
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