Politics:
The science or art of political government. The practice or profession of conducting political affairs.
1. (functioning as singular) The practice or study of the art and science of forming, directing, and administrating states and other political units; the art and science of government; political science.
2. (functioning as singular) The complex or aggregate of relationships of people in society, esp those relationships involving authority or power.
3. (functioning as plural) Political activities or affairs: party politics.
4. (functioning as singular) The business or profession of politics.
5. (functioning as singular or plural ) Any activity concerned with the acquisition of power, gaining one's own ends, etc: company politics are frequently vicious.
6. (functioning as plural) Opinions, principles, sympathies, etc, with respect to politics: his conservative politics.
7. (functioning as plural) a. The policy-formulating aspects of government as distinguished from the administrative, or legal. b. The civil functions of government as distinguished from the military.
A persons philosophy or belief system about government and includes beliefs about the type of governments and the basic principles that government officials ought to obey and what policies they should pursue in order to best provide for the people.
Liberty:
Freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control. Freedom from external or foreign rule; Independence. Freedom from control, interference, obligation, restriction, hampering conditions, etc.; power or right of doing, thinking, speaking, etc., according to choice. Free from captivity or restraint. Freedom from external (as governmental) restraint, compulsion, or interference in engaging in the pursuits or conduct of one's choice to the extent that they are lawful and not harmful to others.
Equality:
The state or quality of being equal; correspondence in quantity, degree, value, rank, or ability.
Aristocracy:
A privileged, primarily hereditary ruling class, or a form of government controlled by such an elite. A class of persons holding exceptional rank and privileges, especially the hereditary nobility. A government or state ruled by an aristocracy, elite, or privileged upper class. Government by those considered to be the best or most able people in the state. At first in a literal sense; meaning "rule by a privileged class" (best-born or best-favored by fortune) is from 1570s and became paramount 17th century. Hence, the meaning "patrician order" (1650s). In early use contrasted with monarchy; after French and American revolutions, with democracy.
Tyranny:
Arbitrary or unrestrained exercise of power; despotic abuse of authority. The government or rule of a tyrant or absolute ruler. A state ruled by a tyrant or absolute ruler. Despotism, Absolutism, Dictatorship.
1. a. Government by a tyrant or tyrants; despotism. b. Similarly oppressive and unjust government by more than one person.
2. Arbitrary, unreasonable, or despotic behaviour or use of authority: the ruler's tyranny.
3. Any harsh discipline or oppression: the tyranny of the clock.
4. A political unit ruled by a tyrant.
5. Government by a usurper. (esp in ancient Greece)
6. A tyrannical act.
Authoritarians:
1. Favoring complete obedience or subjection to authority as opposed to individual freedom: authoritarian principles; authoritarian attitudes.
2. Of or pertaining to a governmental or political system, principle, or practice in which individual freedom is held as completely subordinate to the power or authority of the state, centered either in one person or a small group that is not constitutionally accountable to the people.
3. Exercising complete or almost complete control over the will of another or of others: an authoritarian parent.
1879 (adj.), "favoring imposed order over freedom," from authority. Cf. authoritative, which originally had this meaning to itself. Noun in the sense of one advocating or practicing such governance is from 1883. Related: Authoritarianism (1909).
Regulation:
A law, rule, or other order prescribed by authority, especially to regulate conduct. The act of regulating or the state of being regulated.
1. The act or process of regulating.
2. A rule, principle, or condition that governs procedure or behaviour.
3. A governmental or ministerial order having the force of law.
Regulation is administrative legislation that constitute or constrain rights and allocates responsibilities. It can be distinguished from primary legislation (by Parliament or elected legislative body) on the one hand and judicial decisions on the other hand. [1] Regulation can take many forms: legal restrictions promulgated by a government authority, self-regulation by an industry such as through a trade association, social regulation (e.g. norms), co-regulation and market regulation. One can consider regulation as actions of conduct imposing sanctions, such as a fine, to the extent permitted by the law of the land. This action of administrative law, or implementing regulatory law, may be contrasted with statutory or case law.
Regulation mandated by a state attempts to produce outcomes which might not otherwise occur, produce or prevent outcomes in different places to what might otherwise occur, or produce or prevent outcomes in different timescales than would otherwise occur. In this way, regulations can be seen as implementation artifacts of policy statements. Common examples of regulation include controls on market entries, prices, wages, Development approvals, pollution effects, employment for certain people in certain industries, standards of production for certain goods, the military forces and services. The economics of imposing or removing regulations relating to markets is analysed in regulatory economics.
Types of Regulation:
Regulations, like any other form of coercive action, have costs for some and benefits for others. Efficient regulations are defined as those where the total benefits to some people exceed the total costs to others.
Regulations are justified using a variety of reasons and therefore can be classified in several broad categories:
- Market Failures - regulation due to inefficiency. Intervention due to a classical economics argument to market failure.
- Risk of Monopoly
- Collective Action, or public good
- Inadequate Information
- Unseen Externalities
- Collective Desires - regulation about collective desires or considered judgments on the part of a significant segment of society.
- Diverse Experiences - regulation with a view of eliminating or enhancing opportunities for the formation of diverse preferences and beliefs.
- Social Subordination - regulation aimed to increase or reduce social subordination of various social groups.
- Endogenous Preferences - regulation's purpose is to affect the development of certain preferences on an aggregate level.
- Irreversibility - regulation that deals with the problem of irreversibility – the problem in which a certain type of conduct from current generations results in outcomes from which future generations may not recover from at all.
- Professional Conduct - the regulation of members of professional bodies, either acting under statutory or contractual powers.
- Interest Group Transfers - regulation that results from efforts by self-interest groups to redistribute wealth in their favor, which may be disguised as one or more of the justifications above.
The study of formal (legal and/or official) and informal (extera-legal and/or unofficial) regulation constitutes one of the central concerns of the Sociology of law. Legal sociologists have in particular been interested in exploring the limits of formal and legal regulation in changing patterns of social behaviour.
History of Regulations:
Regulation of businesses existed in the ancient early Egyptian, Indian, Greek, and Roman civilizations. Standardized weights and measures existed to an extent in the ancient world, and gold may have operated to some degree as an international currency. In China, a national currency system existed and paper currency was invented. Sophisticated law existed in Ancient Rome. In the European Early Middle Ages, law, standardization, and the power of the state languished after the decline of Rome, but regulation existed in the form of norms, customs, and privileges; this regulation was aided by the unified Christian identity and a sense of honor in regard to contracts.
Beginning in the late 19th and 20th century, much of regulation in the United States was administered and enforced by regulatory agencies which produced their own administrative law and procedures under the authority of statutes. Legislators created these agencies to allow experts in the industry to focus their attention on the issue. At the federal level, one the earliest institutions was the Interstate Commerce Commission which had its roots in earlier state-based regulatory commissions and agencies. Later agencies include the Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission, Civil Aeronautics Board, and various other institutions. These institutions vary from industry to industry and at the federal and state level. Individual agencies do not necessarily have a clear life-cycle and patterns of behavior, and are influenced heavily by their leadership and staff as well as the organic law creating the agency. In the 1930s, lawmakers believed that unregulated business often led to injustice and inefficiency; in the 1960s and 1970s, concern shifted to regulatory capture, which led to extremely detailed laws creating the Environmental Protection Administration and Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Agencies and regulatory laws have slowed the growth of business and granted protection to businesses, although this is not always inappropriate given the potentially destabalizing effects of rapid change.
According to the Small Business Administration the cost to the economy of government regulation is approximately $1.75 trillion per annum.
Democrat Party:
Democrats uphold liberal or “Left Wing” beliefs and principles. The Left Wing generally prefer;
- Higher taxes for the rich for income redistribution to the disadvantaged.
- Higher levels of government regulation of business and corporations.
- Freedom of choice in personal matters.
- Support government control of the economy.
- Support government programs such as welfare & social security to help the disadvantaged.
- Higher levels of environmental regulations.
- Support government action to promote and tolerate diverse lifestyles, civil liberties and free expression.
- Strong Unions to protect workers from business owners.
Republican Party:
Republicans uphold conservative or “Right Wing” beliefs and principles. The Right Wing generally prefer;
- Lower taxes to promote private investment.
- Less government regulation of business and corporations.
- Reduction of government programs (welfare & social security) to discourage personal dependance on government.
- Support laws to restrict personal behavior that violates "traditional values" and endorse government action to defend “morality” and the “traditional family structure”.
- Support of a strong military and strong law enforcement.
- Small government and less government bureaucracy.
- Free-market economy and capitalism.
- Weak Unions to protect consumers from increased prices.
Political Spectrum:
Left (Liberal)
Liberals usually embrace freedom of choice in personal matters, but tend to support significant government control of the economy. They generally support a government-funded "safety net" to help the disadvantaged, and advocate strict regulation of business. Liberals tend to favor environmental regulations, defend civil liberties and free expression, support government action to promote equality, and tolerate diverse lifestyles.
Favorable to progress or reform, as in political or religious affairs. Noting or pertaining to a political party advocating measures of progressive political reform. Of, pertaining to, based on, or advocating liberalism. In U.S. politics, tending to mean "favorable to government action to effect social change."
Libertarian (Liberties and Freedoms)
Libertarians support maximum liberty in both personal and economic matters. They advocate a much smaller government; one that is limited to protecting individuals from coercion and violence. Libertarians tend to embrace individual responsibility, oppose government bureaucracy and taxes, promote private charity, tolerate diverse lifestyles, support the free market, and defend civil liberties.
A person who advocates liberty, especially with regard to thought or conduct. 1789, "one who holds the doctrine of free will" (opposed to necessitarian), from liberty (q.v.) on model of unitarian, etc. Political sense of "person advocating liberty in thought and conduct" is from 1878. U.S. Libertarian Party founded in Colorado, 1971.
Centrist
Centrist prefer a "middle ground" regarding government control of the economy and personal behavior. Depending on the issue, they sometimes favor government intervention and sometimes support individual freedom of choice. Centrists pride themselves on keeping an open mind, tend to oppose "political extremes," and emphasize what they describe as "practical" solutions to problems. As is often the case with centrism, it can be said that the radical middle or center is an ideology broadly analogous with the ideas, principles and values of progressivism.
Right (Conservative)
Conservatives tend to favor economic freedom, but frequently support laws to restrict personal behavior that violates "traditional values." They oppose excessive government control of business, while endorsing government action to defend morality and the traditional family structure. Conservatives usually support a strong military, oppose bureaucracy and high taxes, favor a free-market economy, and endorse strong law enforcement.
Disposed to preserve existing conditions, institutions, etc., or to restore traditional ones, and to limit change. Cautiously moderate or purposefully low: a conservative estimate. Traditional in style or manner; avoiding novelty or showiness. A person who is conservative in principles, actions, habits, etc. A supporter of conservative political policies.
Statists (Progressives, Big Government)
Statists want government to have a great deal of power over the economy and individual behavior. They frequently doubt whether economic liberty and individual freedom are practical options in today's world. Statists tend to distrust the free market, support high taxes and centralized planning of the economy, oppose diverse lifestyles, and question the importance of civil liberties.
Politician:
1. A person who is active in party politics.
2. A seeker or holder of public office, who is more concerned about winning favor or retaining power than about maintaining principles.
3. A person who holds a political office.
Statesman: (Independent Statesmen)
Statesmanship: The art of changing a nation from what it is to what it ought to be. Statesmanship conveys a quality of leadership that organically brings people together in a spirit of caring for others and for the betterment of the whole body politic.
1. A person who is experienced in the art of government or versed in the administration of government affairs.
2. A person who exhibits great wisdom and ability in directing the affairs of a government or in dealing with important public issues.
3. One who functions in the best interest of all concerned; even if it doesn't particularly serve their own personal interests.
4. A person who serves a public office.
"A Politician thinks only of the next election; A Statesman always of the next generation."
"What is the difference between a statesman and a politician? . . . A statesman does what he believes is best for his country, a politician does what best gets him re-elected."
"A politician is a person with whose politics you don't agree; if you agree with him he's a statesman"
"What the statesman is most anxious to produce is a certain moral character in his fellow citizens, namely a disposition to virtue and the performance of virtuous actions." --Aristotle
