Writing Feedback / Liberty and Functioning Democracy: What is Liberty? How Practical is it in a Functioning D [2]

Prompts
You will be required to write and submit a term paper on the topic "liberty and a functioning democracy". The main objective for this course activity is to evaluate your ability to integrate your knowledge from Modules 2 through 12 and, most importantly, to use this knowledge to critically examine the importance of the concepts "liberty" and "positive freedom" in liberal representative democratic governments.

Specific Instructions:

1. A good term paper must be argumentative. As such, a perspective or reasoned opinion is required. Moreover, your paper must have the following parts: introduction, body, conclusion, and references. The introduction puts forth the issue and your thesis statement. A thesis statement is your "main point" or "main reason" which is basically your main position or stance on the issue - liberty and its critical importance in a healthy democracy against the backdrop of the notion of "positive freedom". It serves as your overall argument. In other words, you must form an opinion by making positive or negative comments about the concepts

I have not cited all my work yet. I just want some help with how to logically organize the various ideas that I have and correcting grammar and spelling.

In a healthy democracy, the need for equality seems to be much more desirable than the need for liberty. While it is common knowledge that in order to accomplish greater equality, one needs to voluntarily give up one's liberty to a greater extent. Yet, when there is lack of equilibrium in the way equality is dispensed, it leads to inequality. Furthermore, in functioning democracies, laws, social interactions, morals and habits all reflect equality. Liberty, however, can be easily lost. While the advantages of equality can be seen immediately, I am convinced that the importance of liberty far outweighs that of equality.

Freedom
According to Mintz, Croci & Close (2012) western societies often define freedom as "the ability to act without interference, restraints, or coercion" (p. 53). However, in many of these societies there are often limitations place on citizens in an attempt to maintain law and order. It is in the common good of society, to have laws that prevent barbaric actions such as murder, theft and assault. Similarly, when those laws are broken, there should be punishments that are appropriate and correspond with the action. Interestingly, many governments in western society are passing laws that restrict freedom of movements and freedom of association, simply because they are concerned about the potential of those actions causing emotional and physical harm, when taken to an extreme. Furthermore, it has been noted that even when direct harm is not observed, governments are passing laws that prevents people from excising these rights (p. 53- 60). As a society, we have to be willing to probe and ask thought provoking questions about the way governments use the power vested in them. Are they using it to protect of our individual rights? Are they using it to take those rights away from us? When there are no limits on the extent to which governments are able to restrict individual freedom, certainly, citizens will feel cramped; strained to excise their individual rights.

Liberalism
Liberalism suggests that all individuals has worth and dignity, and that we are all capable of reasoning. As a result, we are capable to be able to make rational decisions and pursue our self interests; the ability to be free from restraints and the ability to be free from the rule of governing. Prior to the emergence of this ideal, democracy was not the order of the day. People were led by those who have absolute power, such as kings and the leaders of churches. In this early stage, philosophers wanted a society where individuals have absolute control over their mind and body. As a result, liberalism emerges. Even though it was agreed that because individuals are equal and free, the need for government is imperative to ensure that the competing interest of all is duly addressed.

]Social Contract
Locke (as cited in Mintz, 2012) argues that individual freedom and equality is natural; it is something that existed long before governments are created. However, due to our inability to resolve conflicts in a much peaceful way, there is the need for what he called the "social contract". This contract is an agreement to create an establishment for the sole purpose of protecting life, liberty and property. Therefore, this new establishment, now known as government, should be limited to acting as a "trustee" for protecting individual rights of all citizens and is subjected to the removal by the people, due to the fact that it has a social contract with its citizens (p. 53).

Reform Liberalism
As a result of this so called "reform liberalism", individual's right to hire and fire people based on the enterprise's discretion was severely limited. The shift in the function of government has had a huge impact on the right to own and use property. If individuals are supposed to be rational people, then surely there should be no concern about the abuse of power by the business owners. While some might claim that this is to the advantage of the working class, I am inclined to believe that it has not done anything for the working class except for limits their ability earn competitive wages. If companies are required to put in place all this law and follow all these regulations, surely they will move their business to societies where such laws do not exisist. If we look at the number of Canadian corporations, companies who have moved their companies away from Canada to Mexico, we can see how this has played a huge impact on the Canadian economy. If Canadian jobs are being moved to Mexico, then that means less job for people earning wages. This further illustrates why limiting individual freedom can have a drastic impact in both the economic activity of a nation and the so called "equality" in a society.

Positive freedom
There are those who goes as far as to say that government should have a role in removing "barriers" in society. Green championed this idea by arguing that government should do something productive for the people other than just protecting their rights and liberty. He proposed that the government should level the playing field by removing social and economic barriers that prevents people from bettering themselves. In contemporary democratic society, particularly in the United States and Canada, governments have passed laws such as affirmative action laws which was intended for "leveling the playing field for those that were "disadvantaged". In recent years, there have been several questions discussed about the effectiveness of those laws. In some universities, those who are not considered "disadvantaged" are able to have access to those rights. Also, if the main intention is to have the best people in university, then surely their academic scores should be enough to get them to any universities then so will. As a result, I am convinced that leveling the playing field both in the economy or education sector has no real benefits to society nor does it bridge inequality. Restricting or preventing those who have worked hard to earn something from limiting access to it in their individual freedom.

Democracy and Freedom
When we look at the relationship that exists between democracy and liberty, we often get different understanding; different interpretations. When liberty is combined with self government, there is said to be some compatibility. This is often considered so due to the relationship that exists between self governance, competition and civil liberty (Mintz et al., 2012, p. 63). Mintz (2012) points out that negative liberty is to some extent compatible with autocracy. They added that because civil liberty is concerned with maintaining individual control, and self governance is a form of maintaining individual control, the two are a product of one another. As a result, a clear distinction should be established between who govern and the extent it can interfere in the life of those it govern (p. 64).

While democracy in its inception is not necessarily inconsistent with protecting the rights and freedoms of individuals in society----the problem with democracy emerge when it starts to concern itself with redistribution of wealth. Due to the fact that democracy is extremely dependent on majority rule, it gives way to what has been termed tyranny of the majority. For example, if a majority decided to take away a person's personal property or their life, then it can be considered majority rule, despite the fact that what they have done is inconsistent with democratic ideals. With the creation of the rule of law, it made it impossible for individual freedoms to be restrained or taken away arbitrarily. Furthermore, the individual and the government are subject to the rule of law, making it harder to commit an offense and get away with it. Why we know that laws are often created by those with influence, citizens have influence over how laws are created through the electoral system.

Freedom and Order
It is common Knowledge that in many dictatorial regimes, the common way of maintaining order is through the creations of values. The laws and values of those countries often determine by the ruling elites. This gives them the ability to silent dissent without much opposition. Even in western democracy, governments and their security apparatus often raise fears that peace and stability of the country are at stake if protest are not stopped. This is just one of the various tactics that might be employed to ensure that individual liberty is curtailed (Mintz et al., 2012, p. 59).

Freedom and Morality
Some argue that in order to maintain certain morals within society, certain "immoral" acts should be banned. They cited the example of sex outside of marriage being immoral, homosexuality being immoral, abortion being immoral. If it were up to these individual, individual liberty of anyone engaging in these acts will be curtailed. They advocated for heavy punishment for anyone engaging in these acts. What they forgot to realize is that not everyone has this "moral" standards. Due to lack of consensus among public on these issues, it is seen as an undesirable topic in western society. In modern society, the position of a particular belief or moral standard is generally undesirable. In many situations that confrontation between those who hold a different belief has lead to conflicts (Mintz et al., 2012, p. 57)

Wealth
According to Easton, democratic countries such as Canada and the United State have a system where individual rights to own and use property are respected; as well as the right to use one's skills to enrich one's self. As a result of this right, Canada and the United State has achieved affluence. This has resulted in a large middle class that has a good material well being. As a result of one's liberty to own and purchase property, these countries have seen significant advancement in comparison to non democratic countries. This shows that in in democratic countries, Individual freedom is at the heart of their prosperity. Even though Easton pointed out that in this country, there are a significant number of people who still lives below the poverty line, he acknowledges that the poor in these countries are better off than those in undemocratic countries.

The Notion of the Common Good
In order to achieve what is considered the Common Good, a significant amount of individual freedom need to be suppressed or relinquish. The common good is defined as "certain general conditions that are equally to everyone's advantage" Who decides what these so call "common goods " are? What are their real motives in wanting to limit individual freedom in pursuit of the so call common good? The one example that proponents of the common good often gives is the idea of a universal health care. If then it is in the best interest of the entire society to have equal health, surely this limits my freedom to go and purchase a better care if I so desired. I don't believe that I should be limited to the same standard that everyone in society has, despite the fact that I can afford to pay for a much faster, better and efficient health. This is not in the interest of anyone, even those who suggest it might be so. In a free market economy like the United States, competition makes the prices of these services lower and affordable for all. As a result, there is no need to limit people's freedom to accomplish the so call "common good".

Modern Democracy and Freedom
Democracy in its true form should be in a direct form, meaning people are the lawmaker and policy maker in their country. However, as Aristotle pointed out direct democracy can easily become a mob rule. As a result, people are expected to elect someone to represent their interests. To put it another way, people elect someone to make decisions for them. While this so called "direct representation" is not so direct, it seems to have been embraced by those with influence in society. As cited in my Module 6, most of those in parliament are lawyers and they do not represent the blue collar people. While the intention of representation is to create equality in society, with this scenario, it is evident that representation has only taken away people's individual liberty and given them to powerful interest groups.

References
Mintz, E., Croci, O., & Close, D. (2012). Chapter 3. Politics, power and the common good: an introduction to political science (pp. 52- 77). Toronto: Pearson Prentice Hall. (Original work published 2006)

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Research Papers / Disability Culture (10% has some disability):A Nigerian's Perspective [3]

Introduction
According to Smith ( 2011), it is estimated that about 10% of Nigerians have some type of disabilities (Smith, 201, p. 35). In an attempt to address the daunting challenges that face people with disabilities and improve their quality of life, Nigerian government adopted the United Nation's Convention on the rights of person with disabilities in 2007 and has ratified it in 2010. However, due to the rampant level of corruption in government, many of the pressing challenges that face people with disability in Nigeria today has yet to be addressed. Over the years previous to the adoption of these laws, there was very little research being conducted into the plight of people with disabilities. In other words, very little was known about the challenges that faces people with disabilities in Nigeria (Akhidenor, 2007, p. 23). As a result of the ratification of the convention on the rights of person with disabilities, there has been a growing pressure from non governmental organizations for the need put in place social programs to address the challenges faced by people with disabilities. However, as a result of years of merginalization and oppression, the larger socio-cultural groups are hesitant to address many of the challenges face by this group of people. Additionally, African mythology and religion fanaticism have played a huge role in marginalizing, segregating, and oppressing people with disabilities (Akhidenor, 2007, p. 32).

Mythology
Traditional mythology is deeply rooted in almost every African society. The deeply rooted beliefs about the nature of reality and the concept of citizenship can therefore be greatly affected, depending on the approach which the society assumes. The common assumption that many people in Nigeria have about disability is the correlation between evil and disability. Within the different ethnic groups in Nigeria, the general understand is that a person with a disability has either been cursed by god or has offended the witches and wizard of the land (Akhidenor, 2007, p. 3). This is similar to the idea expressed by Okafor (2003) when he said: "some local ancient mythology has it that the disabled are social outcasts serving retribution for offenses of their forefathers"(Okafor, 2003, p. 5). Due to low levels of literacy and high level of ignorance, many Nigerians associated the cause of illness such as mental illness and depression to supernatural causes. As a result, people with mental illness are not given the proper medication and treatment in order to be able to function in society, instead, they are taken to the traditional doctors for traditional remedies. Additionally, in some cases these disabilities are not treated at all---they disregard them because they believe that is their punishment for their sins (Akhidenor, 2007, p. 7).

Families
As learned in Family Support, the challenges of caring for people with disabilities in any society is more evident in the cohesion and adaptability of the family. In Nigeria, Families are tasked with raising and caring for their family members alone. There is no governmental agency task by ensuring that families have adequate resources to be able to meet the needs of their family member with a disability (Akhidenor, 2007, p. 12). When the challenges of caring for their family member is unbearable, some families segregate them inside the house and ensure that they are kept in a place where no one can see them. In situations like this, many of their rights are threatened. They are treated like slaves and animals. In some cases, some families ostracize their family members with a disability. In a situation like this, they might leave them at the door of someone, they might throw them in the garbage, they might leave them beside the roads for death. In all of these cases, their ability to defend themselves or protect their rights is limited and become very vulnerable to people who sell human parts for rituals. Many families that decide to take ostracize their family members are of lower socioeconomic background and are often uneducated. According to Okafor (2003), there are often psychological consequences for people with disabilities who have been socially deprived (Okafor, 2003, p. 7).

Religion and Disability
Nigeria is a very religious country. There are two predominantly two main religions in the country, Islam and Christianity. Introduced in the era of colonialism, Christianity and Islam have played a significant role in the traditional fabric of Nigerian society. Therefore, understanding the role that religion has played in the way people with disabilities are perceived and treated will help answer some crucial questions about the plight of people with disability in Nigeria. (Munyi, 2012). Most families in Nigeria often attempt to apply prayer to the disability before attempting to sick any other conventional forms of care. Depending on the family, they might go to their religious counselors who often play a huge role in perpetuating stereotypical beliefs and attitudes about people with disabilities. In most cases, religious counselors often tell parents, especially, that their child is cursed by witches and wizards that they offended. (Munyi, 2012). They ask parents to pray and the disability will go away. After several years of praying and hoping that the disability will go away, they decide that the only option is to segregate that member of the family. (Munyi, 2012).

People with disability's plight Today
Despite the fact that Nigeria is rich in natural resources, human resources, customs and traditions, there has been very little done to address the challenges faced by people with disabilities. The micro system of the society plays a very significant role in the way values are developed. Families pass on values to their children, which in turns shape the way society treats people with disabilities. Gellman (1959) argues that the practice of child rearing affects people's attitudes towards people with disabilities. Adding that early relationships play a significant factor in the way children grows up to see people with disabilities. The need to conform to the standard of the adults affects the way a child interacts with people with disabilities (Gellman, 1959, p. 254). Odufuwa (2007) tells us that people with disabilities in Nigeria are marginalized economically and politically. Many of them have no sustainable livelihood (Odufuwa, 2007, p. 93). Persons with disabilities do not have access to transportation and their quality of life is often lower compare to the rest of the society (Odufuwa, 2007, p. 93).

Addressing These Challenges
The support currently available to tackle the challenges faced by people with disabilities is often inadequate. In the rural part of the country, there is a lot more support available to families of people with disabilities. The extended family plays a very important role in caring for family members with disabilities. (Smith, 2011, p. 40).The grandparents, siblings, uncles and aunts all come together to ensure that the best care is given to their family member who has a disability. However, when families do decide to move to the cities, either because of economic opportunities or for other reasons, the supports available to people with disabilities are lower in quality and quantity. There are several non governmental organizations who provided basic services to families with a disability. These community organizations are playing a major role in advocating for better quality in services afforded to people with disabilities and the quantity of services available. They do this by advocating for these services. (Smith, 2011, p. 35). They are also doing a lot of sensitization and educating the public about different types of disability and what their causes are (Odufuwa, 2007, p. 94). They have been very successful in getting the government to create what is called the Nigerians with Disability Decree Act. This act was created to address the issues that face people with disabilities and serve as laws that protect people with disabilities from having their rights withheld unnecessarily (Odufuwa, 2007, p. 93). However, the challenge facing the law is that it is not being implemented (Smith, 2011, p. 37). The government needs to create agencies that will be mandated for tackling these issues by enforcing the law (Odufuwa, 2007, p. 94).

Education and Disability.
There has been a growing number of interest in ensuring that people with disabilities are educated and are rehabilitated.The Nigerian government has created, under the Ministry of Education, a branch dedicated to tackling the challenges faced by people with disabilities in accessing the education systems. Due to the fact that many people with disabilities come from lower socioeconomic background, the government is providing supplementary loans and equipments for people with disabilities. Depending on which state of the country you are in, the amount of money you get is decided on an individual basis.This is partly due to the fact that some states in the country have no laws that particularly deals with issues facing (Akhidenor, 2007, p. 23).

Anti-Oppressive Practitioner in Nigeria
In order to be a good disability worker; a culturally aware disability worker, being person centered is important. It requires being truly focused on what the person wants as suppose to what I want. Making sure that my biases are not influencing the way I deliver services to the people I am working with. Listening and hearing what the person has to say goes a long way in demonstrating my competency skills. Keeping in mind the long history of oppression and marginalization of people with disabilities in this country, being sensitive to the needs of each individual is very important. Not assuming that what works for one family will work for another family. Taking time to build trust---I think that is the foundation to developing a relationship that is collaborative; truly taking an opportunity to let the families get to know me and be open minded (Ingram, 2012, p. 6959).

When delivering services, understanding that because of the experiences that people with disabilities in Nigeria have had, they might not be very open to support. Knowing how to connect them to services or other people with similar experiences from their culture will be part of my approach. I speak the various languages in the country, hence my ability to help the families with navigating services if they are new to the country will be an asset. Although, the primary language in the country is English.

Respecting the family's privacy is a major part of being a culturally competent disability worker. Helping the family access services in a way that is customized to fit their needs as opposed to just trying to provide service in a western fashion. In order to be able to do this, one must be flexible. My schedule will be flexible enough to accommodate the need of the families. Being aware not to use stereotypes that can offend people is a significant part of being a competent practitioner. I will do everything to prevent this from happening if I ever witness it ( Ingram, 2012, p. 6957).

In order to understand the nature of interactions between cultures, the ecological system can be used. The meso system refers to the instructions that exist between an individual's micro system. So this would be working with people at school, working with people in their community. As much as possible, ensuring that we develop a relationship that is built on trust is essential for the interactions that we encounter within this system is focused on the individual and that my role is merely to facilitate the interactions that will help germinate a future that focuses on the goal of the person. Advocating for people's right, ensuring that we use power with as opposed to power over, creating an environment that is conducive for developing relationships and ultimately a feeling of pride and inclusion in society (Moffatt, 2008, p. 251)

The macro system is looking at the more globalized aspect of society that affects the individual. At this level, I will like to advocate for the rights of disabled persons in Nigeria. While there have been several laws passed to address the needs of people with disabilities, there needs to be more action. More needs to be done to ensure that people with disability have some equality, justice and acceptance in Nigeria (Moffatt, 2008, p. 253)

In conclusion, the role of culture in understanding the disability experience cannot be overemphasized. The beliefs, traditions, mythologies and religion of any society will play a significant factor in they way they perceive different experiences. However, as demonstrated by Nigeria's experience, as a society progress, the need for understanding and appreciation of the uniqueness of every member of that society becomes more critical. When people combine their power and comes together, they are able to mold a society that reflects the aspirations and desire of all it's citizens, irrespective of their disabilities.

Writing Feedback / Personal learning style - How and Where I position myself in Kolb's style [3]

I have a visual impairment and it can often be very hard to pick up on all the grammatical mistakes in my assignments. If someone can help edit this, that would be great.

Prompt: consider the information you have from your learning style assessment, how would you position your learning style and why? When you read the article, where would you position yourself in- relative to Kolb's style and why?

​In a society that embraces diversity, it is very critical that one understand that there are different ways that we learn and process information. It is intuitive for us to do things the way we do them, to do them with people that we do them with, to do them at a time that is convenient to us and in a place that we are most comfortable. As a result, understanding these differences, within the context of our professions, will ensure that we are more effective at helping people learn. There are several research that has been conducted to support this idea. David Kolb borrowed from the idea of Piaget to create his learning style model. This learning style model and his experiential learning theory provide a solid foundation for teachers and other professionals looking to improve human productivity and effectiveness. In this paper, based on the personality test which I took, I will examine my own learning style. I will compare my opinion before taking the test with after taking the test.

​I grew up in a society where difference is a no, no. Everyone was encouraged to think, act and process information the same way. For some, that was fine. For me, it was absolutely disastrous! I could not retain any of the information that were being taught in class. The lectures usually consist of the teacher writing on a very dirty board and we were to copy it down. Upon finishing, she will go through the information . Months later, she will administer exams on this information and I will be completely blank, even though I studied.

When I took the personality test today, I really was not surprised when I had a tie for both Physical and Solitary. I learn best when I am able to participate and then go somewhere to reflect on the experience that I have just had. Having an opportunity to process the information is very critical to my understanding. I'm also very auditory. I have heard that this might be as a result of my visual impairment. I tend to learn things quickly when I can get my hands on it, reflect and hear some lectures regarding the topic. These three ways provide for the most complete experience in my understanding of new concepts. I'm very kinesthetic. I have troubles sitting in one place for a very long time without constantly shifting and turning. I think a combination of these styles enhance my ability to digest information and my ability to be very practical.

In comparison to Kolb's personality style, I find that there was not much of a difference. The personality test Identify me as being physical and under Kolb's Learning style I identify as a pragmatist. While I do find that I find the description of Kolb's learning style a lot more accurate for describing my personality, I think both are really one and the same.

When he said: "usually gets things done in an efficient manner because the final product is his goal." (Hurst, 2010, P. 423) I find that this describes me so well. I tried as much as possible to give myself time between assignments to make sure I get everything done before they are due. Also, when he said: "This person is often a leader, and prefers doing things to theorize about them"." (Hurst, 2010, P. 423) I find that this description is also very accurate for me. I like to take on leadership roles, when I'm given the opportunity to. I am also very impatient. I have trouble waiting for so long for something. If I don't get my grades quickly, I will be having anxiety problems. So understanding these things and their relationship to how I learn is very important

In conclusion, we know that it is extremely important to understand the way we each learn best in order to maximize the potential of each individual. Kolb's work gives us that understanding and allow us to be able to understand why certain people learn differently than us. I think it is extremely important to emphasize the need to understand that there is no one way of learning. Those teachers that accomplish the most out of their students are those that incorporate some elements of these styles.