Camden Central High School
Camden, Tennessee
Teacher: Wanda Allen

A Change In Our Rights
By Lesli Oatsvall
11^th Grade

How would you feel if you did not have the right to free speech, and the government controlled everything you say and do? Just think, three hundred years ago you did not have free speech or any rights for that matter. Our U.S. Constitution says this: “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

In our society today we have many freedoms and rights. We have the right to privacy, freedom of expression, and the option to worship how we believe as long as it does not harm others. Just think, how many nations do not have the rights and options we have. Take for example the nation of Iraq; the women there are not allowed to show their hair or their skin. If they do the women can be put to death, just for this simple act. Here in America many women walk the streets in belly shirts, because it is their right. The government has no control over what you wear here in these United States.

However it took some time for our women’s rights to be put into effect in America. New Zealand actually started acknowledging women’s rights before the U.S. did. In 1893 women in New Zealand were given the right to vote, and in 1902 women in Australia were given the right to vote. Most people think that America was the first country to acknowledge that women actually have a brain and gave them the right to vote, but they are wrong. It was not until 1848 that women in the United States started to protest for more rights. And it was not until 1920 that women in the United States were given the right to vote.

It was an even bigger battle for African Americans to have rights. In 1619 the first slaves were brought over from Africa into Virginia. It was not until 1863 that slaves were freed due to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Even after African Americans were freed they still endured the fact that they had absolutely no rights. In the 1950’s and 1960’s when civil rights were starting to take place, and African Americans started to take up for themselves, they gained many new rights. Instead of segregated lunch counters and segregated bathrooms and schools, everything was...integrated. Now African Americans have many more rights. They can own property and vote. This did not come without many...struggles....

How would you feel if the President and those under him could listen in on your phone calls and know everything you said about anything? Well, thanks to your right to privacy you can rest easy with no fear of this ever happening. Many years ago you would not have had this right and could have been arrested for something you said or confessed to on the phone. Now if this happened the governments could be sued and more than likely would be sued.

What if you were made to go to a certain church and worship a certain god? In certain nations in Europe they enforce this religious policy. They tell you when to go to church, what to say, and how to say it. We Americans are not restricted by this religious act. We have the right to worship whomever we want, whenever we want, and wherever we want. This is inconceivable to those nations in Europe. We also have the separation of church and state. This is a debate to most Americans; is it good or bad? It is good because it does not force certain religions on certain people, but it is bad because this country was founded on Christianity and if we take church out we lose our background.

We also have the right to express how we feel, whether it is by protesting the war in Iraq, or by playing a song that shows how we feel. That is one of our rights. What if some one told you that you had to go to war and that you are not allowed to protest this? Sure in America we had the draft, but we were also allowed to protest it and make a difference in how the draft was run.

America is one of the greatest places on earth for the sheer fact that we have so many rights. Yes, they have changed a lot over the years but they have also gotten so much bigger and better. Whether it is by recognizing our Anglo- Protestant heritage, or by playing a sweet song commemorating our soldiers over seas, we appreciate our country and what it means to be an American.

Questions Re: the Required Reading and Certain Current Events

Q1- Explain, in your own words, the three developments in our culture that have contributed to the disorder Professor Huntington senses in the USA today.

The three developments are: Multiculturalism, Transnationalism, and Hizpanization of America. Multiculturalism is the combing of all of our cultures together in one nation. Transnationalism is non- American citizens proclaiming that they are citizens of the U.S. Hizpanization of America is Mexican immigrants moving into America, all of them only speaking Spanish, which makes it difficult to communicate with them.

Q2- Define and discuss the American creed, the ideology that Professor Huntington cites as one of the historic sources of our national identity.

Professor Huntington describes creed as a person’s individual rights and government by consent. The Creed to me seems like a building block for America; everyone must have a creed or else the government could not survive.

Q3- Explain the difference between culture and creed, according to the Professor.

Creed is “ applicable to all men at all times.” Everyone has a creed. But culture is your language, your religion, and your background- things that pertain to you.

Q4- Professor Huntington thinks culture is more important than creed. Do you? Explain.

I believe it is, yes. Sure, everyone has their individual rights, but everyone needs their culture or a background to lean onto. A culture is sort of a crutch. An example is how people pray when they are upset; religion is a type of culture.

Q5- Discuss “founding” as expressed by Aristotle’s Politics.

Founding in Aristotle’s point of view is this: to give a country the law, institution offices, and precepts that chiefly make this country what it is as a republic, aristocracy, monarchy or so on. To me this would mean giving the country anything it needs to be great, whether you want it to be good at war or you want it to be great at peace.

Q6- Complete the sentence attributed to Aristotle’s thinking: “We are just free enough to____________________.” (Fill in the blank.)

We are just free enough to be able to take responsibility for the things in life we cannot choose- the geographical, economic, cultural, and other factors that condition our freedom but don’t abolish it.

Q7- Which took precedence in the founding of America; natural law and rights or the British Constitution?

I would say that natural law and rights took precedence. In founding our country it was all about us. We wanted to start out own country designed for us and our laws and rights to have precedence over the British Constitution.

Q8- What was the reason for the traditional conservatives’ opposition to the rationalism that fueled the French Revolution?

They opposed it because its universal principles destroyed the conditions of political health in particular societies.

Current Events
Q9-American Intelligence efforts uncovered a group of Taliban leaders attending a funeral. By current military terms of engagement no action could be taken against these “sitting duck” enemies. Why? Is this, in your opinion, a good or bad outcome? Defend your position.

I think they could not attack because there was no violence shown against them. I think it is bad because even if someone is showing nonviolence it does not mean that at any moment they could not BECOME violent.

Q10- The Geneva Convention requires signatories, (the USA is one of a multitude of signatories) to enact their own laws in keeping with the ban against torture. Currently U.S. law prohibits conduct denigrating the dignity and rights of foreign prisoners that is so narrowly defined as to be codling in the opinion of many Americans. The military acknowledges that this conduct would not be reciprocated by Al Queda and Taliban terrorists.

Does this military code of conduct make you proud to be an American? Why or why not. If not, what should be done to correct the situation?

It makes me very proud to be an American. It shows me that even when we have prisoners of war of Al Queda’s and he has prisoners of ours we can be the bigger man and not harm our prisoners. This shows the character of an American.

Q-11 Can or should America impose its form of government on other nations?

We have no right to shove our government on any other nations. It took time for us to form our government; it will take time for other nations to figure out what government is best for them. We have no right to judge them

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