Camden Central High School
Camden, Tennessee
Teacher: Mrs. Wanda Allen
The Importance of Personal Responsibilities
By Jesse Kelly
Grade 12
Each and every individual of the United States has his or her own rights and responsibilities that they must practice and also maintain. But while maintaining this personal responsibility one must be able to balance or equal out several different aspects, those such as individual liberty and also the common good of man. Now most people understand the terms of individual liberty which means each and every individual of the United States of America has his or her own liberties and rights that they are entitled to, and the government can in no way alter or take away these liberties or rights. The government does however protect these rights and individual liberties. But the government cannot just function on its own to protect its people. And this could be related to as the common good that everyone must maintain and give up for the government in order for it to function, as it should. But sometimes these individual liberties and common goods of man are interpreted in a whole different way than what they really mean. Throughout the years, common good has had a false interpretation on people. It has sometimes been looked on as something separate from and superior to the individual good of its members, and has a tendency for the common good to be interpreted as the good of the majority. This is in no way what the common good of man should be understood.
Common good is doing what is best for the government in order to make improvements or to benefit in some way that it helps all and not just one person. Common good is beneficial to all and not just a majority or even a minority of the people. Freedom, a fundamental personal and social good is another natural requirement of mans existence. Again, each and every individual of the United States has the ability to think what he wants to think and also has the ability to control his own energies in his efforts to act as according to his own thoughts.
Would you like to be told how to live, where to live, and how long you were going to live there? I know I wouldn’t and I hope no one else would either. And the reason we don’t have to live like this is because of one word that every American should take pride in and be glad to say. That word is liberty. The purpose of the right to individual liberty is to allow people to live their own lives in the way that they choose it, as long as they do not aggress against the freedom of other individuals. So basically every individual is free to act as long as they don’t interfere with others rights, groups of people, or mainly the government.
Whatever the common good is meant to be, it must be good for everyone, otherwise common good would be misused and it would defeat the purpose of having certain liberties. Liberty fulfills this requirement since that self-directness is good for every one person. The common good doesn’t rest on what men do when they are free; it rests on the fact that they are free.
As I mentioned before the proper role of the government is to protect the freedom that gives each individual the right to pursue happiness or the good that each defines for himself. The United States government ensures the common good of man when its functions are restricted to protecting the natural right to liberty and also maintaining peace and order at the same time. If a government couldn’t do this then what kind of government would that be and what would be the purpose of each citizen practicing common good and what would even be the purpose of having individual liberties? But once again, we mustn’t solely depend on the government to make all of this work, we as United States citizens must do our part in order for the government to be able to perform at its best ability. So this is where we, as free individuals, come in. in order to make all of this work we must equal out how these rights, liberties, and the common good of man are used. In other words we must balance our individual liberties with the common good of each and every man. So some people may think that the world’s the way it is because of our government, but it’s not. It’s because that individual did not do his or her part. They didn’t fulfill their responsibility as an individual of the United States. That’s where we come in; we do our part and improvements will be made.
Questions
Q1- Why does Machan use "steal" in his statement: "Private property solves this problem, but was abandoned a long time ago when taxes reached the point where we can steal our way to being provided with all sorts of things we desire, never mind thinking about paying for them or long-range budgeting."?
By saying steal he meant it was like we weren’t even having to pay for things that we desire. It’s what we would call “Government aid”.
Q2- Machan said: "For that which is common to the greatest number has the least care bestowed upon it." Give two examples of this from your personal experience.
One example would be baseball cards. I’ve got a lot of baseball cards but if I lose a few or don’t take the best care of them it doesn’t really matter because I know that I have got several hundred more. Another example would be old toys. I’ve got toys that I used to play with lying around everywhere but I don’t use them anymore, so I don’t care for them as much as I used to.
Q3- Do you agree with Machan that "...everybody is more inclined to neglect the duty which he expects another to fulfill; as in families many attendants are often less useful than a few."? Give an objective example of this.
Yes I agree because this could be like someone at work or at home always telling someone else to do this or do that, but then again they themselves wouldn’t do it.
Are We Going the Way of Rome? (Lawrence Reed)
Q4- State Kershner's First Law. Do you agree or disagree and why?
“When a self-governing people confer upon their government the power to take from some and give to others, the process will not stop until the last bone of the last taxpayer is picked bare.” Yes I agree because the average individual will see it as unfair and will not stop until they get what everyone else got.
Q5- What industry was the first to be taken over by government in both ancient Rome and the USA?
The first industry to be taken over by government in both ancient Rome and the USA was Transportation-shipping.
Q6- Is cheapened money the cause or the outcome of inflation? Explain.
I think that it is the cause because cheap money means that more of it is needed to buy different things, so therefore inflation comes about.
Q7- How did the Edict of 301 affect Rome's economy?
It affected it because it sent the whole society into chaos. It affected one person, so it then spread to everyone else.
Liberty and Individual Responsibility (Dwight R. Lee)
Q8- Lee claims that individuals could be "entirely independent of others" except for what? Explain.
Except for “society and personality”. Individuals will be entirely independent until it comes to these two things because it has got to be reached on their own.
Q9- Describe the dilemma concerning rules as discussed by Lee.
If there are no rules then exert force to make people follow thoughts of others or just set rules that will make you follow them.
Q10- Why is the concept of private property crucial to freedom?
The concept of private property is crucial to freedom because it helps everyone to be a better individual and it makes us as citizens have the need to excel.
Lawrence Reed's testimony before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee.
Q11- Argue both pro and con that in his testimony Lawrence Reed was advocating compassion and aid for the poor.
I think that if someone is seriously poor because they are unable to work and they actually need aid, they should be able to get it. But I don’t believe that people should get it just because they are too lazy to get up and work. That’s taking advantage of the aid.
Q12- "If people are free, they will not earn equal incomes; conversely, show me a people who have equal incomes and I will show you a people who are not free." Explain in your own words Mr. Reed's meaning.
It’s in a way like all the Communists. They are equal human beings, but not free because they are made to be equal. They’ve got no other choice and that is not freedom.