Camden Central
High School
Camden, Tennessee
Teacher: Mrs. Wanda Allen
The Role of Personal
Responsibility in Balancing
Individual Liberty and The Common Good
By Kyle Hickey
12th grade
As a person living in the United
States, I believe that we must exert ourselves in more ways than one to try to
help out the common good of. I believe we have sort of unspoken
responsibilities we must accomplish in an every day basis to balance our
individual liberty and the overall common good.
One way I believe we have this responsibility is a very major way concerning
our individual liberty. That responsibility is really an easy and painless one
- voting. I think voting is a major responsibility in order to establish our
individual liberties. Our constitution gives us citizens the ability to vote.
Voting is not only to help your favorite candidate, but it gives people a
chance for enhancing their individual liberties by voting for a person that
wants to give them more liberties. Voting is also a way to balance common good
among the place they live. I talk about common good as the over all aura a
place has with its citizens per se. I feel that if everyone voted in a country
their common good would be higher and other countries would look up to this
patriotism thus again, raising the common good in a place. I believe a place
can also raise its common good by communicating more with the people living
there about their lives and individual liberties. If the government could
communicate a little better with the people it could in itself create a
balance in common good by hearing the views of the people with their own
individual liberties.
As far as personal responsibilities concerning individual liberties and the
common good there are so many ways to help out personally in each of these
areas. People living in an area could set up more places to help the needy or
set up a recycling center or do anything to help establish a better common
good within a domain. I am ashamed to say that most citizens are worried about
themselves more than the common good of their domain. An example would be
people who live in a domain with turmoil and crime, and they couldn’t care
less what happens around them as long as it is not happening to them. I myself
have seen people around me like this and these actions are not good for the
overall common good at all. I believe that people also think the sense of
common good will never leave because the government will always make it
better, but I myself think common good is deteriorating a little all the time
as more and more citizens tend to care less about everything.
Individual liberties are at an utmost high to me. I believe this because there
are so many varieties of races living in society today that it has to be. In
history, individual liberties came mainly at a slow steady pace to one race at
a time and as more and more races of individuals integrate into society more
and more individual liberties will be needed for each person and race. In
history, individual liberties were first gained by rich white people, and then
all white people, then African Americans and Native Americans followed. Now in
society there are more races integrating and reaching out for individual
liberties such as Asian Americans and Mexican Americans just to name a few.
Integration of races to me is very important when you talk about individual
liberties but it isn’t the only concern. Another thing you hear when talking
about people needing individual liberties is groups such as homosexuals and
varied religious groups that feel they need more individual liberties.
Personal responsibilities that would balance individual liberties and common
good are hard for me to figure out. I believe the only way a person could
actually balance these two ideas of individual rights and common good
personally would be to establish yourself and protest to gain your common
rights and at the same time consider yourself in a role to help raise the
common good. I myself would find this hard to accomplish on a personal note,
but I feel that some activists and groups could succeed in balancing their
individual liberties and the overall common good. I believe we have a role in
society to balance these two continuums, because who else besides the people
these affect personally would have personal responsibilities in doing so?
People should stand up for liberties, but they have to keep in mind the common
good and they are having a hard time at it. I myself hope to do my personal
role in the balancing if individual liberties and the common good in my future
in life.
Questions
1. Why does
Macon 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.”?
A: I believe he uses steal because there are certain things such as natural
resources and other givens we have today that we use so inconsiderably that
we are stealing per se from the future people by wasting today.
2. Macon 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.
A: Magazines and clothes are two things we have a lot of and are important
but even myself have little care for.
3. Do you agree with Macon that” … everybody is more inclined to neglect the
duty he expects another to fulfill; as in families many attendants are often
less useful than a few.”? Give an objective example of this.
A: At work am I an office manager for the night shift and many of the
morning office managers neglect to do all the jobs that are supposed to be
done such as sorting money and arranging files and the just leave the duties
of theirs to have me do them later.
4. State
Kershner’s first law. Do you agree or disagree and why.
A: Kershner's First Law: "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."
I do agree with this such as people with food stamps. Many people who have
them waste them are not essential for their living, but me as a taxpayer has
to pay for some lazy person to eat steak every night instead of working for
money to buy food. They just mooch off society and these people are who is
picking the taxpayers bare.
5. What industry was the first to be taken over by government in both
ancient Rome and the USA?
A: zthe transportation and shipping industry.
6. Is cheapened money the cause or the outcome of inflation? Explain.
A: I think cheapened money is the cause of inflation because the more money
is cheapened; inflation has to occur to keep up with the cheapening of the
money to make a profit.
7. How did the edict of 301 affect Rome’s economy?
A: I believe this edict made rules so fiercely that it sort of sent society
into a chaotic state.
8. Lee claims that individuals could be “entirely independent of others”
except for what? Explain.
A: I believe we could be entirely independent of others except for
interactions with each other. A person would go crazy if they had everything
but had no one to share with and talk to.
9. Describe the dilemma concerning rules as discussed by lee.
A: There has to be rules or there would have to be force bestowed on people
to be uniform so set rules would be more convenient to the outcome of
society.
10. Why is the concept of private property crucial to freedom?
A: Private property is crucial to freedom because people can’t be free
unless they have to privilege to own private property.
11. Argue both pro and con that in his testimony Lawrence Reed with
advocating compassion and aid.
A: The poor who need aid seriously should get it but I have no compassion
for people who get aid and are poor because they are lazy and will not work
12.” 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 that are not
free.” Explain in your own words Mr. Reeds meaning.
A: I say look at the communist people. They were equal but not free because
they are made to be equal so that is a sense of what Mr. Reed meant.