Burlington High School

Burlington, Kansas

Teacher: Devra Parker

 

Freedom: Your Personal Responsibility?

By: Ethan Jones

12th grade

 

The question since the dawn of civilization has been to be free or to be safe and equal.  In America, we tend to lean towards freedom.  However, many countries are more about equality and safety than being free. This seems to be because there are problems that get in the way of freedom.

 

Fear has always been a hurdle to having a free civilization.  The fear of other people causes countries to lean towards common safety instead of personal liberty.  For example, the fear of being shot by another person might lead to a country banning guns, or the fear of being robbed might [result in] curfew [laws].  Even if these laws do make people safer, they take away the basic…rights.

 

Human greed is another problem that can get in the way of freedom.  Lao tze, a Chinese author, once said that “there is no calamity greater than lavish desires; there is no greater guilt than discontentment, and there is no greater disaster than greed.”  Greed blackens the heart and [destroys] freedom.  [Some] people [prefer] equality to freedom so that they do not have to work and will still receive the same amount of food and money as their [working] neighbor.

 

Although, our Declaration of Independence states that all men are created equal, it also says that we have the right to pursue happiness.  When a country focuses too much on the common good, that right is taken away from us.  A man cannot pursue happiness when everyone is given the same goods.  There are no extras to strive for.  The sense of needing to better yourself and your community is lost in the fact that no one is better than anyone else.

 

It’s not to say that we shouldn’t worry about the common good.  The safety of everyone in the country is important.  For example, you cannot allow someone to carry a gun around school just because our Bill of Rights gives us the right to bear arms.  It is important to put limits on freedoms such as this.  Also, the government should help people that are having a hard time.  I am not heartless.  I do not think that everyone should be left completely alone to become rich or die in starvation.  Tragedies happen to good people.  When they do happen, I think that it is the government’s job to step in and help.  By stepping in and helping I mean loan people money, assist with high medical costs by providing Medicare and Medicaid to the poor and elderly and even provide some welfare to people that do not make enough money.

 

The government helping people is a double-edged sword, though.  If a person is living comfortably off welfare, then there is no reason for him/her to go get a job.  He/she just becomes lazier and everyone has to work harder for him/her to live.  Also if they loan a person too much money, they are just allowing them to commit financial suicide.  The person will declare bankruptcy causing the government to lose all the money they loaned them and the person to practically never be able to be loaned money again.

 

So, the question is how far should the government go?  Here in America most people seem to think the government should not go very far.  People feel that it is a person’s responsibility to take care of him/her self.  Also, it is a person’s personal responsibility not to infringe on another person’s rights.  In America we all have the freedom of speech.  However, saying something that another person thinks is vulgar or hurtful is harassment.  If a person is considerate and polite by not saying any words another person finds offensive then he/she gets to keep the right of free speech without hurting the common good.  Personal responsibility goes a long way in having a democracy.

 

Personal responsibility seems to be the only way to keep a balance between freedom and safety.  If people continuously are hurting other people and infringing on other people’s rights, then the government will step in.  Governments only have to take away freedoms if people do not respect them.  There is no need for laws in a society where everyone respects everyone else.

 

As you can see, freedom is far from easy.  The odds are against a free society surviving. … The only way we are going to be able to stay [free]  is if people continue to make it their responsibility to respect other people’s rights.  

 

Answers to Questions Regarding the Required Reading

 

Q1-What do you think Justin Reiter meant by including the following in his essay?

 “…if the people are not accustomed to the freedom, they will be angered by the inequality.”  Were you angered by some of the things Justin said in his essay? Did you agree or disagree?

 

I believe that the reason Justin said this is to point out that not everyone would like to be free and not equal.  People who have been equal with their neighbors their entire lives would not like the idea of becoming a lower class than them in order to have more freedom.  I agree completely with this idea.  America is not a society built for laziness and inequality.  It is a society meant for people to be free and excel.

 

Q2- Explain: “He felt that the common good could be served by each individual pursuing self-interest.”  To whom did Chris Carney attribute these feelings?

 

These feelings were attributed to James Madison.  This is important to us because as he is the father of the constitution his thoughts and ideas have a great deal of impact on our lives.

 

Q3- In the next to the last paragraph in her essay, Faith Doyle discuses Emperor Diocletian and his Edict of 301. Relate that to the essay topic.

 

The edict of 301 in Rome had the government control the prices of everything in the market.  This is a prime example of caring too much about the common good.  The prosperous markets of Rome collapsed and in the end everyone was miserable.

 

Q4- Kelly Lanier says in her essay: “Even though everyone is born with the same rights here in America; sometimes a person can step on or take away the rights of another person.” Relate the example she gives and give us another one of your own.

  

Her example is that we have a right to bear arms, but if one person bears arms and shoots another person, he or she is taking away the other person’s right to live or to be free from harm.  My rights have been stepped on by a person practicing their right to free speech.  The person said something vulgar and offensive in a public place and infringed on my personal rights.

 

Q5- Explain what Joshua Spencer means when he says that “individual liberty is a fragile, yet powerful, asset.” How does he relate individual liberty to dictators?   Do you agree with his assessment? Why or why not? Be specific.

 

I believe he means that individual liberty gives people the freedom to accomplish great things, but can easily be taken away by someone like a dictator.  He say’s that dictators want to get rid of liberty because it is a threat to them.  I agree in the sense that if people do not think that they need a person controlling them then they will get rid of them.

 

Q6-Luck Hall asked “Will we maintain our freedom or destroy it to be safe?” How would you answer that question?

 

I believe that if the desire for safety ever became out of control that we would incidentally destroy our freedom.  History has shown that in hopelessness and the wanting to feel safe is the perfect environment for a dictator to rise.

 

Q7- Some people, according to which student essayist in 1999, suggested that “the Constitution's framers might have 'put greater emphasis on the protection of the community over individual liberty', had they seen the world today.”? She doesn’t agree.  Do You?

 

Molly McGlone stated this in here paper all I really need to know I learned in kindergarten.  I too disagree with this statement.  I believe that they would have seen that personal liberty is the best way for the greater good.

 

Q8- “Just because a law may achieve desirable results, it should not take precedence over the Constitution.” Do you agree or disagree?  Aaron Traffas, discusses the Ban on Smoking in Public Places and the Gun Free School Zones Act.  How do you personally feel about these two issues?

 

I disagree with this idea.  I believe that the constitution is a living document and as times change there may need to be laws that take away a right given to a person in the constitution.

 

Q9- Annie St. Romain referred to a book in her essay where “the government regulated every possible aspect of human life from profession to family to emotions.” What was the name of that book?  Have you read it?

 

The name of the book she referenced is the Giver by Lois Lowry.  Unfortunately I have not had the opportunity to read this book.

 

Q10- “As nations grow in size and social complexity, governments claim greater powers to restrain individuals and groups.  Those who criticize this development believe that it has gone so far as to threaten the existence of individual liberty.  Others believe that only if government is granted such powers, can complex problems be solved.” This quote can be found in Jessie Veit’s essay.  Which side of the issue do you support and why?

 

I believe that you cannot allow the government to claim more and more powers.  History has shown us more than once that one human’s greed is the destruction of another’s liberty.  

 

Q11- Give three examples where personal responsibility would replace the need for laws. Do not duplicate those found in Patrick Karcher’s essay.

 

A person not driving while intoxicated would allow us to not have a law that banned it.  Being courteous and polite to co-workers would allow us to get rid of sexual harassment laws in businesses.  Parent’s teaching their children about sex and sex education could help get rid of abortion laws.

 

Q12- It is obvious that Benji Lehman is idealistic.  In his essay he claims when the founding fathers “wrote the constitution they put a great emphasis on each person having personal rights as well as individual liberties. The true strength of each and every community falls on the individual. Believing each man, woman, and child will, and can recognize the importance of good responsibility. … These were laws that gave each and everyone of us the opportunity and self-respect to do the right thing.”  Benji believed that people would make choices that would serve and benefit their communities. Do you believe that? Please explain.

 

I feel that this is too optimistic.  As much as I wish everyone was perfect and made the right choices it is not reality.  People will personally and accidentally make poor decisions for as long as humanity exists.
 

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