Civil Liberties: A Social Analysis

The responsibilities of government are to protect its citizens by such means as our armed services or military weapons. Government is to ensure there is a way of fairly maintaining order as an example our police, National Guard, and to ensure every citizen has equal access to items, products, goods such as schools, and highways. However, government or politics often has a negative connotation too many as it is viewed as a way for lobbyists and those with money to make policies that are important or in some way helpful to them. Many view politics as dishonest and that politics is a manner in which someone or group benefits for their own advantage and not for society as a

Webster defines civil liberty as a freedom from arbitrary governmental interference specifically by denial of governmental power, and in the United States especially as guaranteed by the bill of rights. Civil liberties are the basic rights, and freedoms that are due to every American citizen. More than often, civil liberties and civil rights are often used synonymously, but those terms are very distinct. A civil rights violation happens during designated situations where a person is discriminated against based on physical characteristics. However, civil liberties deal with basic rights and freedoms that are guaranteed within the Bill of Rights and U.S constitution, inferred over the years by courts, and legislatures. Although, there are many liberties outlined within the United States constitution freedom of speech will be expounded upon.

The balance between the duty of the government, both on a state and federal scale, and the citizens’ view of freedoms has been a continuous struggle throughout the readings. Although many members of America’s youth believe that their participation in politics is aimless, public opinion and voting are very important aspects of shaping the government. Without certain civil rights being granted by the government, these important rights of expression and suffrage would not exist.

The government’s role for the people is to challenge them like how contestants from “The Amazing Race” or “Fear Factor” are challenged. Government should be like a reality competition show filled with adventure and danger (Amazing Race, 2003) (Fear Factor, 2005). Just like the government in “The Hunger Games” (Collins, 2008). People should compete for rights and liberties. The competitions can be held under the government’s supervision. These competitions can involve multiple life daring tasks and only the ones that survive win. The losers or the ones not so fortunate die in the process, a true fight to the death. Government works from a federal standpoint and does not get involved in local affairs.

1 McGahey 3 Megan McGahey Sherry Sharifian GOVT 2305 71430 20 September 2017 Civil Liberties vs.

There are moments when civil liberties should be curtailed in democratic countries like the US and Canada, in order to maintain national security. While this is true, there are also moments that an individual’s civil liberty should be maintained whereas it is not. Consequently, governments should make clear boundaries as to which occasions civil liberties should be restricted. For instance, both the Patriotic Act and the Anti-terrorist Act allowed rover wiretapping which are needed to deal with terrorists who have a sophisticated knowledge of how technology works.

1. 2 Define Civil Liberties; then define Civil Rights. How are they similar? How do they differ? Which civil sequence has more influence on your life as you know it to be now? Why do you believe this to be so?

When our founding fathers sat down to illustrate and create the foundation of the United States, they had many goals and ideals they set out to uphold. One of those is equality. It states clearly in our constitution that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” It can sometimes be a blurry line to if these ideals are still upheld in a rapidly changing and disunified country. This is where our civil sequences: Liberties and Rights, keep our country intact. 1 Both Civil Liberties and Rights are granted and defined in the Constitution. We must continue enforcing our civil sequences to maintain order for ourselves, our states,

When observing the government of this nation, there is one undeniable truth: the government’s primary purpose is for the safety and maintenance of its people. According to Morris I. Leibman in his article “Civil Disobedience: A Threat to Our Law Society”, the demand for equality cannot be converted into a fight for superiority. We must all learn to be equal under the law, and in order for this equality to reach its acme, we must learn to accept the policies that our government sets before us. In fact, as stated by

One might ask the importance of civil liberties after so many years. The answer is that we are all touched by these liberties every day. Even though civil liberties were embedded into the Bill of Rights in the late 1800’s, we today, as Americans, still have the right to be protected against any abusive power used by the government (Bianco & Canon, 2015, p. 106). Although Americans are protected fully today, it took over a century for all civil liberties to be implemented. With several civil liberties in place, which is most important? Which liberty protects us as Americans, most significantly? I believe all of our civil liberties are equally as beneficial and lead to the safety of every citizen in the United

I believe that the government keeping secrets from and lying to the citizens is hurting our society like in the brave new world. Our government has been doing our society a discomfort by setting secret meeting and denying public access even though the citizens are the ones who are being directly affected.

“the government may not jail, fine, or impose civil liability on people or organizations based on what they say or write, except in exceptional circumstances,” (Stone, Geoffrey). This shows that the government knows the population will try and obstruct, or hinder their progress. That if the citizens are allowed to change everything, that everything would constantly be delayed. In the United States, this is not the case. Over many years, the government has implemented ways that require a majority to get things changed. That way small groups of people can voice their opinions without bringing the government to a halt with changes. If anything, these changes help the government, and show officials were the problems are. They allow the government to see and understand people’s frustrations and work to fix them. In that way, the American government has remained strong, but yet flexible and susceptible to change at the same time.

Civil liberties are basic rights and freedoms granted to citizens of a country through national common or statute law. They include freedom of speech, freedom of movement, freedom from arbitrary arrest, freedom of assembly, freedom of association and freedom of religious worship. Such rights and freedoms form the basis of a democratic society and are often denied to those living in a dictatorship. Civil liberties are distinct from human rights in that the latter are universal rights and freedoms to which all people throughout the world are deemed to be entitled however, the two often converge. The UK judiciary has several methods that provide an effective protection of civil liberties

Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force! Like fire, it is a dangerous servant, and a fearful master.” -George Washington

Since the beginning of humanity, there have always been the rulers, and the ruled. The rulers have always been the government, and the ruled has always been the people. One would believe that the government would be truthful and be interested in their people's well being, but clearly, this is not the case. In fact, lies are often more common than the truth. Facts are changed based on the governing party's current needs. The government wants to control their people, to have an unquestioning, thoughtless population that make them more powerful, as this is their main priority. As a generalisation, the government is more interested in their well-being than that of the people who drive it.