The Importance Of Personal Liberty

Flags burning under raining bombs, gunshots echoing through a field of raining terror, while hiding underground for the day where humanity can roam free again; situations as so aren’t exactly what people imagine when thinking about one’s future. Every death was honored by those who lived; lives lost during wars of any kind are unlike lives lost in our country today, not for the value of those once living are greater than another, but from how much those lives mean to this day. Establishment and preservation of freedom wasn’t easy and will never be easy; many people served until their last breath, for the freedoms of our lives today. That is why we must continue to grasp for freedom, and to establish and preserve our freedom most effectively we must have the heart to be free, and have united dedication to freedom itself.

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 intend to discuss these issues while also discussing why it is important for these issues to be highlighted in this document. Firstly, the issues of personal rights are acknowledged at the beginning of the document. “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good” . At this time, to be equal meant the end of legal differences.

The shared passion of visionaries, thinkers, and writers profoundly influence society in the modern world and hold in their hands the ability to craft a better future. They inspire new ,, and sometimes even revolution. Two documents of the 18th century, The Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of Rights of man established and angle for which we view human rights, liberties, and human freedoms. While the underlying motivations of the declarations each have a distinct purpose, the intent to establish universal human rights parallel and often mimic one another in language and meaning. Both documents however have interesting contradictions and inconsistences with regards to whom the liberties should apply, from whom the authority is derived and the motivations behind the drafting of each respective declaration.

The power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. A word created by man to escape the bonds of tyranny to express the idea of what it means to persist one's own ambitions. Freedom. Freedom is not the absence of confinement but the will to achieve freedom when imprisoned. After carefully concluding the reading done over this semester one is able to clearly understand the confinement these early Americans felt and their decision to achieve a form of freedom. Freedom has always existed but it is the history of this nation that will define what actions freedom takes.

The common thread throughout all four arguments for civil liberties—historical backing, refined legality, obligatory morality, and economic responsibility—is that each is personal to citizens. The Fourth Amendment was written for American citizens. The laws enforced in this nation are for the people’s safety. The social contract is in place to balance the relationship between government and society. And the government security agencies are funded by the citizens through taxes. The initial two questions were “is government collection of personal data under the argument of national security just, and, if not, what would be an alternative to protecting American citizens?” The resolving answer is that the collection of data is unprotected, immoral,

In the United States, citizens have rights, and the United States Constitution guarantees these rights. The Bill of Rights states the basic liberties of the people of this nation in the first ten amendments in the U.S. Constitution. However, these liberties can be met with denied liberty, while sacrificing freedom, as people live in fear threatened by racism, religious beliefs, police brutality, invasion of privacy, and the horrific terrorism acts on United States soil.

America is known as the land of the free. The people have many liberties that other countries don’t get to enjoy. The government does its best to secure these liberties, but what can the citizens themselves do to protect their freedoms?

The United States has been known as the “Land of the Free,” “Land of the brave,” and many more other referral words that make it a great nation. It is known from history as the land where everyone is welcome and can make great life. The history of the United States is profound with its rise to the top as the country that is most powerful after the fall of European giants. The opportunities that the land offered to its settlers have continued to be felt till date. But of importance is the freedom from tyranny that America offers its citizens. Culminated in the Constitution is the fact that the country takes seriously individual liberty and this can be seen through important events in the past (Farber & Sherry,

Freedom is the singular concept that the United States has embraced as a nation since July 4, 1776. The United States would not have the freedom that its citizens have today without the sacrifice of the thousands of lives that have died, and the sacrifice of the millions that fight every single day to keep our country safe and independent. A military force, backed by over 1.4 million people, is defending a nation, in which over 310 million people reside.

In the United States we follow the rules of what is called the “Constitution”. The constitution protects the rights of citizens living in the U.S. Does it really protect ALL rights? No, sadly it does not. The Constitution was created on September 17, 1787, by white men to benefit white men. Our current political climate in the United States infringes civil liberties and takes us back to the 1940s.

The right of individual freedoms and the collective good for society as a whole, is an ethical dilemma that is debated time and time again. Many will agree that each individual has control over their own body and what is done to it or what goes into it. However, when it comes to the question of what is better for society, those same individuals will agree that individual rights are superseded by public good. (Leonard, 2009).

In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville’s memorable claim that there is an incredible tension between liberty and equality in America is certainly true. His secondary argument is equally justifiable—that Democratic nations, especially American, will grow to love equality more “ardently and enduringly” than liberty (Tocqueville, 202), and can be proved by observing current American political patterns and events.

Liberty, equality and justice. Those three words are the values the United States was founded on. Over time the United States has struggled to abide by these values. However they try to promote them in schools, in court and in work. An African American and women do not have the same treatment as a Caucasian. In 1955, there was a trial for the murder of Emmett Till. The United States highlights these values but, fail to follow through with them.

The idea of liberty, or freedom, varies between different theorists. One theorist, Isaiah Berlin, focused on the difference between two different ways of thinking about political liberty (Cherniss & Hardy, 2010). Berlin called these two different concepts negative and positive liberty. According to Berlin, negative freedom can be defined as ‘freedom from’, that is, freedom from constraint or interference of others. In contrast, positive freedom can be defined in two ways: ‘freedom to’, that is the ability to pursue and achieve willed goals; and also as autonomy or self-rule, as opposed to the dependence on others (Cherniss & Hardy, 2010). Keeping the idea of positive liberty at