As citizens of the United States of America, we pride ourselves as being one of the most free countries in the world. It may not always of been that way, but through civil rights movements, our country has the privilege to experience freedoms that others are not granted. In my opinion, our civil rights is one of the most important parts of what makes our lives special. It lets us express ourselves and think freely. This lets us become our own individuals with our own ideas and opinions, unlike in 1984. Therefore, I believe that giving up our civil rights is never necessary to protect the greater good.
A great example I have about this cause occurred during World War II. Skepticism over Japanese-Americans throughout the United States led the government to enact an interment policy. Right after Pearl Harbor, Franklin D. Roosevelt put over 100,000 Japanese-Americans in interment camps for the duration of the war. Government officials said that incarcerating these people would ensure that the secrecy of the United States during wartime was kept.
A more current situation in which some would say that we are giving up our civil rights for the greater good is when President Bush enacted the Patriot Act. This act was put into place back in 2001 and its purpose is to "provide appropriate tools required to intercept and obstruct terrorism". That means that the government has the ability to bugs phones and conduct additional surveillance on people they suspect of being involved in terrorist activities. For years, people have felt that the Patriot Act has been intruding on American citizens, but according to the Bush and Obama, its necessary for them to spy on us so make sure we are safe. This decade-old act is coming up in the news because parts of it expires in a couple months and so there is debate as to whether Congress will renew it.
In my opinion, civil rights should be the number one priority in a society and having those rights is the greater good. The government should never have to take away our rights to protect our rights. Most of the time they are just lying to us for their own person gain.
I like how you draw the comparisons of government control to the Patriot Act. It provides a strong context for your argument and what the value of laws are to a functioning society. However, do you think that the government is pushing the boundaries of the Patriot Act a bit too far?
ReplyDeleteI agree that there should be boundaries to how much jurisdiction the government should have in our personal lives for the sake of safety. However I think that it depends on the state of our security at any given moment. It's easy to say during peacetime that we'd rather sacrifice some of our safety for the sake of civil rights and privacy. But if a major attack were to happen again like 9/11, it's pretty likely that that pendulum would swing to the opposite side. It's why the Patriot Act was instituted in the first place following the 9/11 tragedy. I think security and privacy should be balanced and neither disregarded, because if a major catastrophe were to happen, or a cyberattack, it's pretty certain that our civil rights would become the government's last priority.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the fact that civil rights and liberties are extremely important. You have such a way with words that really inspires me to do better. But your connection to the Patriot Act brings up the controversial question of whether we are better off or not with the government spying on us in order to protect us from terrorism? Is a little loss in our privacy the price we need to pay for safety? Overall I love your writing and i love you to.
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