editing essay on unity and coherence and use of 2nd person
mehwishe.786
FinalEssayonFreedomMehwishElahi.docxElahi
Elahi
Mehwish Elahi
Danielle Stokes
English 1A
25th January 2020
Introduction
Our societies keep changing day in day out and the term freedom continues to grow more complex with the changes. It would be right to say that freedom refers to the right as someone doing whatever they want without being interfered with either by others or the government. However, in the current society we live in, most people will associate religion, expression, and assembly. Most experts have given freedom a meaning that goes hand in hand with citizens of a country and the government. This means, in a free society, citizens have the right to give their opinion freely without fear of the government or anyone else. Every nation states the freedom of its people in the constitution. For instance, the U.S constitution states clearly that every individual has the freedom of expression, assembly, religion, and many more. Freedom has been given meanings and descriptions and that is why it remains a critical matter in societies.
Many have claimed that freedom has not been achieved yet despite the fact that we are living in the 21st century. Democracy has changed everything when it comes to freedom of the people in a nation. A good example is the laws that governments put in place to guide their democracy. The laws are meant to ensure that everyone in society is equal before the law. And this is what democracy is. “Equality”. There are also regulations and legislations passed day in day out to govern the conduct of citizens.
When talking about of laws and regulations which govern the conduct of citizens, it means the citizens do not have the right to do whatever they want but rather conduct themselves according to how the states. Governments have restricted the freedom of their people using laws and regulations.
(Malinowski 3) asserts that democracy has threatened freedom a great deal. People have the right to their belongings and no one is supposed to take that away from them or force them to give out. This is something that the law of taxation does not recognize. Every individual has to pay taxes despite the fact that most people see the payment of tax as a burden and unfair to them. The government has even jailed those who refused or failed to pay taxes and fined them. The government claims that the tax revenue will be used in developing a civil society, a clear indication that a civil society has snatched away the freedom of the people.
Compelling citizens to pay taxes from part of what they have earned through hard work does not define freedom. People are not given the freedom to do it willfully.
Living in a civilized society states that every child has to go to school and get an education. People do not have the right to do things voluntarily. There have been many cases in court of parents being accused of failure to take their children to school. It will be right to argue that the parent may not have had the will to educate the children and after all, it is their right. Also, the kid may not have wanted to study because he believes education cannot determine his success. The child has the right to think whatever he wants. A civilized society has been taken over by terms like “money talks” and “the customer is always right”. Then it means if the customer is always right, a businessman has no right to argue, and that is limitation of their freedom.
Many times courts have ruled against freedom of expression that endangers people’s lives. And this is seen in the Schenck v. United States in 1919 case as reported by (Farley 1). This is something the government has taken advantage of. People who are peacefully demonstrating in the streets for their rights are being arrested with the argument that they were endangering other people’s lives in the course of their protests. There is no freedom of expression here since protests are one way of people making their voices to be heard. Not only freedom of expression, there are many instances where freedom of religion has been looked down upon. Schools have barred students from expressing their religion in schools. This shows that as far as a civil society embraces education, the same education does not allow the freedom of religion to thrive.
Finally, we come to the issue that is given the most importance in today’s society, “majority rule”. In any democratic country today, the majority have it. The laws, rules, and regulations we are talking about are passed whenever the majority says it. What the minorities have to say is not important provided the majority have accepted. Democracy aims at ensuring equality but yet, interpretations given to that democracy has granted the majority the power to decide over others. As (Hitchens 30) says gives the description of the 51% majority taking away the right of the 49% minority as stated by Thomas Jefferson. This means that in a civil and democratic society, the freedoms and rights of all are not respected. Only the minority’s view is considered.
Conclusion
The definition of freedom has come down from people doing whatever they want freely to a relationship between the people and their government. The government itself in the name of democracy has introduced rules and regulation that take away the rights and freedoms of the people. In a civil society, you have to conduct yourself in accordance to set rules and regulations while strictly adhering to the law. With forced taxes, majority rule, and education legislations among others, it’s time that the society should get educated about their freedoms. The society should also recognize responsibility. Like educating a child will benefit the nation.
Works Cited
Farley, Elizabeth, et al. "Schenck v. United States (1919)." What is News and Who Decides? (2011).
Hitchens, Christopher. Thomas Jefferson. HarperCollins e-books, 2014.
Malinowski, Bronislaw. Freedom and civilization. Routledge, 2015.
Machiavelli, Niccolo. The prince and other writings. Simon and Schuster, 2014.
