Give Me Liberty

Choose One: Liberty, or Death “Give me liberty or give me death,” (Henry). To some people- Patrick Henry in particular- liberty is a basic property of life; it’s not simply a luxury, but rather a right needed for survival. No matter how the word is defined, liberty has some sort of personal meaning to everyone. In any form, it is a state that is never truly guaranteed. Although it seems like an innate factor that belongs to every human, anyone could have their liberties violated. For thousands of years, humans in every society have been forced to look at what liberty really is, how it can be taken care of, and in what ways it can be violated. It means something entirely different than it did centuries or even decades ago, and its description

For example, the fundamental belief that the United States of America was built upon is liberty. It’s an imperative value to most of America’s citizens, and for this reason the country is noted worldwide for upholding liberty. It has come to be something that Americans expect; a sort of dependency that is sometimes taken to a negative extent. One way this is shown is through American’s opposition to airline security regulations imposed by the TSA in recent years. Many citizens believe that the strict security measures required during travel violate certain civil liberties, namely their right to privacy (“Speak Outs”). But from a broader point of view, through the eyes of a citizen living in, say, the Communist Republic of China, where citizens are given far fewer freedoms, the liberties Americans are already afforded are generous to begin with. As long as someone is a harmless member of society in this country, they’re naturally given all the freedoms they could possibly yearn for. America provides the opportunities and conditions for its people to live in, and the only requirement is that the laws- created to ensure the general well-being of the people as a whole- are respected (“Law and the Rule of Law”). The controversial question about whether or not people’s liberties are being infringed on also applies to the recent police riots in America. One of the services given to citizens by the American government is protection, through the police force, fire department, and military. Whether or not these duties being performed violates citizens’ rights is up for debate. In a situation where the public feels that someone’s rights have been threatened, they may exercise their right to freedom of speech in order to oppose the government and ensure that these rights are thoroughly protected- this has been the circumstance in the protests occurring in recent months in