In Village Politics, Jack and Tom discuss the merits of the newly free French society. According to Tom, the French are living the good life, with no one to answer to and the ability to do whatever they please. However, Jack convinces Tom that the French are just headed towards trouble. With no one in charge, there is no one to stop them from taking advantage of one another: “They make free to rob whom they will, and kill whom they will. If they don’t like a man’s looks, they make free to hang him without judge or jury, and the next lamp-post does for the gallows, so they call themselves free, because you see they have no king to take them up and hang them for it”. In the end, Tom agrees that perhaps they do have the best system of government set up in their country, and he drops the issue.
Reading this piece made me start thinking about the freedom we have here in the United States. People move to the US from all different parts of the world in search of a better life, and America is said to be “the land of the free”. What does our freedom mean though? We as American citizens are not free to just do whatever we want. We can’t take things that aren’t ours, we can’t drink alcohol in certain places, we can’t even drive certain speeds on certain roads. When you think about it, there are many, many rules that Americans have to follow. Failure to comply with these rules can lead to fines, imprisonment and even death. But what would it mean if we had no rules? If no one was in charge? What would happen if we actually had complete freedom?
Personally, I don't know if I believe that it would ever be possible for a community to be completely free. Without any rules or guidelines to follow, nothing would ever get done. It would be every man for himself and would end up in disaster. Furthermore, I think there would always be someone trying to get into power. With no one in charge, I think a lot of people would see an opportunity to take control instead and set up a dictatorship.
I think the reason America has so many rules is because in theory they are all for the benefit of the citizens. The United States is considered to be have so much freedom and potential because the laws here are meant to protect its citizens and set them up for success. Although this does not always happen for all American citizens, the majority are satisfied with the balance between the freedom we have and the laws we have to follow.
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What do you think freedom means to Americans?
This post really got me thinking. I agree with you in the sense that these laws are meant to protect us. I do think that without certain laws, or stable government, there would be corruption (perhaps a Lord of the Flies type situation?) but I think that many Americans may not be so satisfied with the freedom we get, and some of the laws we have actually do not cause stability, but instead cause problems between groups, and restrict freedom in a way that can actually harm people. For example, i was looking at the topic of gay marriage. According to the article (which I attached below) the Supreme Court is going to try and determine if gay marriage is constitutional. Since currently only 9 states permit it, the majority of the country does not seem to see it as a necessary freedom. In this case, the courts decision could really harm a lot of people. If it is declared unconstitutional, then that can actually take away some of the freedoms as well a basic rights, (allowed by marriage) that a minority group has worked so hard to attain (even if it is only allowed certain places). While the government may be necessary to keep things in order, I believe that the government is overstepping its bounds in this situation. It just seems ironic to me that we actually did rebel (like Tom wanted, and like the French) for our freedom, and we're a country that likes to (for the most part) value the idea of change, yet we still adhere to some old, conservative views (or at least 41 states do) that instead of keeping things in order, cause conflicts, to the point where we need to turn to the Supreme Court. It seems like there are a lot of Americans who are not satisfied with the balance between laws and freedoms they have.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/us/supreme-court-to-begin-weighing-gay-marriage-cases.html?_r=0