Freedom Essay, Research Paper
Freedom! In today?s society freedom is something that supposedly exists, but does it really exist. In recent years it seems like freedom is being limited more and more by the government of the United States. Although we have more freedom than most countries, we are still not totally free like we think. Freedom is something that was won a long time ago, but today it is slowly being taken away.
Freedom is a word that is thrown around lightly, and many people have forgotten what it really is. Freedom is the quality of not being coerced or constrained by fate, necessity, or circumstances in ones choices or actions. This means that under no circumstances can someone tell you that you have to do something or that you can not buy something or that you can not watch your favorite TV show. Since the beginning of our country?s independence people have been fighting to be what we call free. Probably none has been a bigger fight the African Americans struggle to be free of slavery.
The fight of the slaves to be free was a long battle. It was thought that the slaves were inferior to Whites in intelligence. The funny part about it is that the colonial America wrote the ?Declaration of Independence? to declare its freedom. In this historic document written by Thomas Jefferson and others, they stated that all men are created equal. This is very peculiar, because they did not believe that all men were created equal or they would not have had slaves. Some free Black men at the time wrote about Thomas Jefferson, and one actually took the time to write to him. Benjamin Banneker, a freeborn Black man was very well educated and wrote to Thomas Jefferson. He questioned Jefferson saying, ?We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that amongst these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.?(Benjamin Banneker, letter to Thomas Jefferson N.D. p191) He was challenging Jefferson while also proving that Blacks were equal to White men in knowledge. Freedom was finally won for African Americans when the civil war erupted.
In communist China no one is free. Just the word communism means that the government has total control. If the government decides that something is not allowed then they simply take it away. Communism is supposed to help a country by having the government run everything and by making choices for the commonwealth. If this is supposed to help a country than how come china is so worse off than America. They murder people who challenge their authority or talk out against the wrong doings of communism. The government needs to realize that giving people choices in how they live will help the economy. It gives your economy a chance to thrive and develop into a prosperous one. By doing this your country can become industrialized, patents will be obtained, and new inventions will spring up. This in turn will give way to an economy that will grow all the time and change for the better.
We are not as free as we are led to believe in America today. If I were to walk into my high school when I went there and cussed a teacher out for giving me a bad grade, I would surely get into big trouble. Is that free? No if I was truly free then I would be able to say whatever I wanted and no one could tell me that it was improper or against the rules. I say to hell with that. If we are going to be free than we need to be totally free. I?m not saying that we don?t need laws but there are some things that are a little ridiculous. For example speeding, drugs, or slander. These are things that people should be able to make a choice on weather or not they want to do them. There are also some freedoms that have been taken away, but not by laws. These are principals by which people live.
Freedom has been taken away from people by others who would look to suppress them. These are the minorities and the gays and lesbians. People seem to think that they are superior to others just because someone is not the same as they are. These people walk around in fear always wondering if someone is going to beat them up because of their sexuality. They are not free. They are in hiding. They need to come forward and take a stand for their beliefs. Become a contributing member of society and take a stand. To say that they will not be held down anymore, that they will fight. Other personal rights are being taken away as well. The right to own a gun, for instance, is something that I believe in, and yet because of a few bad apples in the world people are looking to take guns away from us. This is a freedom that we have had since the beginning of our country; you can?t just take it away.
We have never been totally free nor will we ever be. Starting from the earliest days of our world up to the present, people have been having more freedom taken away than they are receiving. The problem started with the struggle of the slaves through the different types of governments and up to our lifestyles and rights. The only way to get our freedom back is to take a stand for what you believe in. Unfortunately our country and others have become relaxed in their ideas of what freedom is. Most people believe that what they have right now is free. I believe that it is but we need to be even more free. There are just some things that can?t be taken away.