1. Freedom of Speech: How important is it? Does the freedom go "too far"? What areas of speech should not be protected?
The First Amendment declares that “Congress shall pass no
law abridging the freedom of speech”. Even though this statement seems pretty
straight forward, it is important for congress to allow individual freedoms,
while still protecting our country and its citizens. In some ways, I do believe
the freedom goes too far, because there are people out there who would
purposely abuse the freedom. A person could be collaborating with terrorists or
giving out confidential information and claim that they have the freedom to say
whatever they want to. Because of those types of situations, it is important
that the government adopt policies such as the clear and present danger test,
the fighting words doctrine, laws against hate speech, etc. While we should be
able to communicate and express our opinions, we should not have the liberty to
cause harm to others by doing so.
2. Freedom of Religion: Is separation of church and state necessary? Why or why not?
In 1802, Thomas Jefferson called for a “wall of seperation” between church and state. At the time it was an extrememly hot issue because Britain had put an order in place that declared the Anglican Church the “official” church. This was very controversial and lead to much rebellion. I think the seperation of church and state is very necessary in order to keep peace. There are so many people with so many different ideas and opinions in America that it would be impossible to keep everyone happy. Even if the majority of people in an area practiced the same religion, there would likely still be at least some people who do not believe the same and it wouldn’t be fair to force it upon them. Keeping church and state seperated is necessary in order to be fair and keep everyone peaceful.
3. Criminal Procedure: Are defendant's rights crucial to our system of government? Why or why not? Many argue that defendants have too many rights - do you agree? Why or why not?
Defendant’s rights are extremely crucial to our system of government. In our society, there are a lot of people who do wrong and deserve to be punished but at the same time there are a lot of people who are accused of doing wrong and really haven’t. Because of this, it is imparative that we have established laws that protect the innocent and that keep the guilty from being abused by the system. This may just be because I am kind hearted, but I do not think defendants have too many rights. With so much going on in our society today, I think it is important that everyone who is accused of a crime have the ability to stand up for themselves. There are a lot of cases that are more serious than others, but it is only fair to extend the same rights to everyone.
I agree that there should be a separation of church and state. I think that because today there is such diverse population of people in America and not everyone has the same religion. Also I think this separation is needed because I do not think that the government should be able to tell people what to believe.
ReplyDeleteI like the fact that you pointed out that back when the United States was young, it was trying to create itself as a free nation, and saw how Great Britain acted and how it let the Anglican church strongly influence the government and at the same time prosecute the minority that did not practice that denomination or religion. And while seperation of church and state is a good thing, it also should not go to the extreme in either way.
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