Liberty and Political Liberalism
The political liberalism of the 17th and 18th centuries was far different than the contemporary conceptualization of liberal politics. In the evolution of modern liberalism, liberalism was once conceived as an absence of coercion by a sovereign. "The heart of liberty is the absence of coercion by others; consequently, the liberal state's commitment to protecting liberty is, essentially, the job of ensuring that citizens do not coerce each other without compelling justification." (Gaus 2010). This stood in direct contrast to the concept of the divine right of kings, which presumed that a leader, by virtue of his power, had the ability to do what he willed in relation to his subjects, without justification, and that the subjects had no right of revolt. Classical liberalism, perhaps in reaction to the once-assumed fiat of sovereigns to tax as they willed and to take property away from subjects as they…...

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References

Carter, Ian. (2010). Positive and negative liberty. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

Retrieved:

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Gaus, Gerald & Courtland, Shane D. (2011). Liberalism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved:

Liberty in Times of War
Civil liberties are curtailed during wars. In the recent past during the 9/11 attack American and non-American citizens' civil liberties were infringed. Civil liberties are eroded whenever emergency power is exercised. During war government authorities tend to withhold information. Documents are over-classified and information withheld from the Congress and the general public (Fisher, 2003). After the 9/11 attack President Bush released a memo that limit the disclosure of classified and sensitive law enforcement information. This decision was later reversed on October 5, 2001 (Fisher, 2003). Law enforcement information was later restricted to 8 members of the Congress namely: House Speaker, House Minority Leader, the Senate Majority and Minority Leaders and the chairs and ranking members of the Intelligence Committees. When Bush Administration was about to go into Iraq, Bush declassified satellite photos and released them to the press (Fisher, 2003). The position that the Bush Administration…...

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References List

Fisher, L. (2001). Zechariah Chafee Jr., Freedom of Speech in War Time. American Constitutional Law, 486-487.

Fisher, L. (December 2, 2001). Bush Can't Rely on the FDR Precedent. L.A. Times, M3.

Fisher, L. (2003). Civil Liberties in Time of War.

 http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/rconley/conferencepapers/Fisher.PDF

Important Quotes about the Incident number of American officials, including important government figures, and the survivors have commented on the U.S.S. Liberty incident during their submission to the official inquiries as well as various publications / books that have appeared in press or on the Internet over the years. For example, Dean usk, the U.S. Secretary of State, commenting on the incident in his memoir observes: "I was never satisfied with the Israeli explanation. Their sustained attack to disable and sink Liberty precluded an assault by accident or some trigger-happy local commander... I didn't believe them then, and I don't believe them to this day. The attack was outrageous." (usk, 1990, p. 338)

Similarly, ichard Helms -- the CIA Director at the time wrote, "...few in Washington could believe that the ship had not been identified as an American naval vessel... I have yet to understand why it was felt necessary…...

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References

The Clark Clifford Report." (1967). The Liberty Incident. Retrieved on March 14, 2009 at  http://www.thelibertyincident.com/clifford.html 

Ennes, James Jr. (1980). Assault on the Liberty. Random House, New York

Gerhard, William D. And Millington, Henry W. (1981). "Attack on a Sigint Collector: the U.S.S. Liberty." National Security Agency / Central Security Service. Retrieved on March 14, 2009 at  http://www.nsa.gov/public_info/_files/uss_liberty/attack_sigint.pdf 

Helms, Richard. (2003). A Look Over My Shoulder: A Life in the Central Intelligence Agency. Random House, New York

783). Gore sees a parallel between the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, after the attack upon Pearl Harbor and the treatment of Arab-Americans in the wake of the Bush Administration's fear-mongering and validation of public prejudices against Muslims. (This attitude conveyed from the top also fostered prejudice amongst ordinary citizens: A commonly-cited complaint of some airplane passengers is that too many 'non obvious' suspects are subject to routine frisks, while 'obvious' suspects pass, effective code words for non-Arabs vs. Arabs).
However, there is an essential difference in the curtailment of American liberties after 9/11 and after World War II: its racial and prejudiced nature. During the Cold War, because 'anyone' could theoretically be a communist, all individuals were subject to scrutiny. Thus, no matter how fearful, many ordinary Americans experienced just how onerous and self-defeating the McCarthy witch-hunts were to civil liberties. Additionally, because of the fact that all…...

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Reference

Gore, Al. (2004, Winter). The politics of fear. Social Research. 71.4.

A more questionable exception to the Fourth Amendment is the exception of "vessel searches," where, not only is the warrant requirement inapplicable to brief stops of vessels, but also none of the safeguards applicable to stops of automobiles on less than probable cause are necessary to allow the stops of vessels. (Findlaw, 2005) This exception can be seen during 'drunk driving' stops, where all vehicles are stopped and drivers are screened, tested, or simply asked questions to determine if they are intoxicated, for the purpose of community safety.

However, since such searches occur randomly, without probable cause, merely depending on which cars are randomly selected, this exception seems more questionable as a method of evidence gathering. It gives police the incentive to stop more vehicles, without probable cause and even to conduct such vehicle stops in a potentially biased fashion, although they are supposed to be random, simply to catch more…...

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Works Cited

"Valid Searches and Seizures Without Warrants." (2005) Amendment Four. FindLaw. Retrieved 26 Oct 2005 at  http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/data/constitution/amendment04/03.html

This is an example of how American politics and the American legal system have pre-empted any sort of social discussion or values creation, and the values creation came after the law was enacted. This is from a purely non-religious standpoint, as many religious people would argue the opposite. The argument against gay marriage, from the religious perspective, is precisely what Mill was trying to protect society against by making sure other people did not hinder someone else's ability to freely express themselves as long as these expressions did no harm to others. It is difficult to argue against gay marriage as a practice that harms other people in a physical manner, and thusly, Mill would likely conclude that this practice is one born out of the individuals' right to express themselves.

Mill's first principle, that the only legal grounds for preventing someone from doing something is by making sure they are…...

Liberty
e are living in a new era, an era of global power and global vulnerability. In response to the terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, and the recognition that we are facing a worldwide network of terrorists whose singular goal is to harm the United States and its interests, we have had to re-evaluate our civil liberties. Has our open society, our open emigration policy, our support of individual freedom and autonomy and privacy, left us uniquely vulnerable? How do we balance liberty with safety? Our current government has made various policy changes that will allow greater invasion of privacy. At the same time, in this period of unrest, troubles within our own society have brought the same issue to the forefront. After repeated episodes where children killed children in high schools, it became commonplace for schools to search lockers and even in some cases to use metal detectors,…...

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What of Mill's point that individuals should be allowed to act as they wish, as long as they don't make themselves "a nuisance to other people." He says, "To individuality should belong the part of life in which it is chiefly the individual that is interested; to society, the part which chiefly interests society." In these complicated time, the overlap between the two is complex. An individual child may borrow a gun -- and harm society. An individual terrorist may learn how to fly planes in America -- and bring down the World Trade Centers and harm and kill thousands -- as well as cost millions to society. One of the individual rights is the right to live a safe life -- a life where stopping to get gas, one is not gunned down by a sniper; where, attending school, one is not gunned down by a classmate; where, going to work one sunny morning, one is forced to jump from a 100 story window because one is burning to death. I believe Mill would have called this a time for government intervention, much along the lines we are seeing now, because he would view this as an unfortunate time where "barbarians" put us at risk for our very safety -- out of which liberty arises. But I also believe he would argue for a very public discussion, one that has been squelched. Though humans are a mixture of barbarian and angel, of evil and grace, and always will be, there are ways in which societies can adjust to terrible times. And one of those ways is to encourage an open discussion of all issues.

Mills, John Stuart. On Liberty. Original Book published 1869. Available at Bartleby.Com, Great Books online.

Myerson, George. Mills on Liberty. Hodder & Stoughton (2002).

Liberty, Mills approaches the issue of governmental and societal tyranny. He approaches three basic areas in which liberty in important, in addition to discussing the problem of tyranny which can abridge those liberties. In this work Mill provides a historical look at the ways in which tyranny has been played out, and details its evolution from a tyranny of the despot to a tyranny of the majority. Tyranny arises, he suggests, whenever there is an abridgment of the rights of individuals to make free expression and action, so long as they do not do harm to others. This tyranny has it source in the desire of the majority to see their own inclinations and believes replicated in the world around them, and subsequently in the power which they invest in social structures and governmental authorities. Mills presents a complicated picture of the future of tyranny -- on the one…...

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Bibliography

Mills, John Stuart. "On Liberty  http://www.bartleby.com/130/index.html

Indeed, a government is free to decide on the way it rules over a nation, but also the nation is free to enjoy the returns of labor or the aid provided when needed.
Coming back to the original concept of freedom, I feel the need to emphasis the importance of its exact meaning, and on the fact that without it the other forms have no connotation. By this I mean the act of being free, unconstrained by any law-enforcing authority, and the ability to have access to whatever brings on happiness and motivation. Nevertheless, the notion of self-control is imperative in this situation. Of course, every individual is free to express his/her religious beliefs, sexual preferences, political color, and artistic side. He or she basically has the right to express himself or herself as long as the means by which he or she does it do not harm or potentially…...

liberty is seldom a win-win situation. Which ethical theory is the best in your opinion for selecting a "winner"? Utilitarianism? Deontology? Other?
The philosophy of utilitarianism is problematic, given the difficulty of determining which group constitutes the 'majority' whose desires should rule over others. It is often said that if the First Amendment (free speech) and the Fourth Amendment (unreasonable searches) were 'put to a vote,' the American public would vote against them, because of its collective dislike of the ability of unpopular groups to articulate their ideas and its anger at seeing guilty people go free. Also, utilitarianism makes no allowance for the rights of minority groups at all, which can intensify the 'losses' of the minority group whose liberties are infringed upon to protect the rights of others.

Deontology's excessive rigidity can result in the curtailment of freedom -- how does one create rules that are universally applicable in…...

Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

The idea of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is always a fascinating idea of debate when it comes to the subject of unalienable human rights. Sure enough, they are clearly the basis and foundation in which many current governments are built. A person is entitled to his right to live, to continue a worldly and bodily survival as defined. A person is entitled to liberty, to freedom of his own actions; the limitation of one's decision-making process would otherwise render the idea of "humanity" obsolete otherwise. Lastly, a person is entitled to the pursuit of happiness, because in the end, what does humanity crave most in the world? Clearly the finding of that said happiness.

The definitions of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, however, are a matter of debate between persons to persons, societies to societies,…...

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References

Fletcher, William A. "INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE ROLE OF THE UNITED STATES." Northwestern University Law Review. 293-306. Northwestern University School of Law, 2010. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.

Miners, Zach. "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness." U.S. News Digital Weekly 2.16 (2010): 16. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 Apr. 2011.

UShistory.org. "Declaration of Independence." The Declaration of Independence. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. .

"And the attorneys on that list are very dedicated to providing pro bono services. They have a life-long commitment to this kind of work."
The people who call are in dire straits, very difficult situations, sad stories," says the program's coordinator, Tatine Darker. "These are people who have been productive members of society for years, then are summarily expelled from the country. We try to find ways to help some of these people out," she says.

The ideas outlined in the article reflect how several groups of attorneys who are dedicated to helping out people who are in desperate need of attorneys as they face deportation, often after years of living in the United States. These minorities are too poor to hire their own attorney, so they need pro bono legal aid to keep families, homes and jobs together.

The article describes how the CLC teamed with past organizations with parallel goals,…...

America stands poised for a new social revolution, akin to those taking place in the 1960s. In Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, Christ Hedges and Joe Sacco reminds readers of why former social revolutions did take place and why the struggle for social justice continues. In their five separate narratives, the authors depict various aspects of American failure: the failure to ensure fairness, honesty, and other basic moral tenets. The foundations of the nation depend on the assurance of Constitutional ideals, which is why the struggle continues. Considering Liberty City, Florida within the framework of Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt draws even closer attention to the core themes Hedges and Sacco unearth. In Liberty City, issues related to race, class, gender, and social power all come under scrutiny. The city lives on the edge, as if in a perpetual race against its own self-destruction.
Liberty City, like many neighborhoods…...

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With this statement Berlin aims to make the point that those who have freedom have achieved it by exploiting others, and, at the same time, by placing those individuals within certain categories of social and economic degrees of freedom, to which they themselves are not subject.

Despite his high rhetoric which goes on for over 30 pages, Berlin does conclude that he is of the opinion that no matter whether liberty is negative or positive, it is, nonetheless, important, should be available to all, and simply because values are compromised does not mean that they are not eternal or secure. The reader, thus assumes by the end of the commentary that Berlin is indeed of the opinion that liberty is of the utmost importance to a functioning society.

Critique

There are various critiques upon Berlin's work. The one to be examined here will be that of oberto Toscano who comments upon Berlin's concepts…...

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References Consulted:

Isaiah Berlin Virtual Library - berlin.wolf.ox.ac.uk

The New York Review of Books -  http://www.nybooks.com/contributors/isaiah-berlin/ 

Philosopher and political thinker Sir Isaiah Berlin -  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/24540.stm 

Isaiah Berlin on pluralism -  http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~vl/notes/berlin.html

Rousseau offers a mix of philosophical notions of liberty with advice and opinions on how to structure a government that promotes equality and liberty, but not excessively so, that the will of the majority or strong overcomes the will or the rights of the minority. as, unlike the founders of America, Rousseau was not concerned with a real, live, specific historical situation he could to some extent afford to be more theoretical in his orientation. The philosopher Immanuel Kant was even more concerned with the philosophical notions of liberty, but he detached them from their functioning in government and instead was concerned about human being's innate liberty to do morally good or evil actions. Kant saw morality as existing not as something that could be constructed at will by human beings, but as something that existed for all time, and to be commensurate with the categorical imperative, people must act…...

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Works Cited

Declaration of Independence." Independence Hall Association. 4 Jul 1995. 2 Apr 2008.  http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm 

Kant, Immanuel. "Groundwork for the Metaphysic of Morals." 1785.

Translated by Steve Thomas. University of Adelaide E-text Collection.

Apr 2008.  http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/k/kant/immanuel/k16prm/

You can find information to create this thesis statement by using several different types of sources. In addition to the standard Google search for websites about the topic, there are online and offline books and magazines that deal with religious subjects. Ministry Magazine is a good source to consider, along with Enrichment Journal and Christian Standard. Liberty University's Digital Commons also provides a lot of good insight into growing small churches. Any church can be successful in a small city, as long as it provides the community with what the people need in order to feel their lives are being....

One of the cornerstones of the idea of liberty and freedom, especially when viewed from a religious perspective like Thomas Merton’s, is the idea of free will.  Whether human beings truly have free will is a surprisingly divisive philosophical question that, by design, must consider questions like natural versus nurture, motivation, the influence of society on people, and even the nature of good and evil (O’Connor).  However, the idea of free will is central to Christianity and also to Merton’s explorations of liberty and freedom in a Christian context.

Using the concept of free will to explore the....

Genre theory refers to the use of familiar themes and ideas as a way of signaling to the audience what to expect from a work of fiction. Genre theory can be used in various types of fiction and is often discussed when talking about both literature and movies. Genre theory can provide a good springboard for analysis of a particular work, because works can exemplify genres, deviate from genres, or even flip genres completely upside down.  As fictional works have developed, genres have become more specific.  Genres were initially very broad, both....

Title: Reasons Why the US is the Best Country in the World

Introduction:
The United States of America is widely regarded as one of the most powerful and influential countries globally. As an epitome of democracy, economic strength, innovation, and cultural diversity, several reasons make the US the best country in the world today.

1. Political Stability:
The US boasts a stable political system that upholds the principles of democracy and individual liberties. Its robust system of checks and balances ensures accountability and prevents the concentration of power, making it an attractive destination for both citizens and immigrants.

2. Economic Powerhouse:
The United States possesses the....