Political Science

Law and Government aim to protect individual’s freedoms. However most laws restrict an individual’s freedom. Therefore the government creates constitutions to protect your rights to keep them out of reach of the government. The bill of rights is usually just associated with the federal government. The state and other local governments did not have to obey them. That is until the 14th amendment was put into place. This amendment was the due process clause. This amendment applied the Bill of Rights to both state and local governments. This helped keep peoples rights out of the hands of the government even more.

The second amendment guarantees us the right to keep and bear arms, as well as keep a well-regulated militia. Our forefathers in case of a possible coupe or a military take over put this amendment in place from another country. This way the citizens would be able to protect themselves, and hopefully keep the takeover from happening. The freedom of religion hits on two major areas. The government cannot establish a national religion even though most people of the United States are Christian. They also must allow people to practice whatever religion they choose openly and freely. The government has however restricted certain religious ceremonies. Such as the use of illegal drugs or animal sacrifices. The reason for this is other laws outlaw those types of practices.

Freedom of the press is also protected by the first amendment. Sometimes the government must step in and regulate. This usually happens in times of war because the publication or broadcast could be harmful to the soldiers and overall just not helpful to the war effort and moral.

Many Americans believe now that everyone in America has an equal right to do what they want to do. They should be able to do this without being judged by race, class, gender, and ethnicity. However we still will judge based on that. It is just a basis for human nature. We judge each other sometimes without even knowing it. People will always judge and that is just how it is. No matter how many laws we pass, or things we say or do. You can’t change human nature.

The constitution has always upheld our individual freedoms and liberties. However it did not uphold slaves rights until 1865, when the 14th amendment abolished slavery. Then the 15th amendment gave blacks the right to vote. However in the south these laws weren’t upheld and certain forms of intimidation to keep blacks from voting was used. Segregation did not end until the Equal Protection clause was passed in 1954.

The sad part is in the end there will probably never be equality for all races. No matter how many laws we try to pass. If the government tries to implement a “color blind” standard to the races it will more than likely not work. As nice as it sounds to be “color blind” it will probably never happen.

Gender discrimination was outlawed also in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act. Even with these laws passed. There is still some difference in the average earnings between men and women. Over time though it should be eliminated. One thing that some companies have started to do is too look at wage rates for men and women and to eliminate them.

There is one thing the Equal Protection Clause does not protect and that is treating people from different income classes the same. The poor can’t request help from the government until the government sets up a welfare program.

Did you know that over half of the federal budget is dedicated to “human resources” which basically means welfare. As far as I can tell when we put someone on welfare it does not help them at all. It teaches them that someone is going to provide for them and therefore they do not have to work to get anything. This makes the person lazy and reliant on other people to do what they should be able to do themselves. If we did not give so many of our jobs to people who entered this country illegally, there would easily be enough jobs for everyone who is of working age. Therefore it would eliminate the need for welfare. Yet studies have found that people who are on welfare find it to be degrading. They would much rather work and make a paycheck then have the government pay them. However