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Rank your rightsOctober, 2005
Midday 10/18/05 wanted to know which rights you think are essential to preserve and which ones can you live without. Guest Jennifer Bloom, executive director of the Learning Law and Democracy Foundation, presented this challenge:
"Here's the scenario: The aliens have finally landed. They are taking over. They plan to be benevolent dictators, but there's a catch. They say we have too many rights, and they want us to choose which ones we're going to keep and which ones we're going to give up. Which rights are you willing to do without?"See the survey results, scroll down to read the commentaries below to find out what others would - or wouldn't - give up, or submit your own commentary.
- The right to bear arms
- The right to protection from cruel and unusual punishment
- The right to freedom of speech
- The right to protection from self-incrimination
- The right to legal counsel and a jury trial
- The right to privacy
- The right to freedom of religion
- The right assemble peacefully
- The right to freedom of the press
- The right to protection from unreasonable searches and seizures
Disarming the people would disarm them of their rights
The right to keep and bear arms is necessary to protect and enforce all of the other rights. When Hitler came to power, one of the very first things he did was to disarm the people. After that, taking away their remaining rights was easy because they had no way to resist.
To me, the right to keep and bear arms is Number 1. It is the right to protect my own life and the means to resist subjugation. After that comes free speech and everything else.
Aaron Friday
St. Paul, MN
We're fortunate to have all these rights
Interesting exercise. Luckily for us, our Constitution's Bill of Rights guarantees all these rights to every citizen as an individual, and as stemming from the individual, as inalienable.
We live with, or should be reasonably able to expect to live with, the security of knowing when we wake up each morning we don't have to choose.
David M. Ernest
Sauk Rapids, MN
Without free speech, other rights are meaningless
Keeping the right to bear arms because of the potential need for an insurrection against the government makes no sense - if we need to rise up against the government, then why in the world would we expect the government to support our means to stage that insurrection? Surely, the government would find a way to curtail that right. No, if we need to fight the government, we will have to acquire arms by illicit means. Therefore, I put the right to bear arms dead last in terms of importance.
Most important, I think, is the right to free speech, because without the ability to speak our minds, without fear of reprisal, all the other rights become impotent and meaningless. Free speech is the armature which supports all the other rights, with freedom of the press a closely related, and equally important right.
The right to assemble peaceably is also closely related to freedom of speech and freedom of the press, because it allows for fora in which to express our views openly, and to join with others in promoting our views. The freedoms from forced self-incrimination, from unreasonable search and seizure, are also critical to maintaining our freedom to speak out, so those would be up there in importance as well.
Joyce Denn
Woodbury, MN
Defending rights important, and sometimes uncomfortable
I join the ranks of those who think all the rights are important and necessary.
However, we all need to remember that we need to be prepared to tolerate those individuals who abuse our rights. For example, freedom of speech results in public profanity; freedom of the press leads some to publish pornography; the right to bear arms means that some will push the limits by insisting on owning high powered assault rifles.
We have to accept that defending our rights includes defending the rights of others with whom we may not agree.
Kathy Huntley
Willmar, MN
Losing one right would be losing one right too many
In this post 9/11 world, I can't imagine giving up any rights or freedoms. If we start to go down that road, then the terrorists get what they want. I refuse to give them an inch toward their goals.
Mary Myers
Hopkins, MN
We must defend all freedoms
Giving up one freedom will lead to giving up more freedoms.
The right to bear arms is under attack every day, and so is the freedom of religion. The freedom of the press is being undermined by big corporations controlling so many papers, radio stations, and TV stations at once. The ability of one person to put out their viewpoint as the truth erodes the truth in all of them.
Theodore Latham
Onalaska, WI
Certain rights should be within the individual's control
The rights survey needs work to really find out what people cherish as their rights. Instead of 2 choices you should have had the people rank them. As there are some that include others. For instance, I would had voted #1 as the right to protection from cruel and unusual punishment assuming it also included the right to bear arms. They are kind of one in the same. Even the the right to privacy could include the right to bear arms.
I voted the one to keep is "the right to bear arms" and the one to give up (I don't want to give up anything) as "the right to freedom of the press". However if I was going to rank these it might be different. Ranking in order of 1st the right I will not give up to the right I think is the least important I would rank this way:
1 The right to protection from cruel and unusual punishment (I cannot leave this up to our government. I want some control over it!)
2 The right to bear arms
3 The right to privacy (Once again I cannot rely on our government to help me here. I want to have some control.)
4 The right to protection from unreasonable searches and seizures (How do I protect myself from this unless one gives me personally the wherewithall to do it within the law? I think one would think twice about searching my home if they knew I had some way to protect myself from it. What do I have today?)
5 The right to freedom of speech (Ya right, try being a business owner and voicing your opinion in public!)
6 The right to legal counsel and a jury trial (This is a joke in today's world. Only money buys this "right".)
6a The right to protection from self-incrimination (same as above)
7 The right to freedom of religion (I am not a very "regligous" person. But I would not want someone jamming down my throat something I don't belive in. I think Iraq is a good example.)
8 The right assemble peacefully (Peacefully in whose mind? This is an opinion statement. I am tired in this country of the "rights of the minority". They run our lives. CAVE people -Citizens Against Virtually Everything - cannot stand to see people having fun.)
9 The right to freedom of the press (This is important - But!)
John Gobats
Tower, MN
Welcomes the loss of the right to bear arms
Having studied abroad in England where guns are so uncommon, I would welcome the loss of the right to bear arms. There is a comfort in walking the streets and knowing that neither the thugs nor most of the law enforcement authorities are carrying guns.
Jennifer Mathews
Eagan, MN
People suffer without guarantee of personal rights
Which rights would I give up? None!
Allowing one less-significant (to me, at this time) right to be taken away would be the so-called "foot-in-the-door" that leads to erosion of more and more of our rights, the trickle that could turn into a torrent! Remember that the Mississippi starts small, and see what it becomes! Or, another metaphor: Look at the Grand Canyon to see what a trickle of erosion can accomplish to wear away an eternity of rock!
I am very afraid of what an omnipotent government could do without the Bill of Rights to protect me! A casual awareness of the news reports of current situations in other countries shows us very graphically what people suffer when they have no guarantee of personal rights!
How did we get on this discussion of giving up rights in the first place? We profess that our Rights are "inalienable", for pete's sake!
Anti-gun people are one of my pet peeves. It is fine with me if they do not choose to own firearms or to participate in any shooting sports. They do not have the right to demand that I be deprived of my right to my law-abiding choice to own and to use guns, though. They may, however, demand that anyone using a firearm in breaking the law be persecuted (yes) to the full extent of the law! "Get A Life" and go after the bad guys, if you have to pick on someone. Don't turn decent citizens into the bad guys, though.
Jean Latham
Onalaska, WI
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