Chapter 4

1.)    Freedom of speech is one of the most important civil liberties that we as American Citizens have.  Our right to free speech gives us the ability to have our own opinions and beliefs and the ability to verbalize those beliefs.  Without this freedom we would not be able to protest or to make known our disagreement with not only our government but with anyone or any group of people.  We would not have the ability to publish literary works or articles that have political or social opinions in them regardless of how obvious.  Without freedom of speech we would be a mindless nation blindly following our leaders.  I do not believe that the freedom goes too far at all in fact in some instances I believe that the freedom doesn’t go far enough.  

2.)    I believe that separation of church and state should be practiced within our government. It is very important that a definite boundaries should be drawn between church and state and those boundaries not be crossed.  Legislature should strive to keep the boundaries of church and state separated although I do not feel as if they do in today’s time.  Our legislature are not supposed to let their religious beliefs influence their decision making when passing laws or debating legislature, but a good percentage of them do. For example gay marriage is still illegal in many states because our legislatures believe it to be immoral, and they believe it to be because of the beliefs they have due to their religious doctrine. Thousands of American citizens are having the civil liberties impeded upon because of our legislature members let their religion influence them when passing laws.  Marriage equality is not a religious issue, or at least it shouldn’t be, it’s an equality issue.  Government also should not make do anything to mandate or favor another religion. Religion has no place in government just as government has no place in religion. How can say we truly have freedom of religion when our government allows beliefs from one certain religion to influence our government? How can we say that every American citizen is free and has equal civil rights when thousands of them are not granted the basic liberties of a heterosexual member of society because our elected official’s religious convictions influence the law making process?       

3.)    Defendant rights and liberties are very crucial to our country.  Without these rights none of us would have the right to a fair and speedy trial by a jury of our peers, the right to representation, and also are protected from unlawful search and seizure.  These are all very important rights not only to defendants but to us as citizens who might be future defendants.  The right to representation is very crucial because this right provides a defendant with a lawyer even if they themselves cannot afford one. 

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Rebecca Zuchowski http://rebeccaroanestate.blogspot.com

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