The Role of Government and Personal Freedoms Essay

When the leaders of the American Revolution began their journey of independence, they revolted against the increasingly totalitarian monarchy of King George III. Representatives from across the colonies met numerous times to discuss the intrusive and burdensome policies implemented by the British Government, and to unify their efforts to have the government address their grievances. After numerous overtures were spurned by the British Government, the colonial leadership embarked on a path of overt defiance against a government which they believed no longer held the right to govern. In this struggle the founders of the United States answered the important generational question, â€Å"Should we consent to be governed?† Their answer concerning†¦show more content†¦While a small of amount of incidental injustice is tolerable in any form of government, it is important that government should contain an ideological focus on maintaining the maximum number of negative rights a mong individuals within the state fairly and equally. Whenever the state systemically undermines the rights of a large segment of the population, people have the right to protest against any laws or institutional structures which perpetuates injustice. Although protesting and disobedience to laws are morally justifiable, the scope in which people are allowed to rebel against government must be proportional to the injustice committed. Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail provides a useful framework to explain under what condition a law is â€Å"unjust† and should be disobeyed. In his letter, King Jr. argues that an unjust law is, any law that degrades human personality . . . is a code that a numerical or power majority group compels a minority group to obey but does not make binding on itself . . . [or] a law [that] is just on its face and unjust in its application (King Jr.). By utilizing King Jr.s criteria, people can determine if the preconditions exist for the consent to be governed. Another important condition that a government must ensure in order to receive consent to be government is its adherence to the protection of third party interests to fully protect the rights and freedoms of individuals fromShow MoreRelatedThe Relation Between Economic Freedom And Political Freedom1216 Words   |  5 Pagesrelation between Economic Freedom and Political Freedom and also the Role of Government in a Free Society written by Milton Friedman. 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