Rights Come With Responsibility

Today I want to share with you a report I had to write for my American Government class. I was told to read a specific section of the book, and then answer the following question: How does Russell Kirk reveal the truth that, "For every right, there is a corresponding responsibility; for every privilege, there is a corresponding duty"? Here is my report on the subject.

       A segment of my history book contains a portion of Russel Kirk's book, The American Cause. This portion talks of the Founders' decision to form a Bill of Rights and other freedom-
giving documents on the basis of preserving already-formed laws, not to make new excessive laws. Also in The American Cause, Russel Kirk shows how an American's right to certain freedoms leads to responsibility limiting those freedoms' reach and following those freedoms' boundaries.

        One responsibility Americans have in relation to certain freedoms is the responsibility to limit them. Kirk gives the example of the Bill of Rights, stating:

[T]he American people set down a few definite liberties which expressed precisely what they meant by political freedom. They did not mean by freedom "the absolute right to do whatever we please, regardless of our religion, our duties, and our neighbors." They meant very differently, certain old and valuable securities against having things done to them,

Thus, with our American freedoms of religion, speech, press, etc. we also have a responsibility to limit the amount of those freedoms' control.

            The second responsibility we have with freedom is to follow the boundaries of the freedom. If a person oversteps the bounds of their liberty, then the government is forced to tighten the control of that liberty. As such, every American has a responsibility to follow their freedoms' extents closely, or else the freedoms might be taken away in an attempt to control them.

            Russel Kirk gives a very brief explanation in his book, The American Clause, of how rights lead to responsibility by explaining that while Americans have liberty, they have the duty to limit their freedoms' control and stay within the freedoms' boundaries. As he said in his last paragraph, "Freedom…is not a possession which some prince or president can confer upon men as a gift-- not true freedom. Real freedom must be created by individuals and communities."

Just a little something to think on about freedom. Many people, in an effort to not have to work as much, give up their freedoms, which then limits their ability to do as they please. I hope you enjoyed this post, and leave any comments below or on Facebook.