Protection through suspension

Protection through Suspension Kendra Horvath June 10, 2010 Humanities 30 Mr. Kabacia In a nation, an ideology is the foundation for the government and the people that the government rules over. In our society and many western societies, we have embraced the ideology of liberalism because of the rights and freedoms people are allowed to have within the nation. Liberalism allows people the right of free market economy, the freedom to make their own decisions and to be treated equal under the rule of law. However, sometimes a government feels that these rights and freedoms have been stifled and restricted due to moments of crisis. In the source provided the quotation states “Rights and freedoms are essential to a democracy; however, there may be times when a temporary suspension of rights and freedoms is necessary to guarantee the preservation of democracy.” This ideology of suspending rights has been exercised within liberal nations in the world due to major emergencies throughout history. Some classical liberalist thinkers, such as Adam Smith, would criticize this because the main idea within a liberal democracy is people are entitled to these freedoms and should be able to have the right to practice them without restriction. Although people are entitled to our rights within a nation, we should embrace when a government restricts our freedoms in times of crisis in order to keep democracy alive, but not to the extent of where it is in violation of our human rights. When a nation is in a sever crisis that involves the well being of its people, it is up to the government to help restore peace and wellness into the nation, even if it is through temporarily suspending the rights of the people. One example of this is the October Crisis of 1970. This crisis was provoked because the Francophone Quebecois desired a greater protection of their language and culture. In the revolution of social, economic, and political growth within Quebec, there were some who had thought it to be too slow of a movement, so a group called the FLQ’s started to resort to terroristic acts, such as a series of bombings within Quebec and even murders of political figures. These acts eventually invoked the War Measures Act, which resulted in around 500 arrests of people who supported or voiced pro-FLQ views. It was a good thing for the government to invoke the act because the FLQ group was in violation of other citizen’s rights and freedoms by committing terrorist acts such as the bombings and murders. Although the government was in violation of the arrested people’s rights, the people who had supported these terroristic doings were in violation of many innocent people’s rights. Even though every citizen in a nation should be entitled to their own freedoms, it is necessary for a government to stifle people’s rights and freedoms when they are in violation of other people’s rights and freedoms. This keeps democracy effective because democracy allows people in a nation to have rights and freedoms and when they are violated, it is the government’s responsibility to protect a citizen in any way it can.

Protection through suspension

by Kendra Horvath

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Protection through suspension Document Transcript