Introduction
Individual is defined as a single human being, as distinguished from a group. Rights are defined as a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or moral by dictionary.com. Put these two together and you get a single human being doing or saying a just claim. This means that any human being can make a just claim. This quote from John Quincy Adams, “Individual liberty is individual power, and as the power of a community is a mass compounded of individual powers, the nation which enjoys the most freedom must necessarily be in proportion to its numbers the most powerful nation.” is why I stand against the resolution, A government’s legitimacy is determined more by popular sovereignty then individual rights.
Definitions:
1. Individual- a single human being, as distinguished from a group
2. Rights- a just claim or title, whether legal, prescriptive, or moral
3. Government- the form or system of rule by which a state, community, etc., is governed
4. Legitimacy- the state or quality of being legitimate
5. Popular sovereignty - the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with
the general will.
6. Determined- decided; settled; resolved.
Value: Individual Rights
Contention 1: Our rights: individual rights are what make many people in America happy. Just think, if you could not go and do what you like best, because the government will not let you. If your child could not play a sport in a local recreational facility, don’t you think that would hurt them? Also, if you wanted to go to the pool in the middle of summer when its one hundred degrees out but couldn’t because the government decided to close the pool on its own terms, you would probably be upset. Popular sovereignty is not the best, because if you and your friends wanted to go to the pool but three out of your five friends want to stay home and play basketball, you would feel like you had no say in the matter and it is only human nature to want what you want.
Contention 2: Governments rights: The government has their own rights too, but they are different from ours. They have rights to do what’s best for the people. This quote from Thomas Jefferson is a good example of the rights of a government, “A wise and frugal government, which shall leave men free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned - this is the sum of good government.” It is not a right of the government to come and take what you have worked so hard for just because they do not want to work themselves or they feel you don’t need it. In some countries, this may be true, but most of the people oppose it unless they are on the receiving end.
Conclusion: In my first contention, I used the example of five friends wanting to do something different but the majority wanted to play basketball so they had to play basketball. The kids that didn’t want to play basketball couldn’t go swimming so they felt helpless and felt they had no right to go swimming. This is wrong. Everybody has rights, even kids that want to go swimming. In my second and final contention, I used the quote by Thomas Jefferson, which showed the defining line of what the government can and cannot do.
