America... The Last Stand For Freedom
America
David Chavez
Exemplification essay
“If we lose freedom here, there is no other place to escape to, this is the last stand on Earth” -Ronald Reagan...America, the greatest nation this world has ever seen, the home of democracy and true unmatched freedom. But in this day and age America faces two challenges that we must address. The first challenge we face is the threat of our constitutional freedoms being taken from us. The second challenge we face, as Ronald Reagan said long ago, is that we are the last stand of democracy, and if we falter all hope of freedom is lost.
Now what I mean by our constitutional rights being threatened is by what most people in politics strive for in today’s age. Most law makers in most states are constantly trying to destroy constitutional rights in order to become more powerful themselves, an example is this. In California it is now a criminal offense if you say something someone else does not like (see links in work cited for details), now is that not against our rights? If I say something someone doesn’t like in California, regardless of weather it’s true or not, I can be arrested or fined for it? Classifying (hate speech) as a criminal offense sounds good and noble in theory (outlawing the use of offensive insults) but how long will it take for it to spread to free speech, and eventually becoming the criminalization of all free thought? Is that not what every tyrant in history sought to accomplish? Control over what you can and can’t say? Why are people not allowed to speak their minds? If someone wishes to say something, even if I don’t like it they have the right to do so, so then why make it a crime?
Not only that but another constitutional right that is being threatened is the right to bear arms. Many politicians scream about gun control and disarming the American people using the argument that weapons of war should not be in the hands of common citizens. The argument is that, common law abiding citizens with guns pose a threat to our society and can cause damage and promote crime.
Statistically speaking (see links in work cited) if it were true that more guns in the hands of citizens equals to more crime and murder then Texas would be the most violent territory in the world. Ironically the most violent city in America with the most crime and murders is Chicago, the most controlled state in America where gun control laws are the strictest. And also ironically the state with the least amount of gun control and the most amount of legal gun owners (Texas) has he lowest crime and murder rate in all of the U.S. There are 80 million legal gun owners that own a collective amount of 300 million plus weapons in all of the U.S, that’s more firepower and manpower than every European nations military power combined so if we had a gun problem you’d know about it. Out of all those gun owners and guns ironically almost every murder is committed by an illegal gun owner with an illegal weapon, (according to the FBI statistics below) and every mass shooting committed with a prohibited firearm attained illegally. So banning guns from those who have them legally and use them properly leaves them defenseless against those who have them illegally and use them illegally. Banning alcohol in the 20’s didn’t stop people from drinking right? Banning drugs didn’t stop them from using it right? Also statistically (see links below) states with the most legal gun owners also have the lowest crime rate, murder rate, and death rate relating to guns, in 2014 only 243 people died in the entire year all across the U.S due to assault weapons...and in that same year 1500 people were murdered by household objects (lamps, vases etc. If someone wants to kill another person, a rifle being outlawed won’t stop them, they will find an illegal one or use something else.
The second challenge we face is that we are the last stand of democracy, nowhere in the world is there a freedom and liberty such as the one we have here. Yes most European powers are free states with liberty but, not as much freedom as we have here, and not as much safety and prosperity. In Europe you have rights, but a limited amount of rights, you must watch what you say occasionally etc. In London a record amount of people were arrested, not for committing a crime but for posting on social media anything that is considered “offensive” which is a denial of any right to freedom of expression. Now you may be thinking “Britain?! I never heard of such thing they did!” Well yes because the media doesn’t really cover things that contradict their agendas. Bellow you’ll see links as well. Now as Reagan said, we truly are the last stand of freedom, because nowhere in the world are you as free as in America, even in Canada if you say something that someone else doesn’t like they can have you arrested for it! Like the thought police of George Orwell’s 1984.
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Work Cited:
http://www.dailywire.com/news/7872/7-facts-gun-crime-show-gun-control-doesnt-work-aaron-bandler
https://www.google.com/amp/www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/arrests-for-offensive-facebook-and-twitter-posts-soar-in-london-a7064246.html%3famp
https://www.google.com/amp/www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/10/09/new-california-law-allows-jail-time-for-using-wrong-gender-pronoun-sponsor-denies-that-would-happen.amp.html
google.com/ReaganQuotes/images