According to the Declaration of Independence, American citizens are granted four unalienable human rights. They are granted equality, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and a government that will derive its power from their consent. If the government becomes corrupt and makes decisions with no consideration towards their unalienable rights, it is also the right of the American citizen to alter or abolish their government until they have one that works best for them to provide safety and happiness. I believe the ability to alter or abolish a destructive government is the most important concept of the Declaration. This concept gives the American people the ability to ensure their government always has their best interests at heart, and allows them to make their government flexible to fit the needs of the country. Document D references the Tea Party movement, a movement that fights to restore the liberty and prosperity to all that they feel is no longer being delivered. They feel the federal government is too large and too involved, and vow to protest and demonstrate until change has been achieved. The liberty and prosperity they seek would be impossible for them to gain if it weren't for this right, the right to alter or abolish, given to them by being American. Equality is another core theme of the Declaration. As an idea, it means that no matter who someone is or where they were born, as an American they will have the same rights as any other citizen. To Diana Pham in Document A, equality means that her children were given equal opportunities in education. She came here on an immigrant boat from communist Vietnam, and the ability for her two children to graduate from Michigan and Stanford would not have been possible in her country. Her children would not have had equal potential to succeed, but in America they did. She says her family was given the chance to become whatever they chose to become. This is what equality does for this country. The United States was in part built on the foundation of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Many people came to the United States because they wanted the ability to practice their religion without being persecuted or to have a better life, in the pursuit of life and happiness. The U.S. wanted their liberty from English rule and their legislature, as well the freedom to be their own country, and thus instituted these ideals so as to not commit the crimes of their former rulers. Document B quotes Andrew Sullivan on his beliefs on these ideals. He believes in life, treasuring it as a mystery, and that it should never be destroyed.
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In America this means voting for a representative to fight for you to achieve your political goals. Document C speaks of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a tragedy that took place in China, in which 3,000 people were killed by the Chinese government for protesting. They were killed because they wanted to change their communist country to a democracy; they wanted truth and freedom from their government. Unfortunately, their government did not want to change. The citizens did not have the power we do to prevent their leaders from committing these atrocious acts. How would the events of that day been changed if they had had that
In America this means voting for a representative to fight for you to achieve your political goals. Document C speaks of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a tragedy that took place in China, in which 3,000 people were killed by the Chinese government for protesting. They were killed because they wanted to change their communist country to a democracy; they wanted truth and freedom from their government. Unfortunately, their government did not want to change. The citizens did not have the power we do to prevent their leaders from committing these atrocious acts. How would the events of that day been changed if they had had that