Government Restrictions

The quote “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” (Rousseau) doesn’t hold the same meaning it did when Rousseau originally wrote it, but it can still be applied to many facet’s in today’s life. Rousseau’s quote can be applied to many areas in our everyday lives, such as government restrictions, work, and social acceptance and norms. Every day in many aspects we face restrictions that stop us from doing something we may desire to do, but cannot because of regulations against it. Every restriction we face or anytime we our limited in any capacity, we are held in chains, stopping us from doing what we may truly desire to do, hinders our growth and knowledge of new experiences that cannot be had because of some restriction forbidding …show more content…
Every time someone gets paid a percentage of their pay goes directly to different government organizations, where they use that money to help enforce laws that restrict us in other ways. But taxes cause restrictions for people in different ways. By taxing people they are taking money away from our family and other things we want or need to purchase. But the limitations set by our taxes are a necessary chain. Without taxes, the government wouldn’t be able to provide public schooling for children, healthcare and other assistance for the needy, as well as protection against dangerous individuals without collecting taxes from citizens. By collecting these taxes from all citizens they are able to employee large numbers of employees which create many jobs as well as provide the different services people have come to …show more content…
Most people want to be seen as normal, the same as everyone else, at least in some aspects. By doing this they our chaining themselves, chaining their personality, ideals and thoughts to match someone else’s idea of normal. By working to fit in they are hindering their own ability to grow as a person and losing some of their individualism. The desire for social acceptance could potentially be the biggest way we our chained in society today, especially for younger individuals. While there is nothing wrong with someone working to fit in, it becomes a problem and a detriment when they start changing who they are as an individuals to fit how other people think they should act and behave. Truly those who are seen as outsiders by the majority or go against societies norms are the closest to being unchained but even these outsiders are conforming to a different group, they are conforming to other outsiders, while they see themselves as different they create a personality to fit other outsiders, because of this no one is truly unchained with their desire to follow social norms or