Section 8 Group 3 Civil Disobedience

Civil Disobedience

 "Let your life be a counter-friction to stop the machine."
                        -Henry David Thoreau

                   
Throughout the past few years, the topic of Civil Disobedience has sparked my interest and has led to many curious discoveries found in our very own country. Having said that, I wanted to focus on one aspect in particular, inland border patrol checkpoints. I'm sure we have all experienced the hassle of travelling through states like; New Mexico, Arizona, or California and being asked by the border patrol officers if you are a U.S. citizen. Although this seems like a silly, unimportant topic to focus on, it is of the upmost importance that we as a nation understand our Constitutional rights and know that we do not have to answer. We as citizens should be free to travel state to state without being harassed by these patrol officers. They don't have any right to ask us if we are U.S. citizens or not if we are merely traveling within the country. We are not living in a police state or for example, Nazi Germany. We as a nation have to recognize these small actions that are little by little taking away our rights and freedoms. The Declaration of Independence clearly states that we are given unalienable rights that can never be revoked and that we should abolish any form of tyrannical or destructive government that may threaten those.

Declaration of Independence

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness."