Reference no: EM133486842

Question 1: What should be the proper balance in a democratic society concerning the need to ensure and preserve civil liberties and civil rights, as well as societal peace, order and security, especially in times of national stress? In your response, be sure to distinguish clearly your understanding of civil liberties and civil rights. How might civil liberties and civil rights come into conflict with each other, that is, how can the pursuit and exercise of one be detrimental or undermine the pursuit and exercise of the other? How can too much emphasis on one aspect of this dynamic diminish the essential importance of the others?

Question 2: From your perspective, how well have the American people and their government balanced these often-time competing dimensions over the country's history? How are Americans doing regarding this balance presently? In what ways has the nation been successful? In what ways is there still work to be done? Be sure to cite specific examples.

Question 3: In the context of the challenges the country has faced in recent years, including, for example, those related to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as nation-wide civil unrest motivated by racial injustice and cases of police abuse (and any other that comes to mind), what are your thoughts with regard to the appropriate balance between citizens being able to exercise their constitutional individual civil liberties and collective civil rights, and the possibility that government officials may curtail or impede some of them (albeit temporarily) in order to ensure public safety and order? In what ways can government actions be considered detrimental to the exercise of either (or both) civil liberties or civil liberties?