How do we balance a limited government with the protection of equal rights?

[Sugarcoated]

A question my son has to answer for Social Studies that I'm having a hard time helping him with :blush:

Can anyone put this in another simpler way for a simple mom and her 7th grader?

[Sapphocrat]

1. Context?

Equal rights for whom, and "limited" in what way -- fiscally, socially...?

It's a tough question to answer without context.

[Sugarcoated]

4. I guess that's the problem

He probably got more context in class and isn't remembering what was talked about. He said they showed a picture of the black students who broke the racial barrier at the HS in Alabama and the Tienanmen square man in front of the tank, another having to do with feminism and how would Enlightenment author John Locke would react or say if he witnessed those incidents.

[Sapphocrat]

9. That's actually helpful.

I would probably say the ideal balance is when government stays out of people's private business as long as what people are doing doesn't hurt anybody else (e.g., religious freedom) -- but intervenes when the actions of one group do interfere with others' rights (to privacy, to equal access in housing and education, etc.).

You can probably tease out a few more examples from what they've been talking about in class.

On edit: The usual stupid typos

[Sugarcoated]

12. Thank you for the response

I wish I took civics in HS, damn. I'm really playing catch up sometimes.

[H2O Man]

2. With the US Supreme Court. n/t

[BuyingThyme]

3. Limited government is the product of protected rights.

[mmonk]

5. Balance? Without equal rights, there is no balance.

[ewoden]

6. some thoughts by others . . .

Without liberty, law loses its nature and its name, and becomes oppression. Without law, liberty also loses its nature and its name, and becomes licentiousness.
James Wilson, Of the Study of the Law in the United States, Circa 1790

If the public are bound to yield obedience to laws to which they cannot give their approbation, they are slaves to those who make such laws and enforce them.
Candidus, in the Boston Gazette, January 20, 1772

Neither the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt.
Samuel Adams, essay in The Public Advertiser, Circa 1749

[Hosnon]

7. My take:

Tailor the question in such a way that his answer has to be right.

Ask what powers of the government are being limited. Why do we want them limited? Is protection of equal rights within the class of things we want limited?

I would say no. When we say we want limited government, we are saying we don't want the government doing things that it does not have to necessarily do. Unless it is a necessary governmental function, leave it to the people and/or private sector.

Protecting rights is perhaps the primary function of government. The whole life, liberty thing...

So my answer would be that we do not balance limited government with protection of equal rights because such protection is something that the government must do. In other words, the two ideas don't seem to require balancing. We place limits on government to keep it from doing things which are unnecessary for it to do. Protecting rights does not seem to be one of those things.

[ewoden]

8. You could also consider this . . .

Justice Anthony Kennedy, in Romer v. Evans (1996)

The Fourteenth Amendment's premise that no person shall be denied the equal protection of the law must coexist with the practical necessity that most legislation classifies for one purpose or another, with resulting disadvantages to various groups or persons. . . . (The Court) has attempted to reconcile the principle with the reality by stating that, if a law neither burdens a fundamental right nor targets a suspect class , we will uphold the legislative classification so long as it bears a rational relation to some legitimate end.

[Greyhound]

10. This topic seems a little inappropriate for the 7th grade. It is a very complex

question and any meaningful answers will take considerable research and intricate responses.

Can you give some parameters? How long is the paper supposed to be? What topics have they covered in the classroom? That kind of thing.

[Sugarcoated]

11. That's what I was thinking.

We put him in a progressive-alternative private school this year and human rights is the theme for Social Studies right now. The answers were to be short, one or two sentences.

The depth of the studies in all the classes is just amazing, I wish I could go back in time and go to this school. They encourage the kids to think and I love that. The Science teacher gave them an assignment to figure out for themselves if the world is actually round, don't rely on what scientists have told us. They're going to be covering global warming next semester.

It is pretty heady stuff that I just can't always help him with without doing research myself, but they're all about working with the kids, it's not a traditional/lessons based style of education, it's student based. At least that's how I understand it.

[Greyhound]

15. Something along the lines of this, perhaps.

The Government's duty to protect our rights is not necessarily in conflict with the ideal of limiting its size and scale of imposition.

The 14th amendment, finally ratified on July 9, 1868, states that "No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

While the amendment clearly states that its protection extends to all citizens of the United States, The fact that the last State to ratify this amendment, Kentucky, delayed its acceptance of this essential truth until March 18, 1976, indicates just how the strong resistance to this seemingly self-evident proposition is withing certain cultures in our country, and thereby necessitated the perceived growth of government. As acceptance of our inherent equality spreads to all of us, the mechanisms of enforcement become obsolete and can therefore be reduced and eventually eliminated.

Maybe this will give your son a premise to work from.

[bryant69]

13. Limited Government means limiting the government to what it's supposed

to be doing. Protecting our rights is one of the things it's supposed to be doing. I mean that's basic. A government that doesn't protect our rights isn't worth spit.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Sugarcoated]

14. You guys are the best

and I am very sincere in saying that. This board has the best, most intelligent good-hearted people. Thanks for the help. :)