Congratulations to Elizabeth Rogers of Bow on her first prize winning essay of the 2008 NH Liberty Essay Contest! For her winning essay, Elizabeth has been awarded $75. Elizabeth’s essay is reproduced in full below:

Liberty and Individual Freedom

If the world had no individuality, where would civilization be? Even more so, what about individual freedoms? Without individual freedom, the fundamental, unspoken aspects of human life do not exist. The want to succeed, speak one’s mind, and help in the proceedings and particulars of projects and other endeavors, are all part of human nature. These are all hinged on individual liberties, which are indispensable.

When people use their “self-controlling energy”, it has a great deal of effect on people. When people use this energy to promote peace, the effects are contagious. When one person does an act of charity for you, or someone you know, you immediately have the urge to help someone else, because you know how it feels to have that done for you. A great example of this is a poem by Sally Huss. “A happy person promotes a happy home. A happy home promotes a happy neighborhood. Such a neighborhood affects a city, which in turn inspires a state. A happy state touches a nation. A happy nation helps create a happy world. So being a happy person is the most important thing in the world.” Also, when you help someone, you get a feeling of worth and satisfaction. In these two ways, the general well-being of citizens is enhanced.

When government coercion becomes more prominent, individual freedom withers, and is cast by the way-side. Take, for example, Cuba. Fidel Castro took away people’s individual freedom by taking away their choice. He held “elections”, but woe to you who didn’t vote for him. Despite the fact that that is an extreme case, it illustrates the same point. Look where society goes when individual liberties are eliminated. When the government imposes, if only a little too much, people start to lose their sense of individuality and individual liberty; either because they don’t have faith in themselves, or they begin to fear the consequences of not backing the government. This would cause a rapid decrease in individual freedom, causing individual liberty to be lost, and the government would essentially turn into a device that controlled all aspects of living.

Many people argue that the PATRIOT Act takes away our individual liberty. For example, the wire tapping is a really sensitive issue. People feel that as the government listens to our private conversations, they are invading privacy. It would be nice if this world wasn’t one where this was an issue, but it is. However, many people still feel that conflicts could be handled in a way other than wire tapping. This is seen as stripping Americans of their individual freedoms by many citizens.

Clearly, individual liberties cannot be gotten rid of. “Self-controlling energy” helps people unite and exercise their liberties to help each other. When a group of people, or country, or any organized living society takes away those liberties, societies crumble. Many people are very guarded against such happenings, and are the same people alarmed by the PATRIOT Act. All of these things show that around the world, different counties, and their governments have different levels of individual liberties to be taken advantage of. It is just a matter of opinion as to which is best.