Freedom, Security and the 14th Amendment

Benjamin Franklin once stated “Those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

Our 14th Amendment states “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. 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.

Many soldiers can testify to the fact that it is not just training, situations, or regulations that sets us apart from the average person.

These demands are stated in each of the military branches creed and each member of their respective branch is expected to live their life, both in the military and as a civilian, in the way that their creed states which is known as the standard. If a student does not wish to write a persuasive essay solely due to the fact that the said student does not like the persuasive style than that student will surely receive a failing grade from his/her instructor. In this case the instructor has many reasons to fail the said student. From the lack effort that student put in why should he/she receive a passing grade and the instructor knows that the student maybe struggling with this particular style of writing however the instructor forces the student to write this way in order to better that student because the ancient teacher Aristotle and Socrates would have done the same to better their students and society. In this example the student, a soldier, wishes to go against what the instructor, an NCO, even though the instructor knows what is best for his/her students and knows that if the student follows the same teachings as Aristotle and Socrates, tradition, than everything will continue in peace and the students will only benefit from this action. The military works the exact same way as a class room does only the military is

While this statement may seem appealing and something that is impossible to deny, there are many reasons why “times are changing and everyone should have the same rights” has no room in the military. For starters, less than 1% of the entire United States of America population serves in the United States Armed Forces. That means out of 313.9 million people (Google 2012) less than 1% of that population serves in either the National Guard, Reserves or Active Duty yet over 99% of the population feels entitled to make the decisions of the United States of America Armed Forces. In civilian tradition the American subculture was outraged when they found out that the top wealthy 1% “controls the world and controls the media and controls the ideas for the other 99%” yet that same 99% wants to tell the United States Armed Forces, which once again is less than 1%, what should and should not happen. When it comes to the traditions of the United States Armed Forces, where does a society have any room to dictate to those who serve in combat and defend a nation’s freedom yet complain that a certain percent of Americans control everything? It has been a tradition since 14