The Dynamic Relationship between Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

In the twenty-first century, civil rights and civil liberties organizations have had the primary task of lobbying for minority interests and individual rights. The Constitution strengthens the organization, allowing it to carry out its functions in reaction to specific events and social movements. These organizations are capable of carrying out advanced legal and legislative actions to protect individuals’ rights. In their pursuit of justice, the organizations have succeeded in exposing the majoritarian government and society to minority concerns. The essay investigates the dynamic relationship between civil rights and civil liberties in regard to the organizations’ functions. The essay also discusses the function and role of federal, local, and state governments. Finally, the paper debates between the freedom of speech and the protection of ethnic, racial, and religious symbols in regards to the fundamental value of democracy in the USA.

The Relationship between Civil Rights and Civil Responsibilities

Civil rights are the established positive rights meant for specific groups of individuals whereas the focus of civil liberties is to protect individuals against interference from the government. Civil rights extend beyond minority rights to include human rights, children rights, and women rights (Reid et al. 3). Consequently, all the organizations that have diverse agenda associated with the protection of human rights fall under civil rights and civil liberties. One of the organizations is Amnesty International. The organization represents individuals suffering from the human rights abuse across the globe. Another organization, The Institute for Justice protects the property rights of middle class Americans.

The congruence between civil rights and civil liberties is also evident from the similar strategies employed by both organizations in leveraging change. Initially, a significant number of minority rights organizations used to promote group rights by forming social movements and other collective action movements. Some of the organizations depend on the judiciary to ensure the protection of individuals against abuse, discrimination, and other injustices. Some organizations developed a body of case law that expanded the rights of a particular group. Civil rights organizations have focused on expanding the provisions of the Bill of Rights that fell short on equality despite being strong on liberty (Reid et al. 4). The expansion of the Bill of Rights aimed at granting people the right to make constitutional amendments besides the protection of individual rights.

The shared interests of civil liberties and civil rights organizations have made it difficult to distinguish between the two organizations. Consequently, it is proper to state that both types of organizations focus on protecting and expanding the rights of particular groups of individuals such as children, women, ethnic and rational minorities, immigrants, disabled persons, gays, workers, seniors, lesbians, bi-sexual, and trans-sexual individuals. The organizations also focus on protecting and expanding the rights of individuals such as the right to gun control and bearing of arms, the rights of the unborn, reproductive rights, the right to censorship and free speech, and the right to die and euthanasia. The rapid growth in the number of organizations that provide social services has increased the demand for civil rights and civil liberties organizations (Reid et al. 5). In the United States, civil rights organizations are small groups created in response to a particular oppression such as ethnicity, gender, disability, and race.

National advocacy organizations consolidate advocates and service providers to develop broad policy networks that use a unified and popular voice to address legislation and issues. A good example is the linking up of national lobbies that advocate for and against abortion rights with the grassroots using the local pregnancy service centers. Some national advocacy organizations do not have members even though some have members. Some of the organizations contain connected tax-exempt entities that serve different purposes. The complex organizational structures have several units that perform different functions. For instance, they could have specific entities for research, service, public education, policy advocacy, while other entities handle election-related advocacy (Reid et al. 5).

The shift from minority rights to human rights is evident in both civil rights and civil liberties organizations. Between 1965 and 1975, the characteristics of minority rights in the United States included the expanding federal legislation, court rulings that established non-discrimination rights, and the increase in agency rulings. For instance, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act terminated employment discrimination. In addition, the Immigration Act of 1965 terminated discrimination based on national origin in immigration. The Acts served as the foundation for other reforms such as the rights for disabled persons, equal rights for women, and bilingual education. The civil rights movement for the blacks in 1965 inspired Asian Americans, Latinos, American Indians, disabled individuals, and women (Reid et al. 17). The consequence of the inspiration was the creation of diversified advocacy strategies and organizations even after the mass mobilizations for the women’s movement and the civil rights movement.

The use of advocacy strategies is the other point of similarity between civil rights and civil liberties organizations. The only difference between the applications of the strategies is the specific combinations of legal advocacy, policy advocacy, and social action strategies (Reid et al. 20). Advocacy refers to legal advocacy on behalf of persons and groups, policy advocacy aimed at achieving legislative reforms, and social actions as mobilizations, events, media efforts, and public education. Lately, civil rights and civil liberties organizations have shifted from advocacy strategies to service following the expanding commitment of the government to the provision of social services. The move by the government caused a rapid increase in the number of social service charities that intended to provide services to the public. The initial reforms advocated by civil rights and civil liberties organizations have evolved into a diverse range of service provisioning and social policies. The social service organizations have eclipsed the roles and functions of civil rights and civil liberties organizations recently especially in the representation of the rights of children and the disabled (Reid et al. 25). Regardless of the recent influx of social service organizations, it is clear that civil rights and civil liberties organizations have played an instrumental role in protecting and expanding the rights of individuals and specific groups of individuals such as children, women, the disabled, gays, lesbians, among others.

The Function and Role of Federal, Local, and State Governments

The federal, local, and state governments use the budget as the basis of directing their priorities and policies since all policies and priorities require funding at all levels of the government. The federal government can incur a deficit in funding its daily operations, an advantage that the state and local governments do not have. For the state and local governments, it is imperative to operate within a “balanced” budget that requires the expenditure of the two governments not to exceed the income that they generate. The federal and state governments share power in several ways. However, the local government has to receive authorization from the state government in executing its mandate (Khemani 4). The roles, executive powers, and functions of the three tiers of the government are as follows:

The Federal Government

Printing money (notes and coins) is one of the responsibilities of the federal government. The federal government is also responsible for the maintenance of security issues affecting the country. Consequently, it has the executive power of declaring war. On the front of maintaining peace and security between the states and with its neighbors, the federal government is responsible for establishing the army and the navy. This tier of the government is also responsible for forming treaties with foreign governments. The federal government is also responsible for regulating commerce between the states of the nation as well as international trading between the country and other countries. Establishing post offices and issuing postage is the other role carried out by the federal government. Finally, the federal government has the mandate to make laws that are necessary for the enforcement of the constitution (Khemani 4).

The State Government

Establishing local governments is the first role of state governments in the United States. State governments are also responsible for the issuing of licenses in the USA. The other objectives of state governments include regulating interstate commerce, conducting elections, ratifying amendments to the U.S. Constitution, providing for public safety and public health, and establishing the state constitution. The state government is also responsible for exercising powers that are either prohibited from the states or delegated to the federal government. However, there are several functions and roles shared by both the national and state governments. These include the making and enforcement of laws, chartering corporations and banks, spending money to improve the wellbeing of residents, transportation, establishing courts, crating and collecting taxes, building highways, and borrowing money (Khemani 4).

The Local Government

The local government is responsible for the provision of the following services: education, police, fire, human services, economic development, and parks and recreation. Local governments are also responsible for zoning or urban planning and the construction and maintenance of county-operated and owned assets. Their services extend to the management of sewers, storm water, and solid wastes (Khemani 4).

Freedom of Speech v. the Protection of Ethnic, Racial, and Religious Symbols and Traditions

The freedom of expression or speech provides the basis for the acquisition and defending of other rights in a democracy. The freedom of speech traces its origin from the 17th century struggles for the freedom of expression by European legislators. Ever since the 17th century, the world has witnessed the continued struggle for the freedom of speech, for both individuals and the press. The freedom of expression aims at limiting the power of the government. Consequently, the freedom of expression is a significant aspect of the defense of an individual against the government. In a similar way, the suppression of the freedom of speech is a prerequisite for tyranny. Therefore, the freedom of expression is a fundamental value to democracy (IHRC 1). Human rights activists use the freedom of expression as the basis of challenging indifference in the government in dealing with human rights abuses.

The freedom of expression is also essential for a democracy since it forms the basis for political and religious activities in the country and is exercised alongside the right to the freedom of assembly and thought. The complete failure to restrict the freedom of expression has its own consequences in a democracy. One of the consequences is the probable infringement on the rights of other individuals. This has compelled current democracies to hedge the freedom of expression using a number of restrictions and regulations. The limitations focus on the expression of sentiments contrary to the current political and religious beliefs. The need to restrict the freedom of expression is also evident in times of war or insecurity (IHRC 2). During such moments, the restriction of the freedom aims at maintaining the national security.

The American Convention granted protection to the freedom of expression. The Convention found out that the freedom of expression extends beyond the expression of individual thoughts to the right and freedom to look for information, impart, and receive the information and all other sorts of ideas. The Court revealed that the State has the duty and obligation to ensure that the regulations and laws governing restrictions to the access of state-held information comply with the restrictions and parameters of the Convention. In recognition of the fundamental value of the freedom of expression to democracy, national governments and international fora have embarked on the mission of promoting additional standards that protect the specific elements of the right (IHRC 1). This has resulted in the enactment of legislations by several governments aimed at enhancing the access to information, providing sufficient access to media, and protecting employee reprisals for the disclosure of illegal activities carried out by their employers. The governments have also enacted legislations that provide data protection to enable individuals to access personal files held in the databases of public authorities and to ensure that unauthorized persons do not have access to such files. The massive efforts made by national fora and national governments to protect and expand the right to the freedom of expression or speech are indicative of the fundamental value that the freedom of expression brings to a democracy.

The fact that the freedom of expression provides the basis for the freedom of conscience and religion implies the equivalent significance of the latter freedom and its fundamental value to a democracy. Besides the freedom of expression, the freedom of conscience and religion also lays its foundation on the freedom of assembly and association. The rights enable an individual to hold a religious belief and practice a particular religion. Prior to their expression, it is apparent that views and thoughts are intangible. In order for a conviction to be valuable to an individual, the person should be able to express it (IHRC 1). It is unlawful to subject an individual to some form of treatment aimed at changing his or her process of thinking or compelling the individual to express private thoughts, change opinion, or disclose a religious conviction.

Consequently, a close association exists between the right to privacy and the freedom of religion, conscience, thought, opinion, and belief. Therefore, an individual in a democracy should not suffer any sanction for holding a particular view and changing conviction or religion. The freedom of religion and thought protects individuals against indoctrination by the state. One of the cases involving the right to the freedom of religion in the United States is the refusal of the members of Jehovah Witness to take oaths. The Commission ruled in favor of the members of the religion by revealing that prosecuting the members of the religion for their refusal to swear oaths of allegiance is a violation of their rights (IHRC 1).

Conclusion

The objective of civil rights organizations is to protect and expand the rights of specific groups of individuals such as the elderly, women, disabled, and children. On the other hand, civil liberties organizations protect individuals against government interference. However, it is evident that both organizations adopt advocacy strategies to protect and expand the rights of individuals. The functions of the federal government revolve around controlling trade, security, and other aspects between the states and other countries. The state government works in conjunction with the federal government in making laws and controlling the utilisation of public funds in promoting the welfare of individuals. The local government is responsible for the provision of basic services such as education and economic development at the local level. The right to the freedom of expression and the freedom of conscience and religion both bear fundamental significance to any democracy.

Works Cited

Icelandic Human Research Center. ”The Right to the Freedom of Expression and Religion.”

Khemani, Stuti. ”Fiscal federalism and service delivery in Nigeria: The role of states and local governments.“ Nigerian PER Steering Committee (2001): 1-14.

Reid, Elizabeth, Elizabeth Boris, and Andrew Ho. ”The scope and dimensions of US civil rights and civil liberties organizations at the beginning of the 21st century.“ Washington, DC: The Urban Institute. Paper presented at the International Society for Third Sector Research Conference July, 2004.