- A country should not have soldiers ready to go during a time of peace
- Stealing is unfairly punished
- The death penalty sentence is unjustly given out to unworthy convictions
- Killing people and deciding when they shall die is divine action
- The monarch is a sheepherder and should take care of his peoples' needs and not make them take care of his wishes
- Judges always rule in favor of the Prince
My reaction:
I do agree with the statement that a country should not have soldiers ready to go during a time a peace. If the country works in the sense that they are always ready for war then they will be willing to go into war without much hesitation. This part of the book reminded me some what of our Army National Guard, because although they do not fight unless the country really needs them they have to train one weekend a month. In a way they are our country's reserve of soldiers who are ready for action.
Stealing should be fairly punished. Back in those times a murderer and robber would both be put to death. While I believe that stealing is a serious offense, I do not believe that a robber should be put to death for it. If he dies then he will never be able to learn from his mistakes and have a second chance at life in the community. This reason is why I do agree that the death penalty needs to given out, if given out at all, to those who may deserve it and not for people who may be able to change their way of living.
I personally do not believe in the death penalty, because it goes against my religious beliefs. When you decide to take the life of someone, even if they have killed several other people, you are doing what you condemned in the first place. God is the only one who has the power to decide when a person will die.
The monarch is in charge of his people just as a president is in charge of the country he rules. Their duties include protect the people of the country and keeping them safe. Monarchs should not use the people under his rule to help fulfill his own wishes and desires. When a monarch does this the people of his country start to respect him less. When judges are supposed to always rule in favor of the prince this is an example of a monarch using his people to fulfill his desires. This is wrong and a judge should never be made to do this, or there is no reason for the government. A society like this one would be a society in which the people are living by someone else's wishes, the people of the country do not have a chance at a life they would like to make. This society reminded me of a rustic version of the soceity in which we live today.
4 comments:
I agree with your comment on how a monarch should not be ruling just for himself. I found when reading this that the situation in which the king of France invaded more territory than he could handle parallels today's situations. In Raphael's example, the King is thinking only in the short term when he tries to invade Italy. Many policies of current administrations have also been equally shortsighted. I think this shows that this text can still be current with issues.
I agree with many of your ideas and beliefs based off of More's dream of a perfect society. One of the points, especially, which was the death penalty is what I agreed with. One of the commandments is that you should not kill. Well, if we are killing stealers or killers to punish them, for one, what will they learn and for two, aren't you becoming a killer yourself? Good job on the insight!
I enjoyed reading your commentary on Book I, but found both things I agree and disagree with you on. For starters, I do not agree that a country does not need soldiers during a time of peace. Anything can happen at anytime and if there are not soldiers even around due to the time of peace, then what is the country to do? I do agree though on the fact that a judge should be able to voice his own opinion and not always align with the monarchy. I guess that goes to show why the United States is so found of it's democracy and ability to listen to other's opinions.
I disagree with the comment about not having soldiers prepared to fight during times of peace. This is not a smart idea at all because other countries will have soldiers ready. So unless everyone is willing to back down, which would doubtly ever happen this idea would not work if we wish to remain safe as a country ourselves
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