This government being organized for the purpose of protecting the rights and liberties of the people, it is necessary that laws be enacted in order that our rights and liberties shall not be taken away from us by those who may be stronger or wiser than we are. Many laws prohibit wrongful acts and provide a punishment for those who commit such wrongful acts. Thus one who strikes you without justification, one who steals your bicycle, or any other property, one who breaks into your home, or into the store, a burglar, is punished. One who kills another human being, a murderer, is punished. A person who willfully sets fire to a building, or is guilty of cruelty to animals, malicious mischief, or sells liquor is punished.(22) So there are scores of different offenses forbidden by the law, and punishments fixed for those who will not obey. There are also laws requiring that one shall ride or drive on the right hand side of the street when passing another coming from the opposite direction. There is generally in every city a law which punishes a person who rides his bicycle upon the sidewalk. There are laws regulating the speed of automobiles, the lights and signals, and the turning at the corners of the street, so that other people either walking, or riding on bicycles, or in automobiles or other vehicles, may not receive injury.(23) You know in this country, where every person is equal before the law, no one person has any more right in the street than his neighbor has, and the conduct of each in the use of streets and sidewalks and other public places must be such that all may enjoy equal opportunities in the use thereof.(24) Freedom, as already explained, does not mean a right to do everything we wish to do. Freedom is the right to do whatever we may wish to do, provided it does not interfere with the right of our neighbors to have the same privileges which we claim for ourselves. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to have laws fixing the conduct of all persons; and it is necessary, in order to enforce these laws, to punish those who will not obey them. _Who makes these laws?_ In America the laws are made by the people themselves; that is, they elect representatives to serve in Congress, in the legislatures of the States, and in the councils of the city, who make the laws for the people according to the wishes of the people. This you will understand more fully as you study this representative form of government we have in this country. The people have the right to change any law now in existence, and may also make such new laws as they think will better protect the people in their rights.(25) _Who enforces these laws_, these rules of conduct? The rules of the home are enforced by the parents. If you violate the rules of your parents, they impose a punishment upon you. This punishment may not be severe, in fact it should not be, unless your disobedience is continued and stubborn.