An Amendment So Important They Made It Number One
It is the belief of a significant number of citizens of the United States that many of our precious Constitutional rights are under direct and indirect assault by both the Obama Administration and the Congress. The assault on our basic freedoms comes in many forms and guises. However the assault is made, both the scope and pace of the attacks are breathtaking for their audacity and frightening in their intent.
It might be beneficial for the reader to take a brief trip down long road of Constitutional history. There may be a few of you who actually had teachers who taught you about the Constitution in school. You may remember that after the Constitutional Convention passed the document some delegates stepped forward and asserted that the Constitution did not go far enough in enumerating and protecting the rights of its citizens. You see, there was still this lingering King George III memory about his abuses and depredations on the colonists. These upstart neo-Americans wanted no part in any future abuse by the government on its people and felt that the protections should be spelled out succinctly as amendments to the original document. This group of ten amendments came to be referred to as the Bill of Rights.
Now when I sit down to make a list, whether it is a grocery list or a Christmas shopping list, I generally put the most important item first. It is my belief that our founding fathers made their list of amendments the same way as God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses, put the biggies first cause it’s hard for people to keep focused.
Let’s take a look at Numero Uno on the list of rights that our founding patriots so thoughtfully included in our Constitution:
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Wow! That’s a lot of ground to cover in one amendment. Let’s take this apart and look at the pieces. On the surface, it looks like it is a bill of rights all on its own. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,”
The colonies of America were a diverse lot. Several were established by refugees from Europe who came to the new land to escape the oppressive tyrannies existing at the time of the Church of England, the Dutch or the Catholic Church. These refugees from European religio-monarchal governance had fresh memories of brutal religious oppressions that included denying basic freedoms to anyone of a conflicting faith, torture, inquisition and murder. These framers of the Constitution wanted to make sure that there would be no governmentally imposed National religion. This part of the amendment is crystal clear in its intent and wording. or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
This is the part of the amendment that my liberal friends seem to conveniently ignore. You might even call it an inconvenient truth! The amendment is clear that our government is to do nothing to interfere with the free practice of the religion of one’s choice. I consider this the live and let live doctrine of the amendment. In other words, government will not force a single religion or set of beliefs down my throat and yet it will not prohibit me from expressing my own religious beliefs no matter how different they are from yours. “or abridging freedom of speech”
This one looks pretty simple on the surface. Freedom of speech is anything coming out of my mouth or out of my pen. In England, at Hyde Park, the British practice this freedom daily. You will find conservatives, liberals, racists, anarchists, religious speakers and just simple Joe Sixpack standing on a stump or a chair and speaking their minds without fear of retribution. For roughly two centuries the United States practiced the same rough tolerance except for minor exceptions. Society generally held that it wasn’t appropriate to yell “fire” in a movie theater or to practice sedition during a time of war. Freedom of speech is precious. During the course of the day, I hear many people say things that I strongly disagree with, dislike and abhor. However, their freedom to rant today is my freedom to rant tomorrow. “or of the press”
Doesn’t it just make you sick what some newspapers write on a daily or weekly basis? Newspapers, magazines and the broadcast media have been free, assuming the absence of malice, to say just about anything about just about anybody. Our government leaders, political parties, challengers and activists are fair game for challenges, editorializing and ridicule at any time. Even such an august newspaper as the Kokomo Perspective is free to dress me up in a Civil War uniform, transform my curly, full head of hair into baldness and attribute words to me that have never been spoken. Do I ever get mad about what I read or see in the media? Yes! Would I like to see the reporter banned to the fires of Hades? Yes! Would I try and restrict the media’s right to lampoon me or imply that I am of insufficient wisdom or that I am just a plain moron? No! You take the bad with the good. Or, as the great Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “Sunlight is the best disinfectant.” “or the right of the people to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Our Country was founded on this basic freedom. Upset taxpayers, merchants, farmers and oppressed colonists came together to raise up their voices together in protest. From this little acorn of revolt came the mighty oak tree of our United States. I entered my formative years during a time of great protest in this country. I have witnessed the anti-war protests. I have seen the demonstrations for racial equality. I read the newspapers and watched television as the media gave great coverage to these events. Who could ever forget watching Walter Cronkite declaring Vietnam a “lost cause” and thereby driving a stake through the political heart of Lyndon Johnson and our war effort there? Just about everywhere in this country, people periodically gather to protest something or some one. Do I wish the false prophets of global warming would stop their tree hugging and spotted owl watching love-ins? Yes! Do I think we should protect their right to protest? As long as their rights end where mine begin, yes!
And so this brings us to the present state of affairs. Democrats in Congress have expressed a willingness to simultaneously stifle protests at abortion centers at the same time as they try and pass laws restricting “hate speech”. The same Democratic Party who delivers exclusive access to news for the New York Times and the Washington Post, inherently one-sided and extremely liberal publications, seeks to impose the muzzle of a new fairness doctrine on talk radio and news programs such as Fox News. The same group of ultra-liberal Democrats who scorned President George Bush at countless rallies and protests now seeks to marginalize and restrict the ability of our Nation’s citizens to assemble at tea parties and to speak out at Congressional town hall meetings. The same Democrats in Congress who would give terrorists the freedom to use the internet for their nefarious purpose would sign on and promote a net neutrality treaty that would restrict the freedom of expression now only found on the internet. Finally, the same Democrats in Congress who would force our children to study Islam in schools, would deny us the ability to place a menorah or manger on the court house lawn or offer a prayer at commencement.
Further attacks on our basic freedoms are being plotted by both the Administration and the Democrat leadership in Congress. Witness that the Administration thinks it is a violation of the Constitution to detain prisoners of war at Guantanamo and yet believes it is a constitutional right of illegal aliens to government provided and taxpayer paid health insurance. Go figure.
The point of this is that the Bill of Rights does not belong to you or me. It belongs to us. It is for our protection. It is not to be legislated around or dismembered by executive fiat. It is not to be negotiated away at the United Nations. It is not to be offered up as a bargaining chip with some foreign potentate. The Bill of Rights is our most precious national possession and we should all be willing to fight for its preservation.
|