Monday, September 22, 2008

Today's Word—Freedom of ... hunh?

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CONSTITUTION DAY—The Constitution was signed Sept. 17, 1787
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State of the First Amendment 2008:

“Perhaps one reason so many [Americans] are not fearful of, or would even invite, government limits on the five freedoms is that so few of us can even name them.

“The survey found again this year that just 3 percent of those questioned could name ‘petition’ as one of the five freedoms in the First Amendment. Only ‘speech’ was named by a majority of respondents, 56 percent. Less than 20 percent named religion (15 percent), press (15 percent) or assembly (14 percent). . . . 4 in 10 could not name any freedom--the highest such result in the survey’s history.

“[These are] ‘inalienable’ rights for all, indeed—but in today’s United States, rights that are unknown, unnamed, or even undefended, by many.”


—Gene Policinski, vice president and executive director
The First Amendment Center, Washington, DC.
(Click here for full survey results.)
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5 comments:

  1. The survey is more interesting for the word choice in the questions than in the results.
    "Q3. Overall, do you think the PRESS in America has too much freedom to do what it wants, too little freedom to do what it wants, or is the amount of freedom the press has about right?"
    "Q4. Even though the U.S. Constitution guarantees freedom of RELIGION, government has placed some restrictions on it. Overall, do you think Americans have too much religious freedom, too little religious freedom, or is the amount of religious freedom about right?"
    I wonder how the results would change if either of these questions was reworded to mirror the other:
    Q3: Even though the U.S. Constitution guarantees the freedom of people to publish their thoughts and observations, government has placed some restrictions on it. Overall, do you think Americans have too much press freedom, too little press freedom, or is the amount of press freedom about right?
    Q4: Overall, do you think RELIGION in America has too much freedom to do what it wants, too little freedom to do what it wants, or is the amount of freedom religion has about right?
    The wording includes a hidden assumption that "press" freedom is only a right for a selected segment of society.
    Then there's this beauty:
    Q38. The Federal Communications Commission is considering a proposal to provide free Internet access to anyone, anywhere in the United States. However, under the proposal, the government would block access to material it deemed indecent or obscene. Do you favor or oppose the FCC‟s proposal?
    So did the 38 percent who strongly favor the proposal favor free Internet access or did they favor the government blocking access to material it deems indecent or obscene?

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  2. Interesting feedback, Brian.

    Those with questions about the survey or how its questions were formulated should contact the First Amendment Center at http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/

    Ted

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  3. This from Salt Lake City attorney Patrick Shea, who has taught at the University of Utah and BYU's law school. He was director of the BLM, staff director of the Senate Intelligence Committee and counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

    Ted,
    There are actually six freedoms in the First Amendment that even Scalia would have to recognize:

    Freedom of thought, often translated as freedom of religion.

    Freedom from government supported religion.

    Freedom of speech.

    Freedom of the press.

    Freedom to assemble.

    Freedom to petition the government to redress grievances.

    I believe Madison as the primary author of the First Amendment ranked the “freedoms” in order of priority. I note that there is no written evidence or correspondence to support this proposition, but having read the constitutional debate where Madison was the Chair of the Committee on Style, it was his style and logic.

    Also, in this day and age of evangelical proclamation of ownership of channels to divinity, it is important to note that most of the 55 men in Philadelphia in 1787 and in the first Congress under the Constitution in New York in 1791 were individuals who believed in an undefined Deity, which by today’s standards would be called free thinkers or secularist.

    Finally, the First Amendment, first phrase, explicitly prohibits the establishment of a religion. That is, every citizen should be able to define their own religious or free thinking views without government interference, directly or indirectly. Our present “decider” doesn’t seem to understand the breadth, depth or subtlety of the First Amendment. God help us all.

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  4. Michael Haskins, a Key West writer and WORD stalwart, writes:

    "It is time that the American people - the farmers, the mechanics, cooks, servers, office workers, writers, journalists, white-collar, blue-collar and no-collar workers, executives and, most importantly, our elected officials – reread the Constitution; discuss it at home, at the workplace, at taverns, on TV specials, and bus stops.

    It was written to protect us from the men and women in Washington and state capitols and in city hall chambers. It was written before we had labeled influence peddlers as lobbyists and before large corporation arranged whom we could vote for.

    Time and history has shown that 200-years ago, our Founding Fathers were a lot smarter than our leaders are today. Maybe it wasn’t intelligence; maybe the Founding Fathers were just honest enough to be concerned about the future of their own children and families and wanted to protect them from British counter attacks against the freedoms their blood and sweat had won. Today, it's all about profits - as we are learning daily on the news.

    The Founding Fathers had all the human frailties of the times, but created the greatest document in our short history and today there are those that would line item veto sections of the Constitution. And they will, if we the people do not fully understand what it is they are trying to have us give up and stand up and say “no!”

    See his full column, Do You Know Your Rights?, at http://chasinthewind.blogspot.com/2008/09/do-you-know-your-rights.html

    Thanks, Michael

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  5. Again, as an outsider looking in, it appears to me that Americans have lost most of their Constitutional Freedoms already....

    Freedom of thought, otherwise known as freedom of (from?) religion - Christianity/Judaism - or human interpretations thereof, seem to dominate this country's culture, politics, economics and social policies....

    Freedom from Govt supported religion - taxpayer support for church schools, the move to introduce teaching of creationism into school curricula, foreign policy and military aggression towards social systems abroad that are unlike Christian-dominated capitalism....

    Freedom of the press - is the press free, or merely the voice of those who own the media, have an agenda and wish to influence people, policies and events?

    Freedom to assemble - now protesters often have to have permits to gather and the authorities decide where they can assemble.... then when they do gather, almost always a riot breaks out (is manufactured?), resulting in injuries, court proceedings and a not so subtle message, de-motivator to others not to consider using this avenue of public expression...

    Freedom to petition - yeah right - how many signatures does it take before a government will take any notice of its citizens.... what happened in the Florida election debacle - would any number of citizen signatures have turned over that criminally farcical outcome?

    What have you got left - freedom of speech? Great avenue for venting, allowing the population to rant and rave on street corners, in letters to the editor, in lunch rooms, on the net, but depriving them of the means to change anything....

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