March 01, 2006
Free the Springfield Five!
OK— no peeking. Name all five of the freedoms upheld by the First Amendment. Did you? (I confess: I could only come up with four.)
According to a recent telephone survey of 1,000 Americans, only one was able to name all five First Amendment freedoms. Only 25% of the respondents could name more than one freedom. 22% of Americans could name all five Simpson characters, and more than 50% could name at least two characters.
The one that I couldn't remember? Freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Posted by rv at March 1, 2006 01:38 PM to newsI have to admit that I don't remember what all of them even are. I remember that the 1st is the religion/speech one, 2nd is right to bear arms, uhhhh, and the 5th is due process/bearing witness against yourself.
I know (most?) of my other specifically protected rights, but I can never remember the amendment numbers.
[...]
So I looked at the link: I think one reason people may forget the part about petitioning the gov't is that it doesn't seem to fit in with the general idea of freedom of expression the rest of the amendment protects.
And wow, does the 5th amendment has a whole lot more than what I remembered.
Posted by: poz at March 2, 2006 12:03 AMIt'll be easier to remember them in the future: Bill of Rights Pared Down to a Manageable Six.
Posted by: rv at March 2, 2006 07:39 AMOo, oo, pick me!
In order: religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Right to bear arms is second amendment....A well regulated militia being necessary (they always seem to forget that part)….
Strangely, now that I look at it, the current administration seems bent on violating all that the first amendment ensures us.
How do I know what was in the first amendment? I carried around a copy of the constitution for several years (ala MLK jr.).
// soapbox on
Everyone should at least for a little while. Go print one out now and carry it around with you. Why? If you don't know what the constitution is giving you, you'll never know what someone may take away from you in the future. I think that is why MLK carried it around -- as a reminder to himself and everyone what the implicit contract is between the government and the people. The document spells it out pretty succinctly.
If people only realized what rights have been eroded as a result of the War on Terror via the Patriot Act.....Oh, I discount the argument, "if I am not doing anything wrong, then I don't have to worry about it". The problem with this sophistry is that once you accept that, you are essentially allowing the government to say what is wrong or right.
Let's see if you can figure out which of your rights can possibly be violated today.
// soapbox off
Poz...."Petition the government" Seems like an freedom of expression. Though I never looked at amendment 1 that way.
I saw it as a basic framework for a free society – as opposed to a totalitarian one. Allow people to live as they like (religion, assembly, speech), stay informed (press) and go to a higher authority (the government as a last resort), a neutral arbiter if you will, if there is nowhere else to go to settle grievance (petition).
Thanks for the wallet card link, Poz. I've been carrying a copy of the Bill of Rights and the ACLU's Know Your Rights: Stops and Searches on the MBTA in my purse since August 2004. Also programmed the local ACLU number into my cell phone.
Posted by: rv at March 2, 2006 08:12 PM