The First Amendment guarantees our right to free speech and right to assemble in peaceful protests, among other things. Not a lot of countries can say that.
One of the least known First Amendment freedoms is nevertheless crucial to our democratic republic's form of government. It's the right to petition the government at any level to right a wrong or correct a problem.
Among the new ideas to the world the First Amendment stated that government must not impose a state religion on the public, or place undue restrictions on religious practice, but must recognize the right of people to believe and worship, or not, as their conscience dictates.
The First Amendment also established the freedom of the press allowing "debate on public issues to be uninhibited, robust, and wide open."
For more information on your First Amendment rights go here.
The Bad News
We still haven't decided what limitations the First Amendment should have when it comes to the press (all forms of public and private media platforms). The goal posts keep moving.
Once it was a crime to shout out "Fire!" in a crowded movie theatre (when there was none). Try convicting someone today of that crime. Our court system has been so corrupted by the Trump presidency years that true justice (right up to the Supreme Court) is a hit and miss prospect right now.
At present there is no way to stop "hate speech" loosely defined as lies, misinformation tainted with racism, misogynism, homophobia, and fascism.
Congress has been particularly pathetic in its attempts to legislate and combat the overwhelming verbal sewage spreading across every media platform in the nation.
The result has contributed to the constitutional crisis we're experiencing today with a rogue former president trying to dismantle our freedoms while planning a second coup attempt in 2024.
Some media platforms make feeble attempts at monitoring the blatant lies and misinformation but most of them are more concerned about making money first before any civic responsibility.
The Ugly
Few controversies about the First Amendment are louder or more visible today than the attention to the role and credibility of the entire news media.
With a former president who introduced the "fake news" rallying cry to angry and confused people it was supercharged into the public discourse and has polluted it since.
As a result, the line between lies and truth have been blurred by toxic politics that get more violent every day.
White Christain Nationalists are pouring millions of dollars into efforts to infiltrate our state and federal laws with draconian religious edicts effectively disenfranchising millions of Americans despite the fact the First Amendment expressly prohibits it under the religion clause.
As it stands, we love our freedoms but the widening gap between the scope and meanings of the First Amendment has opened a chasm in this country that may never be closed.
No comments:
Post a Comment