“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 of the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances”
Freedom of Religion: We have people wanting the change the First Amendment to mean something that it was never intended to be. They want their Christian religion to take over the government. They don’t understand that the idea is neither in the Christian tradition, nor in the tradition of our government. The first historical mention of separation of church and state came from Jesus when he was asked if the Jews should pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus asked them to show him a coin. He then asked them,“Whose likeness is on the coin?”. They answered that it was the Caesar’s. He then told them to “Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s. Christians have religious and political history when church and state were combined that did not go well. We had the Spanish Inquisition and the burning of witches at the stake. The framers of our Constitution had good reason to separate all religions from the government and to allow everyone to worship or not worship however they choose.
Freedom of Speech: Many people don’t realize that the ‘freedom of speech’ protects all speech, even political speech, even if it is devoid of the truth. Yes, lies in political speech are protected by the First Amendment. It is up to the listener to decide what he/she will believe. Just because someone says it, doesn’t mean it is true. And just because you believe it, doesn’t mean it is true. Things are true because they are true, not because a poll says most people believe it. In the ‘Citizens United’ Supreme Court decision corporations were given the same right of free speech as people. That decision also said that ‘money is speech’. Since speech cannot be limited, the ‘Citizens United’ decision has given ‘Big Money’ the ability to spend unlimited amounts of money to really confuse and anger some people. Corporations can be created as shell companies and make all kinds false accusations. Because it is a corporation no real person is given credit for the accusations. They can deceive the people with negative advertising, advertising they personally do not want attributed to them. It can be done with corporate money that they gave to the corporation. When people hear the same thing over and over, they tend to believe it. The person they are badmouthing will at least need to raise more money to defend himself/herself, using airtime that could have been used discussing important issues, or not respond at all. I have a whole section on how to get corporate money out of Government. It is where I discuss ‘United To Amend’.
Freedom of the Press: Freedom of the Press has been altered by the ‘Big Money’ in politics. Many of our local newspapers have been bought out by larger ones. The result is that local issues are not given a very high priority. Smaller newspapers also worry about being sued by people that have massive funds to use the legal system to their advantage. This keeps smaller newspapers from being too outspoken. Newspapers and other news media depend on advertising. Pleasing advertisers keeps newspapers solvent. Political views not pleasing to advertisers are seldom heard.
The Right to Assemble: We have the right to assemble peaceably. Protesting is protected in the Constitution, as long as it is peaceful. Without the right to peaceably assemble we might still be fighting the Viet Nam war. Without the right to assemble peaceably the Civil Rights legislation may never have been passed. Without the right to assemble peaceably women may still not have the right to vote. We do not have the right to assemble to interfere with the workings of our Government or to interfere with a criminal investigation. We do not have the right to assemble for the purpose of violently committing a crime. We have the right to assemble only as long as it is peaceful.
The right to petition: Sometimes lawmakers just won’t pay attention to their constituents. What do you do when lawmakers just won’t pay attention? According to the First Amendment anyone can make up a petition and get people to sign it. The more people who sign the petition the greater its influence. Petitioning makes anyone a lawmaker.
The First Amendment is only one sentence, but what a sentence.
Richard Pulcher
Richard Pulcher, a longtime resident of Lublin, WI since 1990, is an Augustana College alumnus with a B.A. in Economics. He is deeply involved in his local church and community, driven by a steadfast passion for fostering positive change and development in his local area. Richard's insights reflect his commitment to community enhancement and his rich experiences in Lublin.
