Copyright 2006 Ben S. Pollock
Wouldn’t be a lot easier for President Bush and the current Congress to begin the process to repeal the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights? Bet it wouldn’t take too long to get the votes their way.
Think of how many birds they’d drop with that one cast stone:
Kills freedom of religion, so faith-based charities can freely take government grants. Government grants that under Republican doctrine were to have been shrunk to nothing, because aid is theoretically outside the purview of conservative public administration.
Kills freedom of speech. We haven’t used it for years and for the most part won’t miss it. “American Idol” and “Survivor” — not to mention ranting talk-show gas bags and emphasis of celebrity gossip on cable news — will continue to amuse us. They’ll be legal because they are harmless to the status quo.
Kills the free press, a nuisance for revealing the federal government is keeping tabs on who is phoning whom, if not as yet the content of their conversations. A free press that reveals the government is keeping its own books on many financial transactions conducted by millions of Americans.
Kills the right of assembly, which can be so annoying when you’re trying to drive through a parade to get to the other side, not to mention a drain on law enforcement, which should be out fighting crime not redirecting traffic.
Kills the right to petition. The only petitions you see these days are for getting a lottery in your state — and once that passes, our problems will be over. Oh, and there’s the ever-present petition for the legalization of marijuana — and once that passes, our problems will seem to be over.
Finally, if our elected officials kill the First Amendment, then their current set of causes will succeed: Abortion easily then can be made illegal in all instances — evolved right of privacy. People can be arrested for desecrating flags — expansion of speech to expression. Homosexuals cannot get married — implied separation of church and state.
Lastly, once the First Amendment is wiped out, removed from the National Archives and put instead in the Smithsonian as a historical relic instead of part of a living document, the Second Amendment moves up to be First.
Imagine, the right to keep and bear arms now becomes first on the Bill of Rights. -30-
