You just can’t make this stuff up.
According to a story in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, more Americans can name two members of the Simpsons than can name two of the rights enumerated in the First Amendment.
I don’t understand this. How can people not know what their basic rights are in this country?
From the article cited above:
Only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.) But more than half can name at least two members of the cartoon family, according to a survey.
The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms.
The article goes on to say that a sizeable number of those surveyed thought the First Amendment guaranteed them the right to own a pet.
This . . . how do I describe this? It becomes much easier to understand the problems this country faces when we realize that maybe people aren’t giving away their rights, they don’t know what they are. If you don’t know that you have a right to freedom of speech, how can you stand up and speak? If you don’t know you have a right of freedom of assembly, it makes it that much easier for Them to keep you from assembling. If you don’t know you have freedom to redress grievances, why would you think you can?
I don’t entirely blame people for this. I am currently caught between two educational systems, separated by many years. My children all left high school a decade or more ago, and my granddaughter is still in grade school, so I don’t know what they teach in civics classes any more. I couldn’t even tell you if they do
But I do know this: If people don’t know what their rights are, or they’re forgotten, it falls to us to tell them what they are. And maybe, just maybe, when the next Patriot Act extension comes up, instead of allowing it to go down with a minimal fight people will start calling their Congressman wondering why these rights are being taken away from them.
I propose the creation of a series of PSAs to educate people on their rights. Maybe we can get the Ad Council, whoever they are, to help develop them and get them aired. Just basic stuff every American ought to know. Maybe, to start off, an ad that intermixes famous speeches like MLK’s “I Have A Dream” and JFK’s inaugural with clips of ordinary citizens speaking in front of civic groups, delivering speeches on street corners, maybe a suffragette marching with a sandwich board demanding the right to vote. The narration might go something like:
“Opinions.
Everybody has lots of them.
And the First Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees you and all of your fellow citizens the right to express those opinions.
So don’t be afraid. Get up. Speak your piece. Make your opinion heard.
And don’t let anyone tell you you can’t.”
Certainly someone with a bit of time could do a better job of writing that, but you see my point. The American public needs to be educated, or re-educated, on what their rights are.
Maybe, just maybe, once they know they’ll stand up for those rights.
It’s that, or we do all the heavy lifting ourselves. Personally, I’m getting a bit tired of that. How about you?
