A 1st Amendment Survey - Rhetoric v Reality

A recent survey found that only 28% of Americans surveyed were able to name more than one of the five fundamental freedoms granted in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

Turns out only one in a thousand surveyed knew all five freedoms. In fact more people (41%) knew two of the three “American Idol” judges and some actually believed the First Amendment granted them the right to own and raise pets. Worse yet just as many people believed the First Amendment guaranteed the right to drive even though the First Amendment was passed in 1791 well before the first car was assembled.

For the record, the freedoms contained in the First Amendment are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and the freedom to petition the government for redress of grievances.

It certainly appears that the survey results make a strong case to conclude that most Americans are ignorant of their freedoms but then again what’s the point of the survey when it neglects to note that “ignorance” thrives in a faith based society such as ours.

In the real world those who do know what their First Amendment freedoms know first hand that such freedoms do not exist when one tries to exercise them. For example the Ethiopian Coptic Church certainly knows there is no “freedom of religion” when they try to practice their beliefs by smoking ganja in their ceremonies.

Personally I have first hand experience by being arrested along with over 1800 other people during the Republican National Convention in 2004 while trying to exercise our freedom to assemble and exercise our freedom of speech.

Of what value is the freedom to petition the government when the government only pays attention to the demands of the heaviest financial contributors? And of what value is the freedom of the press when it is exercised to secure the consent of the governed by presenting the public with a reality defined by government spin.

Knowing what the five First Amendment freedoms is nothing more than a response of trivia to a question from a game show host but it is when one tries to exercise those freedoms which exposes the differences between the rhetoric and the reality of a democracy in a state of decay.