Hello?! Sen. Durbin?! Constitution Equals Protection for ALL Citizens!
“Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press…” Attention Senator Durbin, and any other constitutionally challenged member of Congress, this is important! You can’t make laws that limit our freedom of speech or of the press, or say that it only applies to certain groups of people and not others. Anyone who picks up a pen and writes to their local paper is protected. Anyone who picks up a tablet or computer and publishes a blog is protected. Anyone who tweets their opinion about what a total idiot you are is protected. Anyone who goes to school and earns a degree in journalism is protected. This is the important part: Anyone who is a citizen of the United States of America is protected!!!
As for your “shield laws”, as they are written, and as now proposed, wouldn’t have protected Fox reporter James Rosen from being targeted by the DOJ. That’s because the DOJ broke the law in what they did with the AP and Fox.
Next, “Congress shall make no law abridging the right of the people peaceably to assemble” People can gather to discuss whatever they choose, in public, in private and in large or small groups. They can do it to protest governmental actions. They can do it to protest whatever they want.
They may be required to get a permit, or be a certain distance away from things like churches or buildings, but they can do it, and you may not stop them. It’s a great right, even when abused by people like the Westboro Baptist wackos.
And lastly, “Congress shall make no laws abridging the right of the people … to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” That means we can go to our town council, county government, state government or federal government and sit in on their decision making process, contribute our opinions, and tell them we don’t like what they are doing. It’s the basis of our demands for transparency in government, and why we get so ticked off when government becomes opaque.
Again, you may not stop us. Those Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests? Falls under this, and must be given. It is a very scary thing that the people elected to represent us in government don’t have a rudimentary grasp on the rights they are charged to, and take an oath to, uphold. Demand better, people, it’s your right.
Image: Photo courtesy of Brandt Luke Zorn; Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license
