Amendment I
“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 the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
Many individuals in the US falsely believe that the 1st amendment prohibits any laws that would restrict free speech or expression just like the 2nd amendment prevents the government from passing any gun control laws. While the 2nd amendment has done a great job at protecting our rights to own weapons (except for the thousands of laws that prevent individuals from owning weapons) the first amendment is essentially useless because federal and state politicians have created and enforced a multitude of laws restricting all sorts of free speech and expression. So, what’s the point of even having the Bill of Rights if it’s roughly 100% useless?
Below are just 5 broad examples of huge violations of free speech and expression perpetrated by federal and/or state politicians. They combine to form a great case for abolishing the Bill of Rights so that ‘constitutional conservatives’ can finally wake up and realize that their precious paper is useless when it comes to stopping the most powerful entity in existence – the US government. Only then can we really work towards a solution. What’s that saying about the first step to recovery being admitting that there’s a problem?
1) Inappropriate speech & expression is illegal
“You are under arrest for swearing in public!”, one cop said as he viciously attacked and arrested a man in Baytown, Texas for cursing. Yes, it is illegal to curse. While brutally arresting multiple others at the scene for no reason, the cop violently cursed out the innocent civilians, ironically.
States each seem to have laws forbidding a person from distributing or displaying (and in some cases even possessing) any ‘obscene’ material. ‘Obscene’ is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary to generally mean anything impolite, offensive, disgusting, or inappropriate in any sense. If you have ever said or owned anything that could be considered inappropriate by anyone, you could probably be found guilty of a crime in whichever state you live. A man in Florida recently made national news when he was arrested for a sexual bumper sticker. Though the modern popular culture and media sympathized with the driver due to being very sexually tolerant, the arrest was totally legal according to Florida law.
The United States Supreme Court has ruled on multiple occasions that state laws prohibiting the ownership, display, or distribution of anything deemed ‘inappropriate’ by state politicians do NOT violate the 1st amendment are totally acceptable laws. As of the time of this writing, nobody in the US can legally say or own anything that could be considered ‘inappropriate’. Remember when the Supreme Court ruled that laws infringing on gun rights do not ‘infringe’ on gun rights and are therefore valid laws?
2) Limits on contributions
Despite many hypocrites pretending to hate that it’s legal for humans to donate to their preferred political candidates, those donations ARE legally limited. If you work hard enough to earn a nice living and you want to donate a few thousand dollars to a candidate for governor, you cannot legally do so. No individual may donate more than $2,800 to any candidate per election, according to the federal government.
3) Red Flag laws and threats
When a person posted threatening posts/lyrics about his ex-wife on Facebook, who made the final determination on whether his posts should be protected by the first amendment as ‘free speech’ or whether they should be considered a threat? Nine lawyers-turned-politicians. Regardless of whether his posts were true threats, should nine lawyers from DC be the ultimate arbiters of free speech?
Extreme risk protection orders (also known as ‘red flag laws’) have been enacted in 17 states over the past few years and will soon exist in all states and/or by federal law. Such laws allow police to confiscate all of an innocent person’s weapons and ammunition without a trial ever taking place. The seizures are based solely on hearsay from a relative, coworker, neighbor, cop, or other person who tells authorities that the person may be a danger to himself or others. If you thought that you had a right to free speech without being punished by the government, you’ll hate to learn about red flag laws.
4) Disrespecting the flag
While the US government generally grants ‘preferred position‘ to any speech or expression that is political in nature, US law also outlines exactly how its flag must be treated. Although mistreating the flag is often a political statement of some kind, it is highly violative of the US flag code. President Trump and multiple senators and many conservatives support amending the US Constitution to give Congress the express power to punish flag burners.
5) Lying to or insulting government officials
While government agents and their supporters often boast about how tolerant they are in regards to allowing people the freedom to criticize the government, case law in the US seems to grant government agents the power to convict anyone who so much as insults a government agent.
Additionally, it is a serious federal crime to lie to the king or his lords or officers. Anyone who ever lies to or is untruthful with any of the 3 million federal employees is seemingly guilty of a heinous crime and can be imprisoned for 5 years, according to federal law. President Trump’s former national security adviser, Lt. General Michael Flynn will likely be imprisoned because he lied to a federal employee. You know how you lie to your doctor about your diet, exercise, or firearms at home? That could be illegal once all doctors work for the federal government (universal healthcare). How great would that be?
Honorable mention:
-Government working hand-in-hand with social media giants like Facebook to censor speech
-Government-run or government-subsidized colleges violating free speech on a regular basis.
-The federal government says it’s illegal to run ads that target or exclude any particular type of person. Even Trump is seemingly continuing Obama’s lawsuits against property managers who targeted specific groups of people in their Facebook ads.
-State governments have criminalized entrepreneurs’ freedom of expression when they choose not to bake specialized cakes for functions they don’t approve of.
-In response to a mild virus that has done little harm compared to the common flu, politicians all over the US have literally banned the assembly of people, in direct violation of the first amendment.
This article does not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Liberty Block or any of its members. We welcome all forms of serious feedback and debate.
