Expert: Michael Troy - 5/4/2002

Question
Hi Michael~
First off thank you for knowing about this amendment. I am writing a speech about the ideals and importance of the first amendment. And I need a little help on some of the facts and issues that are involved with the first amendment. I know what the first amendment gives us in todays world but I was hoping that maybe you could shed a little more light on the importance of it in an every day sense of the way.
Thank you so much for giving not only your time  but your knowledge to this great website.
Sincercly yours,
Amy Shimerman

Answer
Hi Amy,

There are five basic freedoms contained in the First Amendment:

Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, Free Exercise of Religion, Freedom from a Government Established Religion, and the Freedom to Petition Congress.

Each of these freedoms reflects a distrust of government to intervene in certain areas of our lives, and the the bare necessities of Democratic government.  Thre are many expressed ideas or religous views that most of us probably agree are wrong and maybe even dangerous.  Yet, we so distust government's interference in those areas because once it starts down the road of deciding for us what ideas are right or wrong, the road to totalitarianism is not far behind.

The ability of the people to free exchange ideas, right or wrong is required so that we can decide how our society is run and who will represent us in government.  If we cannot exchange such ideas, we can never sort out the truth for ourselves, we cannot attack bad ideas or promote good ones.  Likewise, a free press must exist to challenge government's practices at every turn.  We must be able to practice our religions accoriding to our own concience, and to tell the government what we think of their actions.

The bottom line is that if the government can tell us what to think and control the terms of any debate, they have total control over us rather than we the people having control over the government.

For a much better analysis of why this is so imporant, I recommend "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill.  YOu can read it here:

http://www.bartleby.com/130/

I hope this helps!
- Mike