A recent survey by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum reports that most Americans have an easier time naming the members of the cartoon Simpson family than listing the five freedoms granted by the nation's founders.
I know this informal survey is far from a proper statistical sample, but it is indicative of the pervasive ignorance on the part of many Americans about the very nature of our democratic republic. This is all the more pathetic because we live in an age where information is a mere mouse click away.
The National Archives is an excellent site to peruse by yourself or with your children. You'll be glad you did.
In case you didn't remember, the First Amendment reads: "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".
Don't you feel smarter already?
15 comments:
I heard something about this...
What I heard was that 20 percent of those surveyed thought the right to own a pet was in the first amendment.
doh!
I suppose one of the freedoms is the right to be uninformed and intellectually lazy =(
I completely believe it. The first time I heard this stat, I ran around for a couple of days asking people to name the five first amendment freedomes and almost no one could get all five (press, speech, assembly and religion were the four almost everyone knew).
Some folks certainly act as though they have a right to be stupid. They get angry when confronted with facts.
I'm aware of and could name those specific rights and freedoms, but I'm not sure I was aware they're referred to as the 5 freedoms. Count me among the dumb I guess.
sar: stop it. You did very well.
"the right to own a pet was in the first amendment"
I don't think they're uninformed. I just think it's the way they prioritize their pets. Being a pet lover myself, I can relate. : )
karen: Loving your pets and not being stupid are not mutually exclusive events. You can do both ;-)
You'll get no argument from me about how ignorance is permeating our society. Lack of initiative in our kids seems to be growing by leaps & bounds. It's actually scary.
Scary.
It's scary, but it's far from a kids only problem. Many adults didn't know the five freedoms. I always forget the petition one.
The five freedoms themselves aren't the important part of that amendment. The important part is the "Congress shall make no law" part at the beginning.
Sadly, Liberals in this country don't know where freedoms really came from. They think freedoms originated from a silly piece of paper -- like the Constitution.
Yeah duh, everybody knows the right to own a pet is the NINTH Amendment
"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."
See.
Sooooooo, no mention of cats, hey.
I think there's a little bit of something for all of us in that ommission.
jessey: the right to 'retain' animals. Interesting...
caz: cats, cats, cats ;-)
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