A new study found that the majority of US citizens cannot even name the 5 rights they are guaranteed in the first amendment. 56% correctly stated the right of free speech but less than 1/3 correctly stated freedom of religion, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, and freedom to petition the government for redress wrongs.
We stand before the rest of the world and wave our freedoms in their faces as a model, yet we don't even know what rights we have. If we are willfully blind to what they are, how will we be able to identify when they are being infringed upon? We allow our Congress to pass legislation every day that infringes upon our basic rights as contained in the Bill of Rights (Patriot Act, anyone?), yet ask them to create new ones everyday. We insist that we have the right to privacy, and say that the judicial system is wrong to grant rights that do not exist in the Constitution or amendments (gay marriage). Read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights; privacy is neither a right that exists nor is identified in either document. It has been interpreted by our legal system to be an extension of the rights contained in those documents and is therefore a de facto right. Try to tell an American that they are not constitutionally guaranteed the right to privacy and they will argue until they are blue in the face. Letting the court interpret and extend rights and freedoms is necessary, lest we not have some of the legal freedoms we hold dear.
Before we go around to other nations talking about rights that they should or shouldn't have, as a nation we should be aware of, and actively protect, our own rights. Why should anyone else respect our rights and their inalienability if we do not respect them ourselves? As citizens, it is our responsibility to know our rights and to protect them. They are the safeguards against tyranny and our reward for the responsibilities inherent to each citizen of a republic. Until we take our rights and our citizenly responsibilities seriously, maybe we are not entitled to our rights. What do you think?
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