Ignoring The First Amendment

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.


The words above make up one of the most important citizens' guarantees in this country. It is the text of the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. And the rights guaranteed to all U.S. citizens by that amendment are not just necessary, but critical, to the maintenance of freedom and democracy in this country.

This brings up an important question -- why then do authorities across this country feel that they don't have to respect these rights? Why are the authorities in several American cities denying American citizens their right of freedom of speech and to peaceably assemble and petition their government for a redress of grievances? And make no mistake, that is exactly what they are trying to do.


Unless you've been living under a rock, you have to have heard about the growing grassroots movement called Occupy Wall Street. It started about the middle of September in the financial district of New York City, and has now spread across this country (and to many cities around the world). It involves American citizens of all ages, colors, and sexes from all walks of life, who are demonstrating against the unfairness of government economic policy -- a policy that has created the biggest gap in wealth and income between the richest Americans and the rest of America since before the Great Depression.

And it's a policy that ignores the creation of jobs to put Americans back to work, while slashing social programs that help hurting Americans and giving more tax cuts to the richest Americans and corporations. That kind of economic injustice in itself would be bad enough, but the politicians in Washington have refused to make any changes to help the vast majority of American citizens. They have refused because too many of them (in both parties) have been bought and paid for by the Wall Street banks and giant corporations.

To protest this vast wealth and income inequality and the failure of government to address it, American citizens around the country are protesting -- which is their right under the First Amendment. But instead of honoring the right of these citizens to peaceably assemble and petition for a redress of their grievances, many authorities are doing just the opposite. They are denying citizens those rights. Consider the following reaction to these peaceful demonstrators.

* Around 1,000 people in New York City have been arrested -- 700 in just one day -- and many have been gassed and beaten needlessly.

* More than 100 demonstrators were arrested in Chicago.

* In Atlanta at least 53 peaceful demonstrators were arrested.

* In Oakland at least 85 peaceful demonstrators were arrested as police in riot gear attacked them and injured several people -- putting a young Marine veteran in the hospital with a broken skull.

* In Nashville about 29 people were arrested for violating a curfew imposed by the state's governor. When a judge said they had not broken the law and released them, the police went back on the second night and arrested them again -- this time for trespassing. That's right, Tennessee citizens were arrested for trespassing on public land owned by the citizens of Tennessee.

These are only a few of the illegal actions being taken by authorities around the country in an effort to deny the people their constitutional rights and keep them from using their freedom of speech. Why are they doing it? Probably because most of the people in authority (at the city, state, and federal level) are members of the richest 1% class themselves. They don't want change. They see this grassroots movement growing larger and larger, and they want to stop it before it gets large enough to force change.

For these authorities the Constitution is just a piece of paper, something to be honored in theory but ignored when the people actually try to use their rights to promote change. They are going to protect their own economic advantages (and those of their rich buddies), and to hell with how it affects the rest of America. The rich run this country right now, and they are not about to give up any power or advantage without a fight -- and the way they fight is to use the police against peaceful citizens.

This Occupy Wall Street movement started out as a demand for a return to democratic government (instead of rule by the wealthy) and economic justice (a fairer distribution of wealth and income). Now we must add a demand that the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution be honored and obeyed by those in power. It is time for all decent people to come forward and join in this fight. This fight is too important to lose.