My Concerns for the Future of the First Amendment

I know everyone on the left side of the blog-o-sphere has written about the Guckert/Gannon Scandal, but that is just one small part of the problem. It is a large concern to me that one man can make up a name and get into the elite White House Press Corps, and just lob easy questions, almost compliments, to the president. But that is only one of my many concerns.

This is only one thing that has come to light in the last couple of months that makes me a little bit scared. Propaganda is another one. The Bush administration is feeding us fake news stories, propaganda, to make us believe that everything he does is right. For example, the people’s tax money is going towards a political agenda. It did so when the Bush administration paid for a fake news story where Education Secretary Rod Paige promotes the No Child Left Behind act while leaving out the most important factor, the fact that it was a commercial paid for by the government rather than a news story.

But that is not all. I am now reaching back into time, to around 9/11, for an example of what the White House Propaganda Machine. That would be the false connection between Iraq and the 9/11 bombings. Interestingly enough immediately after we were attacked a public pole found that only five percent of the nation thought that Iraq was involved. After several months of propaganda another pole found that there were 70% of us that thought that Iraq had something to do with the bombings.

The thing that is most disturbing about this is its effect on people who do not know how to think for themselves. That would be our next generation of voters. I feel that the most serious of the problems is that while there is more and more propaganda being spewed into our news, the young public (High School-ers) is turning to government censorship of the media. WOW!

Don’t believe me? A study was just done on more than 100,000 high school students, nearly 8,000 teachers, and more than 500 principals and administrators, and their feelings and knowledge on the First amendment.

• 73 percent of students polled say they don’t know how they feel about the First Amendment or take their rights for granted.


• More than 30 percent would welcome press censorship and think the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees.


• 75 percent incorrectly believe that flag-burning is illegal.


• 50 percent incorrectly think the government can restrict indecent material on the Internet.

I am more than a little concerned for the future of this country.

Written By: Eric Carlson