The First Amendment of the United States Constitution 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.
The job of the Attorney General of the United States is to uphold laws and, more importantly, to protect the rights of the American people as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution.
Isn’t it interesting, then, that Bush’s newly appointed Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, promised today that he would do everything in his power to abridge the constitutionally guaranteed free speech rights of all Americans. At a press conference today, Gonzales went on the attack against Free Speech:
The nation’s new attorney general is targeting suspected smut peddlers for prosecution.
In his first lengthy address since getting the job, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said constitutional guarantees of free speech don’t apply to those who distribute obscene material.
Speaking to a meeting of the California-based Hoover Institution, Gonzales said he’s “committed to prosecuting these crimes aggressively.”
The “crimes” that Gonzales wants to prosecute are basically “publishing any material that he personally doesn’t agree with”. It’s as simple as that. If Bush or Gonzales don’t agree with the type of material you choose to read or write, then they think you should be in jail. Does that sound like America or some fucked up anti-democratic country? According to Gonzales, free speech is fine, as long as you don’t say anything that offends anyone, especially him.
That’s not all Gonzales had to say, either. He also wants to extend and expand the Patriot Act, change the constitution to take away more of your rights, and do other things that will give Americans less and less freedom. Time will tell whether average Americans (no matter which political party they support) are willing to stand up for their own freedom, or whether they’re willing to just let freedom die in the name of “safety” and religious extremist political correctness.
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