Oh, That Silly First Amendment Thing.

THE Conventions of a number of the States, having at the time of their adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, in order to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its powers, that further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added: And as extending the ground of public confidence in the Government, will best ensure the beneficent ends of its institution. -Preamble to the Bill of Rights

Amendment I

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.

Believe what you want about Occupy Wall Street, whether you think they are a bunch of whiny ass kids who need to get a job or people who are finally fed up with the corruption in our political system and rampant unmitigated greed. Read Huffington Post or Fox News and be left or be right because that is your right.

Think this is okay or not, that is your right:

I like to think of myself as a liberal moderate. Truth is I am a bit of a hippie. I came by it honestly, from my ex-military father. I was raised with my dad telling me “girl, I don’t agree with your purple hair (or million other kooky things I did), but I fought and bleed for your right to do it.” A group of friends and I put on a peace protest a million years ago before we invaded Iraqi in the tiny town of Weatherford, Oklahoma. When my dad found out what we were doing, he told me he was proud of me. He told me I was exercising the freedoms he and his father fought so hard to protect for me.

I learned U.S history from a conservative. He and I rarely agreed on social issues, but he helped inflame my love for the Constitution. I was raised loving my country, flaws and all, but Dr. Gates helped me see the pure beauty of the founding documents of this country, of the ideals so many in my family fought for.

Somewhere we have grown strange belief that protesting is disloyal to our country. People pucker their faces at peaceful assemblies and think them unAmerican. WRONG.

Protest is one of the highest forms of patriotism.

When we protest, we exercise those rights to which so many in power pay lip service. Our country was built on dissent. We were founded on the belief that a country can only be fair and healthy if its citizens could express their dissent freely.  Like it or not, people have the right to protest. If our elected officials try to inhibit protests, then they are the ones whom are unpatriotic.

We don’t have to like it, we don’t have to agree, we just need to respect their rights, no matter how distasteful.

I was attempting not to write about Occupy Wall Street. I haven’t done hours of research. I have a pronounced slant. I am proud of them for exercising their rights and duties as United States citizens, and I like their ideals, but I know there is a lot there I don’t know. I will also admit this, some days I would rather look at fluffy kitties than get outraged about the newest round of bullshit. I am pretty ashamed of that, but I think it is a common thing. I think most of us feel the same way.

Actually, it is part of political theory. Basically, political scientists have known forever that people will put up with all kinds of shenanigans from those in power as long as the population is happy.  The greed and corruption has gotten so bad that we are no longer happy, and we reacted. It is part of the political pendulum.

Anyway, I was already mad as hell about SOPA, a bill that would allow government bodies to remove web content at the request of corporations.</sarcasm font> Which I am sure won’t be abused at the detriment of free speech.</end sarcasm font> When my friend Lynsie linked this article on FaceBook. My outrage went freaking insane.

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.

My hippie outrage is so immense that I am having a hard time being coherent. I want to write about why I agree with the Occupy Wall Street folks. I want to rage about the unlawful tactics that the police are using against these peaceful protestors.  I also know that after that first bit of rant, if I expressed all of my feelings this post would turn into a crazy wall of text, so I am now taking a deep breath and refocusing.

The media blackout of the clearing of the Occupy Wall Street camp makes me want to post the first amendment over and over again. This was not a military action; it was not a state secret. It was a mass movement of a city government against protesters. I am not going to argue the city’s right to crack down on the protesters. I do argue against the NYPD’s concerted effort to keep the media out.

Honestly, the mainstream media hasn’t shown much interest in OWS. Most of us wouldn’t have known about it if that first video of the NYPD pepper spraying that original group of protesters. (You think the establishment would have gotten the clue that people get all pissy when they see police using pepper spray on peaceful folks.) The internet has been the real vehicle for OWS news, like singer Amanda Palmer says, we are the media.

By the time of the November 15th crackdown, there was a significant alternate new sources (and some mainstream) covering the OWS camp. When the NYPD went in and attempted to clear press first, when they went in and specifically targeted those with press credentials, they stepped too damn far. Freedom of speech and the press are crucial. Impeding that is unacceptable.

Let us play pretend. If we read this article about the media black out and the force used on the protesters, but the events took place in another country, we would be outraged. Think of our reactions to Syria and Libya. It happened here, though, and the outrage is miniscule. We are willing to fight for freedoms in other countries, but we are so hand fed the ideals of contentment and not making waves that we refuse to get upset when our own freedoms are pissed on.

If it hadn’t been for Twitter and the internet, most of what happened that night would have been a mystery. (Some one has to be writing a researched, scholarly paper on the impact of Twitter on geopolitics, they HAVE to be. Get on it scholars.) The fact is that the people of #OWS are more media savvy than the NYPD which is good for those concerned about rights and freedoms.  Now with SOPA that could get quashed.

I am losing focus again, and my liberal moderate rage has gone on too long. I am going to leave it with my main thoughts.

We have rights, but we have to fight to keep them, and if we stop fighting for them then they WILL disappear. Our constitution is a contract between us and the government. We have to hold up our end of the contract to make the government hold up their end.

Okay, I am stopping my rambling and going to the freaking store. On Sunday, after Black Friday. Yay.