March 2, 2011

What law? NO law

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791.
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.

That's the first amendment to the Constitution, ratified in 1791,
What part of 'NO law' is so hard to understand? Now, there is nothing socially redeeming about the people who call themselves The Westboro Baptist Church. Their beliefs and actions are odious and a disgrace; they give form to the fact that some of us are less evolved than others. But people (as opposed to corporations) cannot be silenced in a civilized society. We see that today, starkly in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Wisconsin, Palestine and a thousand other places. So, the sociopaths of Westboro likewise cannot be silenced or even punished for their speech.
Sight of this is often lost in the schizophrenia that is the American legal and social system. So many limits are imposed on our ability to freely speak; not on 'private' property, not too close, not to vehemently, not too offensively, not too often, not without a permit, not without paying cash and posting bond, not here, not now. Limits to express oneself are limits on liberty, our ability to rule ourselves, our - the people's sovereignty.
For a statement so clear - Congress shall make NO law...
we've strayed so very far.

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