Poll: More Than Half Of Americans Think The First Amendment Goes Too Far
“Over 60 percent of Democrats thought the First Amendment could go too far, compared to 52 percent of Republicans.”
This is being touted as a shock poll, but I’m not sure it’s that shocking. We already know how the left feels about the entire Constitution, including of course the Bill of Rights, but the right is also pretty fed up with a lot of what is being touted as “First Amendment rights” like burning the American flag, defacing our national monuments with things like ACAB and Hamas is Here. Vandalism is not “the right to assemble,” nor is it “freedom of speech,” except when it is.
More than half of Americans believe the First Amendment can go too far in the rights it guarantees, according to a new survey from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a First Amendment–focused nonprofit.
The survey, released on Thursday, asked 1,000 American adults a range of questions about the First Amendment, free speech, and the security of those rights. Fifty-three percent of respondents agreed with the statement “The First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees” to at least some degree, with 28 percent reporting that it “mostly” or “completely” describes their thoughts.
Americans were further divided along partisan lines. Over 60 percent of Democrats thought the First Amendment could go too far, compared to 52 percent of Republicans.
“Evidently, one out of every two Americans wishes they had fewer civil liberties,” Sean Stevens, FIRE’s chief research adviser, said on Thursday. “Many of them reject the right to assemble, to have a free press, and to petition the government. This is a dictator’s fantasy.”
Read more at FIRE.
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Comments
The way to deal with these morons is to confirm what they say and then respond, “Fine. Be silent.”
When they object, simply inform them per their beliefs, they no longer have any right to speak. If they continue digging the hole they are in, add that they now have no rights at all.
Not to vote.
No trial.
And if you really want to knickers in a knot, tell them that per their beliefs that the constitution is an archaic document with no meaning, tell them that if this is what they truly believe, then they can be sold into slavery.
I mean really hit them with what passes for their own logic.
Objection: They don’t say they want to repeal the firs amendment altogether. They just want to repeal one tiny bit of it. They’ll claim they support the freedom of speech, but just want to make a teeny tiny exception for, e.g. flag-burning. Or “hate speech”. Or “misinformation”. Or… or… or… . The thing is, what this amounts to is that they want to remove the freedom from unpopular speech, and that effectively destroys it altogether. The freedom to say whatever is popular is no freedom at all. And that is what the law is in every other country, which is what makes the USA special. If we become just like all the other unfree countries then the USA will no longer be worth defending.
correct
Wait, what? I thought that “everything” was hate speech these days. Well, everything that “they” disagree with.
“Frankly, some of these rights aren’t so self-evident to me.”
— Cartoon of a whispered aside at the signing of the Declaration
if you burn your own flag
that is your business
if you burn someone elses then thats a crime
I do not believe this poll, I think people believe a mythical version of the first amendment that says your town council can’t ban a man from shouting obscenity in front of your 5 year old daughter in a grocery store goes too far, I think people fully support the 1st amendment and would like the government to protect freedom of speech of people when it is threatened by private actors to.
I think this poll is yet another indictment of the American Education System.