First Amendment for Dummies
There is so much crap in the media and in public debate about the First Amendment, a.k.a. "The Establishment Clause."
Five words can really trim off a lot of the fatty rhetoric surrounding issues of free speech and religion, etc.
Handily, yet somehow stealthily, these five words are "hidden" right in the Amendment itself. In fact, those clever Founders pulled a serious "hide in plain sight" trick and put those five words right at the very front of the entire Bill of Rights! Wow! Were they geniuses (geniusi?) or what?!?
Congress
Shall
Make
No
Law
In case the numbness induced by media (including infotainment programs like Court TV shows and "Law & Order") has made this simple phrase difficult to grasp, here are some comparisons to help establish what is NOT meant.
Your local county shall make no law....
The President shall make no law....
The P.T.A. shall make no fliers....
The A.C.L.U. shall make no public statements....
As this may point out, the only thing "Constitutional" about the Amendment in question is that CONGRESS is not allowed to pass any laws at all to do with religious expression, free speech and assembly.
Counties can do any (ir)religious thing they desire and which their constituents allow them to get away with. They can have Baby Jesus doing a Kwazaa dance holding a Menorah if they so choose. Just as long as Congress keeps their legislative hands off of it.
Public money going to public schools that allow the Ten Commandments to be posted? As long as Congress has made no law regarding this ... requiring it or prohibiting it ... it is as "Constitutional" as allowing textbooks or sex education.
Of course, if everyone knew this Reaganly simple precept, attorneys (and, by definition, most legislators) would not be in such high demand to read the entrails of Latin re-phrasings and historical precedents. Poor folks! This would be a serious blow to the rights of attorneys to get braces and new cars for their teens and send them off to college to learn Latin and become post-modern priests like their parents! Oh no!
Five words can really trim off a lot of the fatty rhetoric surrounding issues of free speech and religion, etc.
Handily, yet somehow stealthily, these five words are "hidden" right in the Amendment itself. In fact, those clever Founders pulled a serious "hide in plain sight" trick and put those five words right at the very front of the entire Bill of Rights! Wow! Were they geniuses (geniusi?) or what?!?
Congress
Shall
Make
No
Law
In case the numbness induced by media (including infotainment programs like Court TV shows and "Law & Order") has made this simple phrase difficult to grasp, here are some comparisons to help establish what is NOT meant.
Your local county shall make no law....
The President shall make no law....
The P.T.A. shall make no fliers....
The A.C.L.U. shall make no public statements....
As this may point out, the only thing "Constitutional" about the Amendment in question is that CONGRESS is not allowed to pass any laws at all to do with religious expression, free speech and assembly.
Counties can do any (ir)religious thing they desire and which their constituents allow them to get away with. They can have Baby Jesus doing a Kwazaa dance holding a Menorah if they so choose. Just as long as Congress keeps their legislative hands off of it.
Public money going to public schools that allow the Ten Commandments to be posted? As long as Congress has made no law regarding this ... requiring it or prohibiting it ... it is as "Constitutional" as allowing textbooks or sex education.
Of course, if everyone knew this Reaganly simple precept, attorneys (and, by definition, most legislators) would not be in such high demand to read the entrails of Latin re-phrasings and historical precedents. Poor folks! This would be a serious blow to the rights of attorneys to get braces and new cars for their teens and send them off to college to learn Latin and become post-modern priests like their parents! Oh no!
posted by Author | 7:15 PM
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