SUSANNA SMITH: First Amendment rights under attack – Neosho Daily News

On Feb. 24, Donald Trump told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that no one loves the First Amendment more than he does. One would suppose that he is claiming to love the First Amendment as written by our founding fathers in 1789.

On Feb. 24, Donald Trump told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) that no one loves the First Amendment more than he does. One would suppose that he is claiming to love the First Amendment as written by our founding fathers in 1789. 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. However, when citizens around the country gathered by the thousands to protest and hold the new administration accountable for their actions during his first weeks in office, they denied that we were exercising our freedom of speech and right to assemble. They accused protesters of being paid. This was an attempt to suppress the First Amendment right of free speech. When the free press holds the Trump administration accountable for their actions, Mr. Trump calls it fake news, the opposition party and the enemy of the people. He claims it is his First Amendment right to suppress news organizations if they hold his administration accountable rather than praising their actions and policies. One of the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson, held the opposite view saying, Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost. On Feb. 24, the administration made a move toward suppressing freedom of the press when they had Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, hold a private news briefing referred to as a gaggle. Right-leaning news organizations like Steve Bannons Breitbart were included, while those labeled by the administration to be fake news such as CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and Politico among others were pointedly excluded. When the courts prohibited the administration from fulfilling the campaign promise to institute a Muslim ban by prohibiting travel from seven Muslim countries, unless the traveler was Christian, they claimed the ban had nothing to do with religion. And yet, according to a report on March 3 by National Public Radio, some travelers with Visas and even U.S. citizens continue to be detained for extensive questioning at some airports. Mohammed Alis widow and son were asked if they are Muslim, and then held for two hours. In his address to a joint session of Congress on Feb. 28, Trump said, Those given the high honor of admission to the United States should support this country and love its people and its values. The administration is expected to issue a new executive order during the first week of March. This is being done under the guise of public safety. But this ban most certainly undermines our free exercise of religion. When the founding fathers added the first amendment to the constitution they did not intend for it to be used as a tool hundreds of years later to impose on the people a personal idea of freedom of speech; a personal idea of freedom of the press; a personal idea of freedom of religion. If this administration succeeds in turning the First Amendment to their own purposes, these freedoms will be lost to we the people. Today I am exercising my First Amendment right to Freedom of Speech. I trust that all of our First Amendment rights will remain forever available to all citizens of the United States.

Susanna Smith writes a column for the Neosho Daily News.

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SUSANNA SMITH: First Amendment rights under attack - Neosho Daily News