Friday, June 13, 2008

What we must aspire to

Exercise your precious freedom of speech and start blogging! So says one of my favourite American bloggers, LaShawn Barber. She calls her posting "Exercise your freedom to offend". Well, of course, the United States is unique in that the right to freedom to offend is written into the Constitution, specifically the First Amendment.
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.
As simple as that. No ifs, no buts. But then the US Constitution is a very simple document unlike the Constitutional Reform Lisbon Treaty.

1 comment:

GW said...

It is ironic, is it not, that the U.S. Constitution is, with only a very few differences, the rights of free (and Protestant) Englishmen that existed at common law and by solemn compact with the Crown at the time of its writing?