Free Speech
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1 comment:
While I appreciate your concern for free speech rights pursuant to the United States Constitution, and I agree that everyone should be able to speak freely, we all know that exercising your rights is the difficult part.
Right here in Great Falls, we could have "leaders" who apparently do not respect the United Constitution. For example, a criminal defendant has a right to an attorney, right? Sixth Amendment stuff. What if you just happened to be sitting in one of the four district courtrooms in our town when a criminal defendant came in, there were two county attorneys sitting at their table, no attorney for the defendant. He was supposed to plead guilty to a crime, but when the judge began questioning the defendant regarding his role in the crime, the defendant stumbled and could not answer to the judge's satisfaction. You might think, okay, whats the big deal? Well, the man had not been arraigned yet, but he had apparently been approached by the county attorney and told that if he pled guilty and cooperated by testifying against the other three or four people charged in the same alleged incident, they would help him. Even if this man was eligible for a public defender, none would have been assigned prior to arraignment. What would people think about that scenario if they knew about it. Supposed that when asked about the incident, the deputy county attorney explained that he was making "our community safe, for me!" For me!! Wow! I would feel a lot safer if I thought the County Attorney's office respected the constitutional rights of the citizenry.
I don't think one has to look too far for everyday violations of the United States Constitution and the Montana Constitution. But hey, who is paying attention, anyway. The people affected are just criminal defendants anyway. Right?
If a study was done in which a survey was conducted, and respondents were asked about the priority and importance of the rights contained in the Bill of Rights without specifically identifying the rights as those specifically enumerated in the United States Constitution. Say they were asked if they would vote for or against the various rights. Would the Bill of Rights pass the vote of the citizenry these days. I wonder. No, I actually don't think it would pass. The thought scares me. Really scares me.
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