Miss California and the First Amendment

It's doubtful that Miss California Carrie Prejean and The Dixie Chicks would find very much in common if they met. Prejean is an evangelical Christian conservative from San Diego. The Dixie Chicks are lightning-rod liberal country singers from Texas. But they do have one thing in common; a serious lack of understanding about how the Constitution, particularly the First Amendment, works.

Prejean made news during the Miss USA 2009 pageant by answering panelist Perez Hilton's question about same-sex marriage by stating "Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I do believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that's how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman."

While this statement made the nightly news for a night, the real 15 minute fame clock for Miss California began when Hilton, a celebrity gossip blogger, unearthed a number of partially nude photographs that Prejean had taken before becoming Miss California. Hilton made very little effort to hide that the release of these pictures were retaliation for her comments at the Miss USA pageant and an effort to embarrass the staunchly Christian Prejean.

Prejean's camp, predictably, cried foul over the release of the photos. In the beginning, I have to admit I was on her side to some degree. Miss California's comments weren't particularly incendiary and the question was probably a bit political for a contest that primarily grades how nice someone looks in a bikini. My problems with Miss Prejean and her handlers came when she chose to play the Dixie Chicks card by claiming that the criticism and embarrassment infringed upon her First Amendment right to free speech. Excuse me?

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution reads as such: "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."

The First Amendment gives Carrie Prejean, as well as Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks, the right to make whatever statements they like about gay marriage, George W. Bush, the Iraq War, or that kid who might or might not be gay on American Idol. It does not, however, protect you from being called an idiot on talk shows, from having your youthful indiscretions splattered across the internet, or the generally conservative members of your listening audience from asking radio stations to boycott your music. That's the price you pay for exercising your First Amendment right in such a public forum.

If one reads David McCullough's excellent biography on John Adams, you can see that the founding fathers not only understood this principle but embraced it. Adams and Thomas Jefferson regularly made harsh and very personal attacks on each other during their Presidential campaign. Using intermediaries with printing presses, colonial Americans were treated to a level of mud slinging that makes anything you saw in Obama vs. McCain look like child's play. Adams was referred to as "His Rotundity" and labeled a monarchist by Democratic-Republican newspapers of the time. Jefferson was accused by Federalist newspapers of having sexual relations with his slaves, of being an atheist, and of being a bloodthirsty revolutionary who would lead the United States into the bloody French Revolution.

These men were no strangers to controversy in a time when statesmanship and the ability to vigorously defend yourself and your views was considered a critical skill in a President. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson would likely have absolutely no sympathy for Carrie Prejean. She walked into the arena of political commentary and got exposed, quite literally.

So enjoy your fifteen minutes Miss California 2009. Enjoy the fumbling attempts by fellow beauty queen Sarah Palin to come to your defense. Enjoy becoming a battle cry for a conservative movement that is seriously lacking one these days. Enjoy it while you can. As your sister in First Amendment infringement Natalie Maines can tell you, it doesn't last that long. The next time Britney Spears exposes her crotch or Kanye West throws a temper tantrum, you'll be old news. Your First Amendment right to express your opinion will still be intact. The difference is, no one will care anymore.

Sources:
www.cnn.com
John Adams by David McCullough