National Security Vs Free Speech: An Ethics Argument

When the issue of Free Speech arises, most if not all of the American Population agree that it is a major aspect of society. But once the Republican War Machine starts its rumbling and they start to ramble about National Security issues, most of the American Public was/is/always will be willing to sit back and let our rights and freedoms, be trampled on in the name of national security.

The 1^st Amendment guarantees us the right to free speech no matter whether or not it is war time, peace time, or there is martial law. It says plain and simple that we are guaranteed the Freedom to speak our minds about issues. Nowhere does it say that the Constitution applies or not to minors, and in most cases it doesn't because Children can not say what they want to a teacher, parent, or professional that they know. Since September 11^th, the debate has become gigantic on what should or shouldn't be allowed. Update: Yesterday, 2 kids were arrested for spray painting threats in Weston and are in danger of being charged in the new Anti-Terror law. Such things as the Patriot Act (1), the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (2), about 6 Supreme Court cases, and a lot of internet free speech sites including the ACLU (3), and a lot of other places have an insane amount of information regarding Free Speech as related to National Security.

In The Constitutional Law Book (4), we have such cases as Schenck vs. US (Fisher, pg 489), in which Charles Schenck published leaflets bashing the draft during World War 1 was charged with violating the Espionage Act of 1917. In Abrams v. United States (Fisher, page 491), five Russian born Americans were charged with circulating leaflets opposing our involvement in World War 1 and they were prosecuted under the same act as the first one. In Gitlow v. New York (Fisher, page 493), Benjamin Gitlow, a member of the Socialist Party was charged with Advocating violent overthrow of the current government. In Dennis v. United States (Fisher, 498), Eugene Dennis was found guilty under the Smith Act of trying to teach and advocate the overthrow of the US government. Looking at this through a college student's point of view, one could see why they would be found guilty: They were clearly advocating an overthrow of the government which gives us the freedom to speak our mind, pray to whomever we want and be our own person. In the other sense, some people like the ACLU and many other organizations believe that nothing should be regulated and that Sexual Offenders should not have to register with the government. The Four cases above are all about known members of the Communist party promoting an overthrow of the United States, and given today's circumstances I believe the same thing would done to a Middle Eastern Man who said he didn't like this current government that the United States is having. A lot of people feel less secure since 9/11, and while some who I've talked to have said that they feel less secure because they "get scared when they see a Middle Eastern looking man" or some feel insecure because "George Bush is turning the United States into a Pre-fascist society or a theocratic police state," but the point is, is that virtually nobody thinks that they are safe anymore.

As R. Kent Greenawalt pointed out in "Hate Speech and Fighting Words" (5), the Court finds compelling interest with "the basic human rights of members of groups that have been historically been subjected to discrimination, including the right of such grou members to live in peace where they wish." This is the supreme court and their goal of not regulating hate speech unless it poses a Clear and Present Danger to society.

If you look at the Patriot Act(1) or the DSEA2003(2), you'll see a blatant disregard of basic human rights such as the ability to charge someone with domestic terrorism for words spoken, tap anyones phone without a warrant, or arrest people without a proper cause to do so. There are so many rights ripped away from us by the USAPA and the USDSEA2003 that it would take about 10 pages to write a paper on how disgustingly powerful they make the US government. Welcome to "1984."

Since the war in Iraq, our government has taken an even steeper step into the gates of hell. The Dixie Chicks speak out against the war, and they're boycotted. People have been fired for being anti-war. The French are our worst enemies now because they refused to back us in the war. We've alienated the world and in doing so, made an unwritten law about Free Speech being illegal. If we actually had Free Speech, I could say whatever I wanted to about George Bush and not have to risk losing friends, which has happened to me. There is talk that even a third version of the patriot act which would further take our rights away and claim it is in the interest of National Security. A lot of people also say that the World Wide Web is a source of information that should be regulated, and they've succeeded in a lot of the things they've tried to accomplish in that sense because Children are the primary users of the internet and to let people under 18 have full access to anything is anything but legal.

In the USAPA (1), things like this; "Be careful what you put in that Google search. The government may now spy on web surfing of innocent Americans, including terms entered into search engines, by merely telling a judge anywhere in the U.S. that the spying could lead to information that is "relevant" to an ongoing criminal investigation. The person spied on does not have to be the target of the investigation. This application must be granted and the government is not obligated to report to the court or tell the person spied upon what it has done,"

our rights are essentially stomped on. So I enter keywords such as "CIA, FBI, or "mass murder" into my google search and immediately I'm put on some spook watch list? How is that fair to the American Citizens. Then again, most of America doesn't seem to care about what's really going on because they just sit around and listen to the propaganda machine that are news channels. As we saw in that video earlier in the semester, 9 corporations own virtually every aspect of the entertainment industry in American society and the CEO's of all those companies probably have both political parties in their pockets. Between Ted Turner, Rupert Murdoch and the others, they have so much powers it is incredible.
People in this country like to say that we have all sorts of rights, but the truth is, everything we say can be incriminating now. If someone jokingly says to a friend, "im gonna kill you," they are punishable under the new definition of terrorism. Ever since the Bush administration came into office as the Republicans also controlled congress, things have just been going downhill for this country, when they should be going in an upward climb towards greatness because we are the greatest country in the world. Someone needs to help people realize this before we alienate the entire world like we're doing at the present moment and take away everyone constitutional rights.