Warren Watson
First Thoughts
Jan. 31, 2008

Author creates First Amendment 'primer'

In my four years directing Ball State’s First Amendment institute, it has always struck me that Americans – young and old – care and know so little about the First Amendment, the most important plank of our Constitution.

Connecticut researchers Ken Dautrich and David Yalof reveal that most Americans are clueless about the First Amendment.  In fact, 2006 research done by Chicago’s Freedom Museum shows that more people can name the five members of “The Simpsons” than those five freedoms -- speech, press, assembly, petition and religion.  Shameful.

That’s why author Anthony Lewis’s new book, “Freedom for the Thought We Hate: A Biography of the First Amendment,” is a must for anyone who cares about our democratic heritage. The book (Basic Books, 221 pages) can be absorbed on a snowy February afternoon by the fire.

The Boston Globe, admiring the book as concise examination of the First Amendment, calls it a  “dandy primer” for its insight into its history and nuances. I’d agree.

Much like Geoffrey’s Stone’s “Perilous Times,” Lewis notes that American society struggles with maintaining a balance between free expression and outside threats to national security. We see that today with the struggle between President Bush and civil libertarians over issues of the conduct of the Iraqi conflict.  We saw it in the last days of the 18th century with the Alien and Sedition Act, which threatened imprisonment for anyone who spoke out against our government, which at the time feared a war with Napoleon’s France.

Lewis covered the Warren Supreme Court and has written numerous books, lectures and articles on the First Amendment. He is still in awe of its power, novelty and perseverance – even 200 years after it was ratified as part of the Bill of Rights.  “Colonial America began with little tolerance of dissent,” he says, admiringly.

Lewis says that the “long struggle” to give meaning to the First Amendment has made us a better country. He links today’s media free-for-all with the struggles to pass a Bill of Rights when 18th century pamphleteers provided no shortage of controversial viewpoints.  

Yes, he agrees that today’s provocative bloggers and talk radio can be a “depressing cacophony,” but says that they are playing the same role – only in the electronic age.