Freedom To Think, Part 1

The freedoms guaranteed to Americans in the First Amendment are usually referred to as freedoms of expression: to worship as we choose, praising whichever deity we revere; to speak freely on any subject, and to publish our words and ideas without fear of censorship or reprisal; to gather peaceably together whenever and wherever we wish for any reason; and to approach representatives of the government freely when we have a complaint.

We take these freedoms for granted; and why not? They have been the foundation of our society all our lives, and for all the lives of our American ancestors for generations.

Using his own country as an example, Winston Churchill succinctly described the difference between democratic and totalitarian governments: “In England, everything is permitted except what is forbidden. In [Nazi] Germany, everything is forbidden except what is permitted."

The rhetorical question "It's not illegal to think, is it?" pops up frequently in crime shows, usually when a person is feeling undue pressure from police. In point of fact, in some regimes it is technically forbidden to have ideas the rulers perceive as a threat.

As far as the public knows, police and other investigative agencies haven't developed mind-reading techniques. But profiling, close watching, and electronic surveillance are the next best thing. In totalitarian societies those techniques are routinely applied to everyone. A few innocent unusual acts, an "inflammatory" word uttered, a chance meeting with a stranger, and a citizen of North Korea, Syria, or Uzbekistan might find themselves arrested on suspicion of being an enemy of the state; and suspicion is sometimes all it takes to make a person disappear.

It's not exactly thought control, but when every person in a country is automatically under suspicion of subversion and only a misstep away from arrest, it might as well be. All expression except that in praise of the government is throttled, and eventually no one but extreme revolutionaries dares to think anything else.

There are individuals in this country, many of them in power at the state or federal level, who would prefer to see such a condition in the United States. Happily for us, that would be very difficult to achieve.

But not impossible. Edmund Burke* wrote that "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Rights are like muscles. If not exercised, they atrophy. We the people of the United States owe it to ourselves, our ancestors and our descendants to exercise our rights, letting the present administration know our extreme displeasure with it.

Let your voice be heard. It's the most powerful weapon you have. Speak truth to wannabe tyrants in blogs, tweets, letters to editors and to your senators and representatives. Use any medium available to voice your resistance to encroaching tyranny, because you have the right to think, to speak, and to protest.

Please check in tomorrow for some thoughts on the process of protest.


--- Diogenes, 4/30/20


*The statement is attributed to Burke, with some uncertainty.