This page is ostensibly from 1997 and kicks off a Five Freedoms Project.
INTRODUCTIONThe 45 words of the First Amendment haven’t changed since their adoption in 1791. Yet they are called upon to help guide a society that is radically different from the one in which the Founding Fathers lived. In this century, the First Amendment has been stretched and reinterpreted as the government has become involved in nearly all spheres of expressive activity — campaign financing, federal funding of the arts, and regulation of mass media, to name but a few.
In recent years there has been a counter-trend, in which government intervention and involvement has been scaled back in areas such as regulation of industry. Yet at the same time, there are calls for additional forms of government activism, such as measures to control the content of the Internet. There is a need for evaluation of where the five freedoms now stand. This includes a look at trends in court rulings, legislation, executive branch policies, scholastic research and actions by non-governmental parties which impinge on these freedoms, before corrective action can be taken. This project will also survey public attitudes, which play a key role in determining the viability of the Five Freedoms.
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CONCLUSION
The preliminary conclusion of this overview is that there are many reasons to be concerned about the vitality of the First Amendment as we approach the 21st Century. Government policymakers continue to lose sight of the Five Freedoms in their zeal to find solutions to problems such as terrorism and exposure of children to pornography. At the same time, there is a tendency in public opinion to go along with or to provoke such policies.
One can take solace, however, in the fact that the federal courts — up to and including the Supreme Court — continue to show a great deal of respect for the Five Freedoms. Most misguided legislative forays against the First Amendment are overturned.
Yet this does not mean that we can rest easy. Now, as always, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.
A project of The Freedom Forum
Coordinator: Donna Demac, Fellow
Research Assistant: Maury DeFreitas
Project Overview, January 1997