First Amendment

 I surmise we all are reasonably familiar with our Constitution’s First Amendment-, the free speech amendment: 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. As, I’m sure some of us are, although less familiar with the Fourth Amendment: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. My point, if you are aware of these rights, and you should be, how sensitive are you to the fact they are being violated by our government on a regular basis. Attempted censorship of its citizens and unfavored media; it’s journalist, by a number of threatening actions including law suits and imprisonment. And, we have NSA unfettered and unbeknownst to us, having access to all our electronic communications. Don’t you find that scary, I do! Yes, I know these actions of theirs are masked in confusing, manipulative political subterfuge, but know they are censoring and invading our privacy-, counting on our seeing it for other than what it is. Are we really all that naïve, twisting in the wind of complacency in not knowing where all this is going? Our founding forefathers did! I can only hope in my impotence history will look back on this time and upon those who opposed this government tyranny and ushered in a renewal of our founding principles, as just another crises we Americans surmounted to preserve the integrity of our precious Democracy. Hope springs eternal.