Katie Couric and Free Speech

Saw the news last night with Katie Couric as news anchor. I comment on this only because of something she said during her intro, something that made me choke on a waffle I was snarfling at the time. She introduced a new segment to the show, something she calls "Free Speech." Interestingly, she characterized it as "a privilege we have."

Now, I don't know about you, my little droogies. Maybe things are very different where you are. Where I am from, the gold old US of A, a 'privilege' is a 'right or benefit granted someone'. See, what she's saying is that we have the 'right' to 'Freedom of Speech.' But by calling it a 'privilege', she's also saying that it has been granted to us. That implies it could be taken away again.

This bothers me no little bit.

See, Freedom of Speech is not a privilege. It is a right, acknowledged by our Founding Fathers as being a pre-existing condition, as it were. It was not given us by the US Constitution, we had it already, by the natural state of being born in the USA as citizens of this great nation. For Christians, this right is seen as given by God or our Creator. For those of non-religious persuasions, let's just say that Freedom is a condition that attaches to personhood - all people are born free as part of their human condition.

Our rights, our civil rights, cannot be 'taken away' by the US government. In fact, that is precisely what the Bill of Rights is - not a declaration OF our rights, but rather, a list of prohibitions against the federal government.

Does the Bill of Rights say "You have the right of free speech?" No! It says that the federal government is PROHIBITED from infringing on free speech. Do you understand the difference? This is critical.

What is given can be taken away again. If our 'Free Speech' is a privilege, as Katie Couric seems to think, then the government, having given us it, can take it away, as one can revoke a driver's license.

The Founding Fathers, in their wisdom, simply identified the rights that human beings, and more specifically, citizens of the USA, already have, given us by our Creator.

I'm sorry Katie; you're not allowed to take our rights away.

Smooches,

Wiggy