Quick! Name the Five Freedoms!

Via the Political Wire, a survey by the McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum, only one in four Americans can name more than one of the five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment. Twice as many people could name more than one member of the Simpsons family.

One in five (22%) of those sampled could name all five (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie) but only 1 in 1000 could name all five freedoms (speech, religion, assembly, press, petition for redress of grievances.)

Here's the breakdown:
Freedom of Speech: 69%
Freedom of Religion: 24% (Ha!)
Freedom of the Press: 11%
Freedom of Assembly: 10%
Freedom to petition for redress of grievances: 1%

This is the reason Republicans can so easily take them away. People didn't know they had them to begin with. I'm tempted to blame our public education system but it really isn't that. People don't want to know. Our society reveres ignorance. Seriously. What other society could possibly see a kid teased by calling him or her "Einstein?"


Ignorance Freedoms McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum