Thread: Do you know your rights?

In today's shrill political environment we hear a lot of talk from a lot of "patriots" who are outraged about their prospective loss of rights and about this country's supposed drift towards socialism. The irony is -- and the research is clear about this -- very few Americans even know what their rights are. And for all their concern about the war in Afghanistan, few can locate the country on a world map. And as far as their concern about socialism goes, few know anything about socialism other than what they hear on cable TV.

Just for grins, try testing yourself about your knowledge of our rights as guaranteed by the Constitution. Can you name the five rights guaranteed to us in the first amendment of the Bill of Rights? Better yet, can you name the ten amendments which constitute the Bill of Rights; which, collectively, are the cornerstone of our democracy? If you can't do it, don't feel bad, very few Americans can.

Thomas Jefferson said, "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free ... it expects what never was and never will be." In my opinion, the danger today is not socialism, it's ignorance. But, hey, what do I know?