Amendment #1: July 4th, Celebrating a Free Press

“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.”
That music you hear playing in the background is the Star Spangled Banner.
Yes, July 4th is the time of year when I like to salute our local newspaper.
I suppose this could be considered self-serving of me, since they do print my column after all.
My young friends tell me that to really reach people, my blog, not my column, is the way to go. Apparently, young people are not into reading newsprint, they prefer lap top screens.
Their loss, I say.
This paper has a website and it serves its purpose, I suppose, especially if you are young. The news industry is changing to keep up with the technology.
On the other hand, as a writer, I can’t help but be in awe of what our forefathers could cover in one sentence, even without a laptop. Clearly, they were not having a slow news day.
For instance, George Washington was elected our first president on February 4, 1789; a whopping thirteen years after the Declaration. Our forefathers had a lot of details to iron out.
Eleven of the original states first adopted the Constitution in 1787 and 88, but two states, North Carolina and Rhode Island, held out for many reasons.
So, what were the hot topics of the day?
The first ten amendments of the Constitution are what sealed the deal.
The hold-out states insisted that individual and state’s rights have some form of definition before they were willing to form an alliance with their fellow independence-minded States.
Which brings us back to the very first thing on their minds: religion, free speech, press, assembly, redress from the government.
What makes my heart pump red, white and blue is the way those things are so obviously related. Obvious to us now. Not so obvious then. You have to hand it to our forefathers for being far-sighted.
So, if you value the right to exercise freely your religion or lack thereof, to speak your mind in public, to assemble peacefully for any reason, to demand changes and integrity from our government, remember the service that a free press affords us. The patriots chose free press as a balance to our self-government in order to ensure those other primary rights.
The local news guys are the ones on the front lines, keeping our government honest.
Pick up today’s newspaper and for less than a dollar, you are buying more efficiency from our government. Certainly more than your tax dollars will ever buy.
Buy an ad from your local paper and not only are you getting media attention for your business, but you are supporting a worthy cause, the fourth estate. Plus, you can probably deduct your business’s media expenses from your tax bill.
Our forefather’s weren’t too keen on taxes; I am pretty sure they would have supported a tax deduction for media. But I bet they never imagined a blog.

Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, welcomes comments at CaeKrafve2@aol.com or http://checklistcharlie.blogspot.com.