Advocates For First Amendment Rights

In America our first amendment rights are freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom to protest our government as individuals or by assembly in groups.

The New World Foundation is initiating a campaign for the creation of a police force of advocates to make public violations of, protect and defend first amendment rights.

The Advocates would be sworn in by oath. They could be removed only by impeachment. By law they would have unprecedented access to public communication systems. They would have legal authority to use an amber-like alert signal to alert the public that first amendment rights, the child of democracy, is being stolen.

The Advocates would have to accept and represent complaints solely on a first come, first served basis, independent of content and sender, and include equal representation for those who disagree.

I believe that someday there will come into being a democratic United Nations new world government of 6 billion people (current estimate). I’m concerned about the realization of first amendment rights in this mega world government.

This started me thinking about the realization of first amendment rights within the current USA (a democracy of 300 million people), and the realization of first amendment rights within less populated democratic organizations to which I belong, e.g. The American Psychological Association; a democratic organization of 170 thousand psychologists.

Here are my thoughts.

There are currently some watchdogs in America who are whistle blowers or assist whistle blowers realize their first amendment rights.

I think the best of these is CBS 60 Minutes which airs on Sundays. 60 Minutes has a history of exposing pollutions and polluters which harm the health of people, e.g., toxins in cigarettes and disposal of various kinds of toxic waste. These are very important critical issues.

However, 60 Minutes is dependent on viewer ratings and advertiser money for its survival. The 60 Minutes staff selects which grievances they make public. 60 Minutes is one of the gatekeepers of free speech and freedom to protest our government in America.

Editors, TV anchors, radio and TV talk show hosts are gatekeepers of first amendment rights too, but more self-interested in their show business image than protectors and defenders of first amendment rights.

Local mass media consumer advocates are limited watchdogs of first amendment rights; mediating top dog bottom underdog relations only for financial transactions. Consumer advocates are employees of a media employer. They select cases to be made public. This is not to underestimate the importance, though limited role, of the consumer advocate in American society.

Voting is not free speech. Try writing to a politician who claims, “I hear your voice. I speak with you and for you.” Or “This was never about me. This is all about you.”

They will not answer you or acknowledge your communication unless they can use you and your communication to their own personal political advantage. I’ve done it. I speak from personal experience.

If money and connections can guarantee free speech and free press in America, a home of free speech for 300 million people, then what can we expect for a democratic united nations new world government of 6 billion people?

I want to share with you a relatively trivial experience in a relatively small democratic organization of 170,000 members: The American Psychological Association.

Recently I wrote to the Editor of The Monitor. The Monitor is a magazine published by the APA which is sent to APA members. The letter read: “Dear Editor, There is a tradition among APA members, particularly among the clinical and social psychologists, to seek the truth and try to change the world to the better. The realworldnewworld.com website is in this tradition. I would like to hear from fellow APA members about this website.”

The Editor of The Monitor refused to publish this letter.

I appealed to the CEO of the APA. He ruled in favor of the Editor on the grounds that I was trying to advertise my website.

My website and blogsite do not advertise a product. They advertise ideas. Others can agree, disagree or ignore these ideas.

Justice is not perfect. Many important U.S. Supreme Court Decisions are based on a 5 to 4 majority vote.

In a democracy the minority dissenting opinion is made public along with the majority opinion and decisive majority vote.

To this day only the Editor of The Monitor, the CEO of the APA and I know about the incident reported here. This incident remains private and hidden from 170,000 members of the APA.

I believe a sincere effort to free speech has been blocked.

We now go from the trivial to the profound; to the trial of the Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. Based on witness testimonies Eichmann was charged publicly at trial with sending thousands of living people to gas chamber execution.

Eichmann pleaded innocent. He claimed that he was only doing his job. It was nothing personal. He had no personal animosity toward the victims. He even like and admired them. He was simply obeying and following orders from the leaders of his government. He was not responsible for these orders. Although the consequences may have been profound, Eichmann claimed that his activities at the death camp were routine, trivial.

My incident at the APA was trivial. Perhaps it has a deeper meaning which is profound.

The creation of a police force of Advocates to make public violations of, protect and defend, first amendment rights do not guarantee that all problems vis-à-vis first amendment rights will disappear.

Can there be “false alarms,” “inappropriate complaints,” complaints that are “too trivial”? Can some complaints be negotiated privately? What if the system gets clogged jammed up? What if there are an overwhelming number of complaints? It may take years to get your free speech and protest against your government through the courts. Under these conditions will there be a need to select among complaints to be made public? Will one complaint have to be judged to be more important than another complaint? How will this judgmental process work?

These questions are more than theoretical. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an advocacy organization for the free-of-charge defense of first amendment rights which routinely selects and rejects complaints because of the large number of applications received.

I believe people are as good as the social systems that govern them.

I believe America is the Experimental lab for the coming democratic new world government of the United Nations.

I believe terrorism, like the passive drop out solutions, begins with the feeling of being helpless, hopeless, and powerless.