The first amendment is a staple of United States law and is one of the main reasons why the U.S. is such a successful country. U.S. citizens seem to take the law for granted and many do not know the freedoms that they have are not commonplace around the world. This assignment was very intriguing in seeing the responses that people from different ages, genders, and political parties gave. Many of the older people that I asked, which included parents and grandparents, stated that we already have those freedoms and were familiar with the first amendment. When asked about the freedoms of it in our country, I received different answers. My parents seemed ok with the amount of freedom that is allowed and believe that people should have the freedom to speak their mind as long as it does not cause panic among the populace. On the other hand, my grandparents think that the government could be a little bit stricter when it comes to assembly in specific. They told me that protests are becoming too common over matters that can easily be resolved and do not require such a grandiose act of protest. When asking people that were around my own age, including my siblings and girlfriend, the knew about the main point of freedom of speech but weren’t as familiar with freedom of religion and the press. They believed that people should have the freedom to express their opinions and follow their beliefs. My girlfriend gave an interesting stance on freedom of the press, saying that the press may be too harsh in order to get a good story. A main example that she cited was paparazzi invading personal spaces of popular celebrities. These results line up to the national support of the first amendment as support for the law has increased in the last 15 years according to the Knight Foundation.
