"Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press"

It's always been interesting to me that freedom of the press is not just part of our Constitution, it's in the very first amendment. The Founders were apparently pretty serious about the importance of the press's function in a free society, and added no ifs, ands, nor buts.

The word the Founders used in the amendment, abridging, is also interesting. Abridge a much brighter line than, say, the word freedom -- Abridge means to diminish in any way.

So it's pretty clear, at least to me, that it was a first principle of our Founders that the press should not be interfered with. End of story.

Today, the very government that's charged with upholding the Constitution is working hard to dramatically tamp down the press's ability to work freely. The press is being investigated, accused, and harassed, e.g.:

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-05-13/world/39226618_1_classified-information-obama-administration-justice-department
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/james-rosen-justice-department-co-conspirator-obama_n_3305857.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/27/us/prosecutors-press-subpoena-for-times-reporter-in-leak-case.html?_r=0

for simply doing their jobs. They are being spied on, probably to a far-greater extent than we know about. And now the head of the NSA, Starfleet Commander Keith Alexander, is calling for the press to be stopped from telling us what it knows about the staggering Spy On Everyone program.

According to Reporters Without Borders, the US ranks 32nd in the world on the ability of our press to do its job:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Press_Freedom_Index

This is a sad state of affairs, and I don't see signs that it's going in the right direction. My hope is that the current NSA revelations will serve to shock Americans into a clear vision of what's happening to our civil liberties, and to coalesce us around the goal of ending the authoritarian cancer that's been sweeping our government for years.

There are many things we Americans must rebuild in the coming years. Among these, I hope that we can rebuild our government's respect for the job of the press, as envisioned by our founders and set into law.

Regards,

First-Way Manny