As I continue on my journey of the top five rights American think are being threatened I come to number 4, Freedom of Expression. To me, freedom of expression is a lot like freedom of free speech but I will run with this. There are all kinds of what I would consider expression. Music is expression, painting is expression, film is expression, and dance is expression. Also an expression is the right to express our opinion by protesting. Another kind of expression is our right of vote.

Freedom of the arts has always been under attack. Music is always under attack. Early rock and roll was banned in some areas. Where it was banned like if a song was banned in Boston was sometimes used to promote a song. Elvis could only be filmed from the waist up because some people thought his movements were obscene. And look at film, talk about trying to stop freedom of expression. Groups have always wanted to control what we see, listen to, and read. I will always remember the wardrobe malfunction of Janet Jackson’s during the Super Bowl. CBS was fined a half a million bucks for that one, and it was an accident.

“Freedom of speech, of the press, of association, of assembly and petition -- this set of guarantees, protected by the First Amendment, comprises what we refer to as freedom of expression. The Supreme Court has written that this freedom is "the matrix, the indispensable condition of nearly every other form of freedom." Without it, other fundamental rights like the right to vote, would wither and die”. This is how I see it defined by the ACLU.

Now you look at what the ACLU says is Freedom of Expression and they are all under attack in one way or another. Our right to Assemble is very much under attack. Protesting is as American as Apple Pie.  Now I have to admit I think that any person causing violence anywhere should be prosecuted. We do not need new laws, all we have to do is arrest the violent people but that should also include Police that incite a riot by overzealously confronting protestors. Protest are meant to offend the so called authorities. They were meant to offend in the 1770s and they are meant to offend now. We didn’t dump all that tea in the Boston Harbor because we liked the color it turned the water.

Freedom of the Press is also under attack from the right and the left. I will tell you that I get most of my news by reading the main street media. NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR Associated press and sites like those. The same places that I have been getting my news all my life. The key word was reading. I don’t get much news by watching the TV. I want to make up my own mind. President’s feuding with the press is nothing new. Trump stated that he was treated worse than any president ever. Well, there are people that can argue with that and some of them may be named Clinton.  I will say same press, different President. The press really hasn’t changed that much. What has changed In my opinion is the way the press can be challenged using social media. A president can put out a tweet and press does not have a chance to challenge it. The press is our watchdog. I am sorry that you don’t agree with them but they do not write for you to agree they write to inform. Do they get overzealous at times? Yes of course they do. That is why it is our job to research.

I have always thought that people should make up their own mind on how we should express ourselves, what we read,  how we vote, and what we support. We have all kinds a ways to express ourselves that past generations have had like what I use Twitter and Facebook. You can also write a blog like I do so I can express myself to the whole world. But some of the old ways of expressing ourselves are under attack like our right to protest and the freedom of the press. We need to protect all of our ways of expression. If they can take one away they may decide to take them all away.