June 24th – “What are the five freedoms in the First Amendment?”

Wait…there are five? I thought it was just about freedom of speech. Apparently I’m not alone. The McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum recently found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members, compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms. Can you? (And I won’t tell you here; just as my father refused to spell anything for us kids looking for homework help, you should look them up).

At an impressive exhibit at the Newseum (www.newseum.org) in Washington DC, the point was well-made that we have these precious freedoms in our country that are so important to our society. A huge map showed just how few countries of the world have a free press, with a large number of countries where journalism is heavily restricted or partially restricted.

Powerful exhibits and films, tracing the history of gay pride from Stonewall to present, revisiting the tragedy of 9/11, the beginnings of the civil rights movement, a tribute to Jon Stewart and The Daily Show, all summoned more thoughts and emotions about this great country than seeing all the other monuments in DC.

It was a fitting capstone to our days in DC, profound in its impact.

-Fred

OK, here they are (Freedom of, Religion, Speech and The Press – Freedom to, Assemble Peacefully and Petition the Government for a Redress of Grievances.

You are welcome, (I hate being told to go look things up!)

Our time in WA DC was well spent, I am really glad we took the time that we did, we still do not see everything there is to see as there is too much for one visit. We also visited the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, great place. Each of the museums take most of the day to go through.

-Milissa

This photo is from the American Indian Museum;