"FREEDOM MUST ADVERTISE"
(An address delivered by Tom Dillon in 1963 and updated in 1976)
(Page 3)
Just in the field of religion alone, this has created a very inefficient and uneconomical duplication of effort. According to the National Council of Churches, there are in the United States some 232 separate faiths. And of these, over 223 are variations of Christianity.
Now each one of these brands of religion exists because enough people in each case feel that this particular brand of thought washes the soul whiter than the other 231. Yet for many thousands of years, people thought that this was a very illogical thing.
"The framers of the
Constitution...were again
prepared to abandon logic
and efficiency on behalf
of freedom from tyranny."
| They thought it was so illogical and inefficient that the state establishment of a uniform religion was considered a necessity. The framers of the Constitution, some of whose forefathers had been prevented from advocating their deviations from the state-established Church of England by unpleasant remedies like jail and hanging, were again prepared to abandon logic and efficiency on behalf of freedom from tyranny.
And, finally, freedom of speech and of the press.
Now, anyone put in charge of running a country knows what a large pain in the neck freedom of speech and of the press is. Every President of the United States must, at least in some hour of his life, have been driven by the yammering of the press into wondering whether the First Amendment to the Constitution was not in contravention of another provision against cruel and unusual punishment. How inefficient and awkward it is to have every movement of the state under the piercing scrutiny of men who are anxious to seize upon every mistake and, perhaps, balloon it way out of proportion, to the embarrassment of our government both here and abroad.
Again, does anyone really think the founders of this country were so dull and so remote from the lessons of history and experience that they did not know the terrible risk they ran when they forged this freedom into the basic law of the land? If they didn't, they were soon to know. For the moment they were in office, the press began a barrage of invective against Washington, Adams, Madison, Jefferson and Hamilton unparalleled in modern political dogfights.
They knew, all right. But they were prepared to sacrifice themselves and their successors forever if they could hold back the tyranny of man over man. And, perhaps incidentally, the framers of the Constitution could hardly have been unaware of advertising. For advertising supported the newspapers that carried the spirit of revolution to the people of the Colonies.
Do not think for a moment that the Declaration of Independence was carried around on parchment scrolls and read in town squares by men wearing funny hats and ringing bells. If you will examine the July 6, 1776, issue of The Pennsylvania Evening Post, you will find the Declaration of Independence requires two and one-half columns, and, at the end of those two and one-half columns, beneath the signatures of those who pledged their sacred honor and their fortunes, there are 10 ads.
"Freedom carries with
it the opportunity
for many evils."
| It appears to me that if the framers of the Constitution had intended to exclude them from the protection of the First Amendment, they probably would have said so.
Freedom carries with it the opportunity for many evils. The freedom of those running for public office to promise what they cannot deliver has let evil men reach public power. The freedom given to our legislators on the floor of Congress has enabled them to blacken the names of honest men who have no recourse to law.
"Freedom is an expensive thing.
It is also extremely fragile."
| The freedom of religion has permitted the teaching of tenets that have resulted in the needless deaths of helpless children.
Freedom of speech has caused senseless riots and suffering. Freedom of the press has ruined innocent people and possibly started needless wars. Freedom is an expensive thing. It is also extremely fragile.
For all tyranny does not come with tanks and jackboots. Tyranny also creeps in, like the fog, "on little cat feet." Softly, soothingly. Tyranny carries a nicely lettered sign on which it says, "This is being done for the public good." Tyranny is sly. It whispers to you and says, "You and I know what the best thing is to do. But those poor people over there are not as fortunate as you and I. They do not have the wisdom to know that what we want is really for their own good." Tyranny puts its arm around your shoulder and says, "Let's you and I save them from themselves. Let us force them to make the right choice, and later, when they are wiser, they will thank us."
Tyranny says, "Let us draw up some rules to prevent the advocacy of ideas that we know are wrong. Come, let us go together and curb evil."
It is true that to live together we must have some rules for some things. We cannot, after all, each decide for himself whether to drive on the right or left-hand side of the street.
"...all those rules that the founders
of the Republic tried so hard
to rivet into the Constitution were
to protect that right of advocacy."
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But watch out for tyranny's trick. Watch for the trick when tyranny shifts to rules that will prevent a man from advocating a point of view. For all those rules that the founders of the Republic tried so hard to rivet into the Constitution were to protect that right of advocacy.
There have been copies of our Constitution in other lands. And in these other lands they promise freedom of the press, speech and of religion. Yet there is no freedom. And how was that done? It's a very simple trick.
"If you have the
freedom of religious
thought without the
right to advocate
religious thought,
then you have
no freedom at all."
| It is easy to write into your Constitution that you have freedom of religious thought. All the state then has to do is to write a statute preventing you from building a church and holding a meeting in it. Oh, you have the right of your thought , all right. You can sit and think any religious thought you like.
But you can't talk to others about it, nor can you go and listen to anyone talk to you about it. If you have the freedom of religious thought without the right to advocate religious thought, then you have no freedom at all.
Or you can have a country in which there is freedom of the press. But what good is freedom of the press unless you have a press and the paper to put in it, and a way of distributing the paper? You may have freedom of speech even, but if you do not have access to a press or to a radio station or to a television station, of what value is this freedom?
Many countries know this. Since they control the press and usually control radio and TV, they can cheerfully grant freedom of the press and freedom of speech with the full knowledge that there is no possibility of exercising those freedoms. All of the tools that make them possible are within the grasp of an all-powerful state.
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