When I think about the Constitution, the first thing that pops into my head is the First Amendment: freedom of speech, religion and ideas. Everyone over the age of six knows about this right. It’s a right our country holds in the highest esteem. But even though the freedom of ideas is crucial to the United States’ identity as a country of liberty, some people take advantage of this right by spreading lies and damning comments about others that aren’t true. Such was the case with Joe Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. Joe the Plumber, during a Fox News interview with anchor Shepard Smith.
Smith began by questioning an accusation made by Joe that Barack Obama’s presidency would mean “death to Israel.” The plumber from Ohio stated that he had said this because of the "shady" people that Obama hung around with, and things he said in the past. But Joe couldn’t name any of these anti-Israeli people. Partway through the interview, Shepard Smith directly quoted Obama, saying that Israel will always be an ally of the United States during his presidency. Joe took advantage of the First Amendment in order to send an untrue, dangerous message to all Americans. This makes me wonder: when does freedom of speech go too far, and should it ever be restricted?
At the end of the clip, after Wurzelbacher leaves, Shepard makes this point: “I just want to make this 100 percent clear. Barack Obama has said repeatedly that Israel will always be a friend of the United States no matter what…the rest of it, man, it just gets frightening sometimes.” Fear was not the goal of the men who wrote the Constitution and the First Amendment, but Joe the Plumber’s untrue, incendiary statement has degraded our country’s most precious right into something that is manipulated and distorted. And that’s a scary thought.
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