As I was reviewing the articles for this month’s issue, I was struck by two in particular; the speech by the three students at the dedication of the Liberty Tree and the article on the air museum. Both stories pay tribute to the sacrifices made by our forebears who fought to create and protect our democratic liberties which are imbued in American society.
Since I am limited here to just a few hundred words, I would like to address one right I hold dear: freedom of the press. My wife’s four times great-grandfather wrote and published a satirical book in 1831 in Ireland. He protested the corruption of the Anglican Church and the government enforced levying of tithes on Irish Catholic farmers by Anglican bishops. Although he was Protestant, he felt this was unjust and published the book mocking the government and the Church. He was found guilty of “seditious libel”, imprisoned and banished from Great Britain. He fled to America where he knew he could write openly and without persecution.
While he didn’t have the comic writers that support Stephen Colbert or Jimmy Kimmel, he had a sharp mind, a passion for the truth and the fortitude to stand up to censorship. As Americans, we are protected when speaking freely. Threatening to remove broadcasting licenses over satirical material or attacking newspapers with frivolous lawsuits from U.S. government agencies (that cost our taxpayers) feels like 1831 Ireland. People from our town have given their lives to defend our liberties which, under the first amendment of the Bill of Rights, include the freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition.
Freedom of the press can be extremely uncomfortable. When Alexis de Tocqueville wrote about it in Democracy in America, he said: “I approve of it from a consideration more of the evils it prevents than of the advantages it ensures”. He felt that while it can be harmful in attacking individuals, “Its eye is constantly open to detect the secret springs of political designs and to summon the leaders of all parties in turn to the bar of public opinion.”
Our Suffield Observer is a volunteer paper made by dedicated people who celebrate the joys and challenges of our community, and at times watch out for those “secret springs of political design”. Like an itchy wool sweater, it can be uncomfortable, but it does keep us warm and protected.