"We must remember that

a right lost to one is lost to all." William Reece Smith, Jr.

What did you learn in school

today, Billy?

"Oh, just the usual stuff,

Grandpa. The teacher told us about the greatest people in American history.

You know, people like Malcolm X and Hillary Clinton and John McCain."

Do they ever talk about the

Constitution in school anymore?

"No, Grandpa, you're the

only one who ever talks to me about that. I asked my teacher about it

and she got all mad. Why did she get mad, Grandpa?"

Well, Billy, it's against the

law now for me to talk about this, but I'm an old man and I don't care.

You need to hear it. The Constitution was a very old, very precious document

that had a great deal of meaning in our lives for the first 200 years

of our nation's history.

We believed in the words written

the Founding Fathers.

"Yeah, my teacher called

them the Founding Outlaws. She said they all owned slaves and they beat

them and I shouldn't talk about them."

Well, in a way I guess they

were outlaws. They wrote the Declaration of Independence and started a

new form of government. And while it's true that it was wrong of them

to keep slaves, they gave us all a better nation than had ever existed

before. They wrote the Constitution, which guaranteed certain rights by

agreeing that those rights were given by God.

"Oh, we're not allowed

to say 'God' in school. You could get in so much trouble. My teacher says

only fanatics talk about God. Are you a fanatic, Grandpa?"

Yes, I guess in today's world

I am, Billy. You see I believe as those Founding Outlaws did that each

of us is endowed by our creator God with certain rights, and that among

those rights is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The writing

of those words was the most important moment in our history.

"That's not what my teacher

said."

I'm sure she didn't. What did

she say?

"She told us the greatest

thing to happen to the country ever was something called Finance Campaign

Reform, or something like that. She said it happened about 30 years ago,

in 2002, and that it cleaned up government. She said before that government

was open to the highest bidder. I didn't understand it very well."

Well, Billy, she was right

about one thing. That bill called Campaign Finance Reform was important

all right, but not the way she meant it. You see, that was the year the

people lost the right to criticize our government. Before that, a person

or a group could buy time on TV or radio and talk about the record of

a member of Congress. Or they could distribute voter guides letting people

know where their elected officials stood on the issues.

"Wow! You used to be able

to do that?"

Oh absolutely. But then something

terrible happened. That right was taken away and the only people allowed

to talk about government officials were those in the news media. The big

newspapers and the big TV networks suddenly were in a position to decide

who was a good representative and who wasn't. Soon they were the only

ones allowed to publish their opinions.

"Why didn't people fight

against it, Grandpa?"

Oh, believe me, Billy, some

of us tried. We could still communicate with our elected representatives

in those days, and we all knew that bill would pass the Senate if it got

that far, but we never thought it would. We assumed that the House of

Representatives, which was supposedly controlled by Republicans, would

reject it outright. But they betrayed us, pure and simple, Billy. Some

of them fought for the Constitution, but too many Republicans joined the

Democrats and took away our right to criticize our government. And then

when the president signed it Someone's at the door, Billy. See who it

is, will you?

"Mr. Patton, you're under

arrest for sedition and corrupting the mind of a minor child. Good job,

Billy you can take off the microphone now."

"Sorry, Grandpa, but you

really shouldn't say such nasty things about the government."

© Copyright 2002 by Doug

Patton

[Doug Patton is a freelance

columnist who has served as a speechwriter and policy advisor for federal,

state and local candidates and elected officials. His work can be read

at www.gopusa.com and at americasvoices.org. E-mail him at [email protected].]