Misreading the Bill of Rights

Top Ten Myths Concerning Your Rights and Liberties

Kirby Goidel, Craig Freeman, Brian Smentkowski

• Publisher: Praeger
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781440832338
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781440832345
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Civil Rights in Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The Bill of Rights—the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution—are widely misunderstood by many Americans. This book explores the widely held myths about the Bill of Rights, how these myths originated, why they have persisted, and the implications for contemporary politics and policy.

Interestingly, most Americans today—even professional political commentators—misinterpret or misunderstand what the Bill of Rights' intended meaning and purposes were. Culturally ingrained myths about the Bill of Rights have helped to define what it means to be an "American" but also limited the range of political debate and justified unfair and unequal treatment of minorities. This book addresses the top ten myths regarding the Bill of Rights from the standpoint of public understanding (and misunderstanding) from a non-partisan, objective point of view, provoking independent thought and enabling readers to reach their own educated conclusions and opinions.

Written by two experts in the fields of political science, public policy, media law, and civil liberties, the work explores the key role of modern news and entertainment media in contributing to public misunderstanding of individual rights and liberties. The authors also apply and interpret data from public opinion surveys to further examine public beliefs about the Bill of Rights and closely connect the analysis of misperceptions to existing political beliefs.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Individual Freedoms, the Myths That Define Us, and American Public Opinion
• 1. The Bill of Rights and the Myth of Individual Freedom
• 2. Equally and for Everyone? Protecting Citizens Against the Federal Government
• 3. The Myth of Unlimited Free Speech: Limited Freedom of Expression the American Way
• 4. The Myth of a Free and Independent Press
• 5. The Myth of a Christian Nation
• 6. The Establishment Clause: Misreading or Myth?
• 7. The Right to Bear Arms and the Myth of Gun Ownership: Guarding Against Tyranny, Not Your Neighbor
• 8. Procedural Due Process and the Myth of Constitutional Loopholes as Criminal Protection
• 9. The Right to Privacy and the Myth of Government Surveillance: Why We Believe in Privacy but Let Government into Our Homes
• 10. Protections Against Cruel and Unusual Punishment and the Myth That Killing Isn’t Cruel (or Unusual)
• Conclusion: Bringing the Frog of Citizenship to a Slow Boil
• Appendix: The Bill of Rights
• List of Cases Cited
• Bibliography
• Index
• About the Authors