I just have to ask based on you posts on the 2nd amendment:
what was the purpose of the first amendment and is it outdated?
I’ll answer more fully later today, when I have time. I will say this: the First Amendment clearly addresses liberties which are broader and more generally applicable than those in any amendment but the Ninth, the Tenth, and the Fourteenth. It is those four amendments, far more than any others, with which this nation’s constitutional jurisprudence has been concerned. The Second Amendment bears much closer relationship to the Third Amendment, in its specificity, than it does to the First or any of the umbrella amendments.
For further thoughts of mine on the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, in which I argue that such guarantee is largely an empty, amorphous one, see this thread. Skip to the middle, where I make my case more clearly.
I’ll add my .02. The First Amendment is really on of the most important amendments we have. It limits the power of government severely in an area some governments have way too much control in even now. Free speech is one of the first things a repressive government bans, as it is the most powerful weapon against dictators. Radio Free Havana is maintained in Miami for a reason.