Blog #10 The Progressive Era

 Antiwar Voices

Dissent refers to "the expression or holding of opinions at variance with those previously, commonly, or officially held." Dissent plays a crucial role in the political world because it pertains to an opinion that goes against an idea that was already had. The First Amendment protects the right to express dissent because it guarantees freedom of religion and expression without government interferences. The Supreme Court has previously had dissenting opinions which led to the change of how court cases are decided and looked at. 

A very important dissenting opinion is Yates vs United States (1957). In 1951, Dennis v United States, the Supreme Court upheld the convictions of 11 members of the American Communist Party for violating the Smith Act. Also known as the Alien Registration Act, made it illegal to advocate for the violent overthrow of the government, or to be a part of an organization that participates in those actions. The Supreme Court found that the law did not violate the First Amendment, in a 6-2 vote. However in the Yates v United States, 6 years later, the Supreme Court reversed this decision. It ruled that speech is only illegal if it poses a "clear and present danger." This clarified what kinds of speech are truly protected by the First Amendment. 

Antiwar.com and Theamericanconservative.com are not very common websites. Therefore, I never knew about their efforts to lower the amount and severity of war across the world. I feel we never hear about these in mainstream news because the government is trying to censor us and what we can see because it could possibly change everyone's views. It would cause a lot of issues if these websites were a part of the mainstream news. After seeing everything on these websites, it is really heartbreaking to learn what is really going on in different countries and how many people are affected by war and how no one is helping them. The American Conservative has very unfiltered authors that publish their stories and are not afraid to truly voice how they feel.