What you feel is the most Significant Constitutional Amendment Essay

What you feel is the most Significant Constitutional Amendment - Essay Example It is worth noting that all ideas, whether good or bad, are protected under the first amendment (Bird 56). As an American citizen, I have been able to enjoy the right to free speech and freely expressing my ideas and opinions. However, there are other countries where citizens do not enjoy the same right. I travelled to Ethiopia a couple of years ago, for a vacation and to view the beautiful scenery. Before I embarked on the journey, I was thoroughly briefed regarding the stringent rules of law in Ethiopia. At the embassy, citizens were constantly reminded to be careful of what they expressed to avoid being detained by the police. In addition, once we were outside the embassy and into the city of Addis Ababa and its environs, we were to avoid expressing any views against the regime; lest we be imprisoned. Unlike in America, citizens have to be mindful of what they express to avoid being imprisoned. As a tourist, I found these unfamiliar and confusing due to my perception that all citizens in the world enjoyed similar rights like other Americans did. The experience was an eye-opener and since then, I have appreciated the right conferred on me by the Constitution; to express my thoughts freely. In Ethiopia, for instance, there are hundreds of journalists and other perceived dissidents who have been detained illegally by their government, as political prisoners. Fortunately, I was not imprisoned in Ethiopia, and I continued expressing my thoughts, regarding Congress on Twitter, once I was at the United States Embassy. Through research, I have been able to identify the importance of the first amendment through critical analysis of world politics and political journals. I identified the primary reason as to why the Arab Spring uprising broke was due to the atrocities committed by the regimes in North Africa and the Middle East. The atrocities are