Take this article:

Over a third of the 100,000 students questioned felt the First Amendment went "too far" in guaranteeing freedom of speech, press, worship and assembly.

This, to me, means that the "adverage" High School has no clue what it would be like to live and/or grow-up without the 1st amendment. I don't know, this kinda thing makes me mad. . .

But more interesting, this is a great piece from the past:

U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote :
Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror

by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times (9/4/1967: p. 2)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

Pending more detailed reports, neither the State Department nor the White House would comment on the balloting or the victory of the military candidates, Lieut. Gen. Nguyen Van Thieu, who was running for president, and Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, the candidate for vice president.

A successful election has long been seen as the keystone in President Johnson's policy of encouraging the growth of constitutional processes in South Vietnam. The election was the culmination of a constitutional development that began in January, 1966, to which President Johnson gave his personal commitment when he met Premier Ky and General Thieu, the chief of state, in Honolulu in February.

The purpose of the voting was to give legitimacy to the Saigon Government, which has been founded only on coups and power plays since November, 1963, when President Ngo Dinh Deim was overthrown by a military junta.

Few members of that junta are still around, most having been ousted or exiled in subsequent shifts of power.

Significance Not Diminished

The fact that the backing of the electorate has gone to the generals who have been ruling South Vietnam for the last two years does not, in the Administration's view, diminish the significance of the constitutional step that has been taken.

The hope here is that the new government will be able to maneuver with a confidence and legitimacy long lacking in South Vietnamese politics. That hope could have been dashed either by a small turnout, indicating widespread scorn or a lack of interest in constitutional development, or by the Vietcong's disruption of the balloting.

American officials had hoped for an 80 per cent turnout. That was the figure in the election in September for the Constituent Assembly. Seventy-eight per cent of the registered voters went to the polls in elections for local officials last spring.

Before the results of the presidential election started to come in, the American officials warned that the turnout might be less than 80 per cent because the polling place would be open for two or three hours less than in the election a year ago. The turnout of 83 per cent was a welcome surprise. The turnout in the 1964 United States Presidential election was 62 per cent.

Captured documents and interrogations indicated in the last week a serious concern among Vietcong leaders that a major effort would be required to render the election meaningless. This effort has not succeeded, judging from the reports from Saigon.

NYT. 9/4/1967: p. 2.

As I sit here kind of' drunk but not drunk, happily resting at my home about to crash with little worry or concern for my safety or others (I did not get drunk tonight, I just can not afford it and it is rewarding to be the friend that cares). I must sit and reflect on the events taking place worlds away. In Iraq the people finally get a say in what is happening (in theory) and although I have views that deviate from those of friends as well as those of our "policymakers", I have a hope, an optimism that this vote, this democratic seed will take root and Iraq will overcome the tyranny of evil, an evil that is much worse than the divide we have here in the States between red and blue.

As a friend puts it, "I do have hope that [the] Iraqis will seize full advantage of this great and amazing opportunity. I do have faith that democracy will take root, and a free Iraq is something quite possible in the future." Unfortunately, I have already heard of problems in Iraq, but I am not surprised, this is an extremely important point in history for the Middle-East and for either point of view you choose in the region. I hope that my friend is correct.

I don't want to write anymore on this subject because I think that the outcome, bloody or not, will not be viewed as legitimate until the people of Iraq (not the population of the US) feel that they have full control of their destiny, I also believe that the current administration is aware of this and will act accordingly.

I'm agnostic but I know most are not. To the people of Iraq, those that will take the risk and vote and those that are too horrified to vote, God bless. . .