After reading the following story, I now feel there is hope for our future. USA Today is reporting that one-third of the high school students surveyed felt that the press should be restricted. The survey went on to say 36% of the students felt that the government should give or withhold approval of the publishing of certain articles. USA Today's article quotes Jack Dvorak of the High School Journalism Institute at Indiana University as saying that he was not surprised at the results since most journalists don't know the extent of freedom granted under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The article basically takes the side of Mr. Dvorak and talks about First Amendment education efforts.

But, whether the students were cogniscent of it or not, they showed some grasp of a very important principle. Everyone always talks about freedoms. We have freedoms, "they" should be granted freedoms, "I have rights." But you don't hear much about the accompanying responsibilities. Freedom is always accompanied by responsibility. Whether one accepts those responsibilities is another matter. For instance, the surveyed students have understood that information about the government is frequently of a nature that it could compromise national security and that information of this sort should probably have some approval process prior to release. But the MSM would scream bloody murder if this idea got any public hearing. They can easily shrug off the survey mentioned above.

Now, while I am all for freedom of speech, I am also for its responsible exercise. Unfettered freedom leads to chaos. But this doesn't seem to be an age of responsibility. All you have to do is watch the MSM to see that.