Quick, it’s time for a pop quiz. Do you know your First Amendment freedoms?

We’ll help you out. No need to make you work any harder with finals looming.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gives Americans the following freedoms:

Religion.

Speech.

Press.

Assembly.

Petition.

Although Americans tend to forget a few of these from time to time, we’re sure you have at least a general idea of what the First Amendment says. If you don’t, it’s time for you to learn about basic American government and politics, not to mention your role as an American citizen.

Why the mini-lesson in American government? Today is First Amendment Day. Today is a day to remember your rights and freedoms, and to celebrate them. We encourage you to stop by Central Campus between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. to check out the Feast on the First. There will be soapbox debates, creative-writing readings, a rock opera, a hootenanny of protest songs and sidewalk chalk — yes, you can write whatever you want on the sidewalks of Iowa State. And if that doesn’t do it for you, there’s also free food. No Veishea button needed, no strings attached.

Why do we care what you do with yourself on the Thursday of Veishea week? As journalists, as students and as socially conscious citizens, we cannot understate to you the value of celebrating these rights so many of us take for granted.

What if there were no freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances? Our society would be dictated by white, property-owning men, because women and blacks wouldn’t have the right to vote. In fact, slavery would probably still be in effect. You couldn’t even send your legislators an e-mail to let them know if you had been wronged by the government.

What if there were no freedom of religion? Perhaps we would all have to bow down to The Claw like those little aliens in Toy Story. Think that’s ridiculous? Good luck telling that to the leaders who established that as our national religion. But just think of a set of religious beliefs you could never subscribe to, and imagine being forced to practice them — or imagine being barred from practicing the beliefs to which you do subscribe. Congressman Keith Ellison couldn’t have been sworn in on the Quran as the first Muslim elected to the U.S. Congress in such a society.

What if there were no freedom to peacably assemble? Our draft policies would be the same as they were pre-Vietnam War, because protesters would have never had the chance to influence them.

What if there were no freedom of the press? The Watergate scandal wouldn’t have been exposed. More recently, we would have heard nothing about AIG using taxpayers’ money to provide executives with bonuses.

And hey — you wouldn’t be reading this editorial.

Don’t like our content? Don’t even think about telling us so, unless you’ve got freedom of speech backing you up.

Oh, you do. Good thing, because without it, you wouldn’t be able to criticize the government. Without the First Amendment, we would be a government-run newspaper with no power over our content. And you wouldn’t be able to publicly respond to us.

What if there were no First Amendment? Thank goodness we don’t know what that’s like.

Now go out and celebrate your freedoms.

It’s your right.