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At various times, every American likely has wished for less of some things that the First Amendment protects. Less hateful speech. One less noisy protest group. Or maybe even the swift departure of a media outlet or personality whose stance or voice is just grating on a personal level.

For the most part, those wishes come and go — or the targets do, as media fortunes or political trends wax and wane.

But wishes don’t change constitutions. There’s no impact on what we can say, what we write, how we worship, or our ability to challenge and seek to change government policies and practices.

And the same 45 words of the First Amendment exist today as when they were ratified by the fledgling nation as part of the Bill of Rights in 1791.

But the just-released 2013 State of the First Amendment survey by the First Amendment Center gives us reason to worry about the future because of a repeating threat to our core freedoms: fear.

In this year’s survey, conducted in May — about a month after the Boston Marathon bombing — 34 percent of Americans said the First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees, up 21 points from the 13 percent recorded in the 2012 survey.