Speech Isn't Free Anymore
Violence and intimidation quiets a speaker who simply would rather not deal with the threats and the smears and the protests. Where would our country be now if great men and women felt it was best to self-censure?
I think we all need a refresher course on what the First Amendment means and what its purpose is in our Constitution. The First Amendment is about prohibiting the federal government - the government capable of consolidating and consuming the individual States - from passing any laws that affect free speech. It has absolutely nothing to do with the speech or expression of a private person and whether that speech or expression offends the sensibility of another person or group of people.
If you are offended by someone's speech - by his or her ideas or opinions, then you have the right to counter with more compelling speech, with better ideas, better opinions, better arguments. That's what you SHOULD do. This is what universities should be teaching our students. This is what they should be preparing them for. They shouldn't be teaching them to be emotional snowflakes and intellectual cowards.
As mentioned earlier, the standard by which we gauge how strongly we embrace our right of free speech is how well we safeguard and respect people's right to engage in unpopular speech. Judging according to this standard, today's college students have no respect for the First Amendment and would just as soon allow the right of free speech to be doomed..... except as it applies to themselves, of course.
I think we all need a refresher course on what Free Speech is and what the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of speech means. It secures a place not only in the Bill of Rights, but it is the subject of the very first of those essential amendments. The First Amendment's guarantee of free speech is about prohibiting the federal government - the government capable of consolidating and consuming the individual States - from passing any laws that affects or burdens an individual's freedom of speech and expression. Together with the guarantee of religious liberty, the First Amendment was added to the Constitution to prevent the government from establishing an absolute tyranny over the conscience and the thoughts and expression of We the People and our ability to comment critically on our government. Thought control and the control of information is the tool of a tyrannical government. Maximilien Robespierre, who manned the guillotine during the French Revolution, said: "The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant."
President Harry Truman spoke similar words in an address to Congress in 1950: ""Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear."
Tens of thousands of brave Americans, motivated by the words and sentiments expressed in the Declaration of Independence, fought and died to break the chains of British tyranny so that those sentiments could flourish here. These freedoms and these foundations are endangered when Americans are ignorant as to our founding and are otherwise unwilling to engage in the discussion necessary to keep our First Amendment vibrant and intact.
References:
Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township, 330 U.S. 1 (1947). Referenced at: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/330/1
Professor Daniel Dreiisbach, "Origins and Dangers of the Wall of Separation Between Church and State," Imprimis (Hillsdale College), Volume 35, Number 10 (Oct. 2006). Referenced at: https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/origins-and-dangers-of-the-wall-of-separation-between-church-and-state/
Bill Fortenberry, "What Did Jefferson Mean By the Phrase 'Wall of Separation'?" The Federalist Papers (blog), November 1, 2013. Referenced at: http://thefederalistpapers.org/current-events/what-did-jefferson-mean-by-the-phrase-wall-of-separation
Charles C. Cooke, "Howard Dean is Peddling Hate Speech Hogwash," The National Review, April 21, 2017. Referenced at: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/446941/howard-dean-hate-speech-not-protected-first-amendment
Dave Rubin, "Ann Coulter's 'Hate Speech' is Protected by the First Amendment, The Rubin Report. Referenced at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2Fm9z4LGDs
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