ALl WE ARE SAYING IS GIVE SPEECH A CHANCE
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| Louis Farrakhan |
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| Ilhan Omar |
When our Founding Fathers met at the Constitutional convention in May of 1787 they were united in one goal. To create a government stable enough and strong enough to save the American Revolution that they had won on the battlefield in 1783. The revolution was in danger of collapse because of things like Shay's rebellion in Massachusetts and other political unrest caused by an economic depression, unstable currency and inflation. The Articles of Confederation were too ineffective. In order to make any decisions there had to be unanimous agreement from the 13 states. A negative vote of one state could nullify any government decision. The Founders met in Philadelphia with the intention of strengthening the Articles but not abolishing them altogether. The Virginia delegation had a different plan. They wanted to scrap the old government and create a new one. The Virginia plan would become the foundation of our present Constitution. Our government would be divided into three branches. A legislature, a strong chief executive and a judicial branch. George Washington was very much in favor of this plan, especially a strong executive because his army had nearly starved because of the weakness and incompetence of government during the American Revolution. In my view the Constitution would have never happened without his presence and participation.
Many of the delegates wanted a Bill of Rights. Only nine states would be needed to ratify the Constitution and not all 13 as was required under the Articles of Confederation. Rhode Island would not even send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. Many delegates insisted that the only way that they would ratify the Constitution was if a Bill of Rights was attached. The delegates like Washington, Madison and Adams would eventually be called Federalists.Their main interests was a new Constitution and a Bill of Rights was secondary. The Anti-Federalists like Thomas Jefferson and others emphasized a Bill of Rights. Madison would eventually come over to the Anti -Federalist side. Ultimately a Bill of Rights would be agreed upon. Many Founders believed that a document spelling out our fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the right to a speedy trial, the right to be tried by a jury of your peers and so on was not necessary. These rights were so ingrained in our thinking that there was no need to spell them out. Thank God that the Anti-Federalists won the argument on this issue because the Founders could not have foreseen the modern progressive or Marxist movement in America that has tried to remove these rights. They have had some success but their job would have been much easier if these rights were not spelled out on paper in our Bill of Rights. Especially in regard to the 2nd Amendment. It is no accident that the right to freedom of speech is first. It is our most important right. The 2nd Amendment was meant to guard the 1st Amendment and all subsequent amendments. The Bill of Rights tells the government what it can't do. The Constitution lets the government know what it can do but these powers are meant to be limited.
The Founders intended for all speech to be protected speech. Especially what we might call hate speech. There is a fine line between what is legal and illegal speech. If I shout fire in a crowded theater then you might be able to arrest me for that because I could be responsible for causing a panic in which people could be killed or injured. On the other hand if a person is standing in a public place and shouts that they hate Christianity they are exercising their right of free speech and should not be arrested. If that same person shouts that all Christians should be killed then they have crossed the line. This would go for any issues. A person should be able to use racial slurs or ethnic slurs without legal reprisal. I don't advocate for these things because they are hateful to me personally but they fall under free speech. The KKK, BLM, the Black Panthers, the Black Muslims, Joy Reid, Antifa, or the Neo Nazis should be able to spew as much hate as they want to as long as they are peaceful. I look at these groups and people like I would a rattlesnake. A rattlesnake has a rattler that will let you know where they are before you step on them. Why would we want these hate groups and hateful people to be silenced. By doing that you are not removing their fangs. You are only removing their rattler which makes them more dangerous. Yes, they will convert a few losers to their cause but most Americans are reasonable and we must trust their judgement. We saw this play out in the last presidential election. Because of access to alternative news sources the American people were much better informed and they made the right decision. The left was the side using horrible speech by calling Trump supporters garbage and Nazi's. They called Trump Hitler so much that people tried to kill him twice. Their hateful speech backfired on them and contributed to Trump's electoral landslide. They still haven't learned their lesson and continue with their hateful rhetoric.
Another limitation to free speech that many people do not understand is if you are on private property and say something that the owner doesn't like or are wearing a tee shirt for example with something written on them that the property owner considers offensive you can be asked to leave or remove the offensive article of clothing. If you don't comply you can be arrested for trespassing. Your 1st Amendment right still applies. You can't be arrested for your speech but you can be for trespassing. When I worked security at the mall a man was wearing a tee shirt the weekend after the Sandy Hook shooting that read, "Did Your Gun Kill A Kindergartner Today?" I had to ask him to leave the mall because the shirt was causing a disturbance. He refused to leave so I called the police and the man was arrested. If there had been no disturbance I would not have asked him to leave. I hated what was on his shirt but he was exercising his freedom of speech. We did have a dress code that said a customer could not wear clothing with profanity such as the F word, pornography, or nudity. Again, if the person refused to leave or caused a disturbance I would call police. The right of private property trumps speech that the property owner believes is offensive. The man who was arrested over the Sandy Hook shirt fought his conviction for over ten years but the court always backed the mall. The right of private property is as fundamental as the right of free speech.
The left has allowed some hate groups like Antifa and BLM to have free reign while at the same time falsely accusing normal everyday citizens of spewing hate. If you are a parent that wants to have a say in your child's education you are branded a terrorist and investigated by the FBI. Parents that want to control what their child is reading in the school library and who are opposed to the sexual indoctrination of their children. Parents who don't want their children indoctrinated with the transgender theology. Or the person that opposes homosexual marriage, open borders, abortion and the Covid shot. Under Joe Biden people lost their jobs for refusing to take the shot and people were arrested for praying in abortion clinics. People were arrested on January 6th and given long sentences for trespassing and they were accused of insurrection. The vast majority were simply exercising their 1st Amendment right of free speech. All speech, regardless of what side it comes from must be protected at all costs. There is no such thing as hate speech. There is only speech.
If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.
George Orwell
To suppress free speech is a double wrong. It violates the rights of the hearer as well as those of the speaker.
Frederick Douglass
I do not agree with what you have to say , but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.
Evelyn Beatrice Hall
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