Although I was a little girl during the height of the hippies the one thing I can remember was the saying "I may not agree with what you say but I will fight for your right to say it."Wow how far away from that idea have we come.
Lately I hear people being called all sorts of names because they do not hold the opinion of the right,left or middle.We seem to feel that freedom of speech encompasses freedom of speech as I feel is proper.Your speech,if it offends me, is wrong and you need to "sit down and shut up".
We are all entitled to speak our minds,that's what makes our country great,you do not need to agree with me and I do not need to agree with you but I do need to give you the respect your due as a fellow citizen.
The one thing our Fore Fathers stressed was the right of all people to be free,and let me tell you these guys had some pretty radical ideas for there times.They spoke against their king,protested,wrote letters and books and fought in skirmishes.
We tend to think our whole country was united in this war against England,they were not,many people sided with England and liked life the way it was.
We are a country of people who have spoken our minds since the beginning,be it radical or conservative, popular or unpopular,whether you ran for office or sat in a bar and voiced you grips.
In most respects you may say what you want like or dislike the government,love or hate the president and the beauty is you will not be arrested in the night by men in dark suits and thrown in prison for the rest of your life.
We need to allow our neighbors the freedom of expression that we ourselves would want.Of course with freedom of speech comes responsibility our words can not be used to incite hatred or pain on other groups.Those who live in glass houses need not throw stones.
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