Free to say whatever

1st Amendment

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech or of the press; wonderful in theory but not so much in practice.  How so, you might be asking yourself.  The 1^st Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees that we, as Americans, can say anything we want, about anyone we want, anytime we want as long as we are on US soil, right? 

Well, not so fast buddy. 

• Are we allowed to make racial slurs? 
• Are we allowed to make anti-Semitic slurs? 
• Are we allowed to make negative comments about our spouses on Facebook? 
• Are we allowed to make anti-President comments?
• Are we allowed to make negative comments about our bosses or about the companies at which we work?

That’s a negative my friend.  You can make comments, yes, but you must also be able to bear

witness to the consequences of those comments.  Case in point:  Rush Limbaugh.

But, despite what you may or may not think about Mr. Limbaugh and what he says or does not say, is his freedom of speech curtailed when advertisers pull their advertising in the hopes of silencing his comments (or censorship) through economic pressures of a loss of revenue.

In other words, one’s First Amendment rights when pertaining to the “free speech” clause, is only as good as the people’s tolerance and willingness to hear what it is that you want to say.

So, what’s the point of having this First Amendment if “work-rounds” can be executed to silence the speaker?

This is all’s I’m saying . . . unless, you want to exercise your right to silence my right.