April 26, 2017

Freedom of Speech

By Tammy Derouin

Americans are calling for violence against Americans because of differences in beliefs. Lack of education and an understanding of our founding principles, our founding documents, are the root cause of our misguided journey.

The Left is attempting to redefine our God-given rights. Anyone who does not agree with the rhetoric being churned and spun is labeled X, Y, or Z. Freedom of speech, expression, the ability to decide what you believe, including religion, are all under attack, but only if you do not share the current Left-wing liberal agenda.

If you fall in line with the Left and the belief that your rights are protected but anyone who disagrees with you doesn't have a right to be heard, you do not believe in freedom of speech. How would you feel if you were being silenced for disagreeing with a political agenda or a theory? When we do not learn from past mistakes, history repeats. When the rule of man replaces the rule of law, your rights are subject to change.

The Left is heavily armed. They will wreck havoc on any issue or person which stands in their way. Truth and facts are irrelevant. If there's an inconvenient truth, they change it. They light a match, stoke the fire and then use the heat, the mayhem they create, to reshape the facts closer to their desired truth.

All you have to do is look at the college campuses across the country to see how off kilter we are as a nation. Students from days gone by once championed free speech and expression. Yesterday's students have become today's radical leaders. They attempt to silence anyone that doesn't agree with them. Yesterday's students demanded that they be heard. Today's students are being used to spread hate, fear and to shut down anyone that doesn't agree with their agenda.

Everyone is entitled to their opinions and beliefs. It doesn't matter how ill conceived, far fetched or just plain crazy they may sound to someone else. You may attempt to persuade others to change their beliefs. Of course, that means freedom of speech. You do not have the right to violate someone's rights by forcing your beliefs on them. And yet, in today's America, we are witnessing a growing assault on Americans, by Americans, for simply refusing to think as a liberal. Independent thought is under attack.

With freedom comes responsibility. The Constitution was written for a moral and just society. When we ignore our responsibilities and lose our moral compass we allow evil to take root. Such negligence results in the belief that a difference of opinion is hate speech or that a disagreement in lifestyle choices is hatred and intolerance. Each individual has the right to express themselves. But you do not have the right to force your beliefs on others.

The Constitution does not protect you from being offended. That is the beauty of free speech. Besides, I would rather know up front, the ideology I'm dealing with than have it sneak in the back door, masked as a wolf in sheep's clothing. So even though those genitalia hats are offensive to me, keep wearing them! It's your Constitutional right. It is also my Constitutional right to disagree with the message and laugh at such foolish behavior.

There will always be those looking to strip you of your freedoms. If a society begins to show they cannot handle freedom, regulations and restrictions are added. Those who desire to remove your freedom, both foreign and domestic, will work their way into society, establishing themselves as legitimate or non-threatening. It is impossible to coexist with those who want to destroy you.

We have become so passive over the past several years that we have allowed our enemies to dictate our future. Our enemies play upon the goodness of Americans. We must stand up against those who wish to destroy us. The militant left, our domestic enemy, is trying to fundamentally transform America by removing our freedoms and creating an all powerful centralized government. Our foreign enemies, such as ISIS, is trying to fundamentally transform America by forcing their beliefs on us. By allowing them special rights, we are allowing our freedoms to be destroyed as they attempt to establish an all powerful centralized government; a caliphate and Sharia Law. History tells the truth.

When we do not understand our founding principles and the documents which identify and proclaim who we are and what we believe, we become lost. If you have never been taught the value of your rights and freedoms and that as Americans we are the exception among nations, it is easy to give such freedoms and rights away. Many will not even realize that they betrayed themselves until it's too late.

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

John Adams