Warning your Freedom of speech is in Jeopardy!
Wow less than 30 days until my wedding May is already here. And I want to share with you something that is dear to my heart and has stood out to me as an important subject to address in this month’s blog article
Warning your Freedom of speech is in Jeopardy!
I’m not a basketball fan. I grew up with the San Diego Padres so I like baseball, but would not really call myself a technical fan of that sport either. So this is not about sports.
What it is about is the rights afforded ALL Americans by the Construction and the Bill of Rights
I am a Patriot Constitutionalist, and I am not happy when I see anyone’s rights endangered or outright removed from them because they exercised their liberty of free speech, no matter how vile their speech may be.
And the Clipper’s owner Donald Sterling no matter what, he has that same rights, whether in his home or on the street. And the fact he was, in his own home even makes this witch hunt more dangerous to us all. So just who dictates proper speech, thoughts and ideas?
You, me? The Government, the press? Who?
The First Amendment should protect his, yours and my free speech. EVERY American’s right to speak freely. It makes no difference if it reprehensible or not. Our Founders put that provision into the Bill of Rights to protect not just the civility or widely held opinions as to what decent people may say, but to protect the speech that may not support all our views or is downright distainable and far from most peoples opinion. Why? Because they knew as do I that as long as our speech is not restricted, edited or prohibited no matter what manner it is spoken in or words that are chosen- so are our very liberties as a society also secure and when the rights of others, including people who speak with ignorance and spew opinions that are not shared by most, it only serves to shine a spotlight on them and it is not going to show them in a good light. But still is their right, it is your right, it is my right, it is EVERY Citizens right to speak to feel to express those beliefs no matter what they are, without fear of repercussion.
For when we deny that right to even the most unsavory of us, we all lose.
Would you not want your rights stood up for no matter how others felt about you personally or liked what you said? Would you not do the same for someone else? Should you? Freedom is messy it is not always pretty it is NEVER safe, but it is worth dying over and it does have a cost and for some of us it is just our sensibilities.
So as long as Mr. Sterling’s words are just words not actions that infringe on anyone else’s rights as his rights like every American’s end where anothers begins, so he cannot put his hateful rhetoric into deeds. But he should be free to feel as he wants and verbally express those feelings. And the outcry should not be for his bigotry, but for the evasion of his privacy and the breaking of CA recording laws then the sale of that ill-gotten property as it could happen to you. Do you want to feel safe to speak not even on the street or in public, but within your own home? Worry over a joke or a comment you make to a spouse or a friend? Take even one of our citizen’s rights away, matters not their words; and that is the start. Unchecked, they come for all freedoms.
My mom gave me an Ann Landers column when I was a girl I still have that browned little clipping and I still live by it. The article was not complete as I found out later in life but because it was what I knew at the time it is how I gage everything as far as our freedoms and the letter in her column started out First they came for the Jews but I did not speak out for I was not Jewish.
From my clipping:
First they came for the Jews
But I did not speak out–because I was not Jewish
Then they came for the trade unionists
But I did not speak out–because I was not a trade
unionist.
Then they came for the Catholics
But I did not speak out—because I was not Catholic
Then they came for me-
But there was no one left to speak out for anybody.
This is the original quote in its entirety
“First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade
unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn’t speak out because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Catholics,
and I didn’t speak out because I was not a Catholic.
Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.”
― Martin Niemöller
It does not take much to turn the words above into a loss of all our freedoms, but the big one is allowing any freedom to slip away be it for political correctness, fear that others will think you share the opinions of those you stand up for, or for safety.
I love Ben Franklin and this quote:
“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
So never trade your rights or freedoms for any reason as they can never be regained without bloodshed once relinquished either surrendered by force, intimidation, by persuasion, ignorance or for voluntary reasons like I stated above. Such Freedoms as our Constitution species can only be repurchased when stolen away or taken with trickery, by the same means that they were originally acquired by our Founders.
If Mr. Sterling did indeed sign some type of morals clause with his basketball organization that allow them to impose sanctions, fines or punish him in some way, then that is totally legal and has nothing to do with free speech. However the vilifying by the media and government officials condemning Mr. Sterling’s comments as if they have a right to determine what can and cannot be said is setting up an environment where the thought police and PC policies outweigh the First Amendment.
That is a scary scenario!!!!
Let the court of public opinion determine his professional fate, and let his words magnify whom he is and you judge whether you would patronize his business or want to associate with him on a personal level, you not the media, not the government but you decide. And let his words lay there untouched unedited as an example to all of us that in America we do not censor speech we do not block the First Amendment no matter if we agree or not with what is said. We die for that very right, in the past, in the present, and in future lives are laid down for that right.
Let us honor that bloodshed and loss of treasure in which freedom has always been bought and stand up and defend even speech that reeks of prejudice and intolerance with our own tolerance and understanding of what we are defending is not Mr. Sterling’s words but his right to free speech.
I will leave you with Ben Franklin once more:
“Freedom of speech is a principal pillar of a free government; when this support is taken away, the constitution of a free society is dissolved, and tyranny is erected on its ruins.”
Remember Speech that is only permitted if it does not offend anyone is not free speech.
Please let me know what you think about this and any post; or if you have questions or comments on the entire site. And to leave feedback login with your social media to tell us what you think.
