Sunday, November 29, 2015

Freedom of Speech Doesn’t Mean “Free” Speech

The phrases “free speech” and “freedom of speech” are being used over and over as if they were interchangeable.  Yet they mean utterly different things.

The actual phrase “freedom of speech” is used in the First Amendment of the Constitution. See for yourself (with emphasis added):

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.

It is always important to remember that the Constitution of the United States is not a law written by the government to control and limit the activities of the citizens. That is exactly backwards. The Constitution was authorized and approved by the early American revolutionaries to limit and control the activities of the government itself. The First Amendment made clear that Congress cannot abridge the freedom of speech. Yet over and over again, it’s interpreted to be freedom from interference and abridgment of speech by someone who’s not in the government and does not represent the government.

http://canadafreepress.com/article/77102

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