Free Speech is Good Because..

Great article SGT (Join to see), and I 100% agree (Note: It is completely non-partisan and focused only on the Freedom of Speech). A few of my favorite parts of the piece:

• I believe in free speech because I believe in free thought. I don’t have the right to tell you what to think.
• I believe in free speech even if it hurts our feelings. I believe in free speech even if it frightens us.
• Free speech causes problems but suppressing free speech causes more problems than it solves. More people are hurt and frightened when speech is censored or suppressed.
• The problem with restricting speech is that the editors become the next tyrants. There are always people in power who want to mold our thoughts to their view. The elites have the most to gain by controlling the gatekeeps of the accepted truth, the official story. That is always dangerous for us.
• Take this to the extreme, and I believe in free speech even if what you say or what I say is a lie. It might be an inadvertent lie or it could be a deliberate lie, and I still support free speech. It could be a lie because the statement was not properly qualified, or it could be a lie because it was deliberately intended to misinform and mislead. The antidote to a lie is not to suppress speech, but to burry the lie with truth.
• The politicians fear our freedom of speech because it could shine a light on their dirty dealings. The bureaucrats don’t like our freedom of speech because anyone and everyone has the power to highlight their failings. The elites don’t like this torrent of information because they can’t bend it to their purpose. The official journalists don’t like our freedom because it threatens their position as the one source of “truth.”

What I've found over time is that rarely is one person or one side entirely wrong or entirely right. Only by encouraging and supporting free speech and exchange of ideas will we come up with best solutions and positions that are worthy of implementation.