(Todd A. Smith)
Almost 250 years after the founding of this great nation called the United States of America, it still amazes me how so few people understand the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech, expression, press and religion.
More pressing is the fact that some do not want free speech to apply to all Americans, preferring that only the people they agree with have the sacred right.
According to TheFIRE.org, “More than two-thirds of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track when it comes to free speech, according to new survey results from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression and the Polarization Research Lab at Dartmouth College.
“When asked about ‘whether people are able to freely express their views,’ 69% of respondents said things in America are heading in the wrong direction, compared to only 31% who believe that things are heading in the right direction.
“The poll also shows that only a quarter of Americans believe the right to freedom of speech is ‘very’ or ‘completely secure, and almost a third (29%) say it is not at all secure.”
However, what is most alarming is that a third of Democrats and a third of Republicans think that free speech has gone too far.
No matter how much I despise someone’s views, if they are not threatening someone or something, committing perjury, defaming someone or something like that, a person should have the freedom to express themselves freely.
I have heard many Democrats say that hate speech should not be protected.
And I have heard many Republicans say that if a person does not share their views, they should not have free speech rights, should not be able to vote and other ridiculous things.
And in that regard, people from both parties are in the wrong.
People are free to hate or dislike any person or group that they like.
As long as that hate does not become threatening or discriminatory in practice, a person should be free to be as ignorant as they want.
More importantly, too many on the left believe that certain strongly held beliefs like religious convictions amount to hate just because they do not share the same beliefs.
Furthermore, too many on the right have so much fear of the truth that they have infringed on people’s right to free speech by calling someone’s opinion woke or reverse racism.
Recently, an appeals court ruled that Florida’s “Stop Woke Act,” which would prohibit private businesses from addressing diversity and racial issues openly, unconstitutional because it violated people and companies’ free speech right.
One of the best things about listening to people from the other side of the political, racial and religious aisle is that their viewpoints often expose people to a way of thinking that they had never been exposed to.
That in turn should lead to some reassessment and growth if people are open to new ideas.
I recently got the opportunity to share the Gospel with an atheist that my family is cool with.
Hopefully, my testimony opened her eyes and heart a little.
But without free speech, I would not have been able to share my convictions with her.
Likewise, she would not be able to share her views with me, which should make me better equipped the next time I have a similar conversation with a nonbeliever.
Additionally, I recently had a conversation with a woman who said that she planned to vote for former President Donald Trump in November.
I explained to her that Trump’s threat to democracy prevented me from supporting him and his constant lies about election fraud continues to be a threat.
During the conversation, I got to explain to her the lies that some former news personalities on conservative cable television espoused, which led many of Trump’s supporters to believe the Big Lie.
And I told her that in order to overthrow an election, a candidate would need serious proof of fraud and not conspiracy theories and unsubstantiated claims.
In turn, she told me how she struggled financially under the administration of President Joe Biden because of inflation.
And I told her, I can understand a person voting against someone for that reason.
Although the conversation became passionate, it was respectful and hopefully educational to both of us.
That would not happen if America limited freedom of speech.
People from different backgrounds would probably find it harder to understand each other, which would make unity that much more difficult.
FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said, “The average American already thinks that free speech in America is in dire straits. Most worryingly, they think it will get worse. These findings should be a wake-up call for the nation to recommit to a vibrant free speech culture before it’s too late.”
PRL Director Sean Westwood said, “Polarization not only divides Americans on policy, but it fractures our assessments of the stability of the bedrock of our democracy. Nearly half of Democrats think free speech rights are headed in the right direction, compared to only 26 percent of Republicans. And more than a third of Republicans think the right to free speech is not secure, compared to only 17 percent of Democrats.”
But if America is to secure its democracy and what has made us great in the first place, Americans must be willing to agree to disagree on some of the most important issues of our day.
It has always been like that.
Hopefully, it will always be that way.
But it will not if we do not cherish the freedoms that have made us the greatest country on the planet.
