Thursday; March 7
When the United States amended the Constitution to include the freedom of speech it set in motion a process that would inevitably come to a head. Was all speech protected or is there some speech that is so blatantly bad that it wouldn’t be protected by this freedom? Throughout much of the 19th Century, the government was able to limit this liberty if the speech had a tendency to harm public welfare. As you might expect, this concept was vague enough to land it on the doorstep of the Supreme Court and in 1919, the justices ruled that about the only thing that could be used to silence public speech was if it posed a clear and present danger. Without getting too deeply into this debate, let’s just say that the concept of freedom of speech had a whole new lease on life! As we have moved into the 21st Century it seems that there is very little that can’t be said – either by, about or in front of the government! People feel free to say what they want. While this might be a nice liber