"Free Speech for All?"
Freedom of speech is the most important freedom in the United States today. It is a first amendment right that each person should be able to espouse his/her point of view. As Americans, we often celebrate that right. But is there free speech for all?
It is true that each person can say or write whatever they want within the circumstances. But the circumstances sometimes limit that ability to speak one’s own mind. For example, this coming Sunday night is the Academy Awards in Hollywood, California. When each person accepts his/her award there is opportunity to speak, but there are rules for how long a speech should go and sometimes the orchestra drowns out the speaker in order to curb their speech.
Now some people are saying that there should be a curbing of what each winner says this year. Since the Academy of Arts and Sciences has largely progressive members, there is anxiety over the fact that award recipients will do “presidential or administration bashing.” Of particular concern is the administration’s recent decision to let the states decide the issue about restrooms for transgendered people. In advance, there have even been statements made that if when the first award recipient begins to espouse this type of point of view, they will immediately turn off the broadcast of the awards show.
It is obviously anyone’s right to decide what to watch or do within legal limits in a person’s own home. However, are not some people trying to do away with freedom of speech by threatening beforehand to not watch a show that gives out awards to people who are permitted to speak in response to receiving the award? What has happened to free speech for all?
If media outlets like Breitbart News, who now are listened to at the table of power, have been given permission to speak its mind over time, then certainly celebrities in Hollywood ought to have that right. It is also important that freedom be given to those who peacefully protest at any gathering like this. Freedom of speech for all people is a basic right given in our Bill of Rights.
The first amendment reads: “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.” Of course, Congress is the place that makes laws, not the executive branch. If there is some curtailing of freedom of speech, or any of the other freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, it is the Supreme Court, not the executive branch who ought to interpret whether this basic United States right is permitted.
I have been a pastor for thirty-eight years and I always am proud of the permission given at our congregational meetings for any person to have voice, even if they cannot vote. Sometimes, we have heard important things from youth who have not yet reached the specified age to vote or from a non-member who brings a point of view that only an outsider can bring. I think the same kind of important “voices” can be heard when we practice the first amendment right for all people.
If the United States is to continue to be a democracy, freedom of speech will be the most important right to protect. Our Founding Fathers, who came from being under the British monarchy, understood how important that right is to maintain. I trust the balance of powers in our three branches of government will maintain our basic rights during these next four years. Meanwhile, let’s allow citizens like Meryl Streep or Denzel Washington speak their mind! After all, in America we have the right to reject or accept what they say.
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