a beautiful quote!

I just remembered a beautiful quote that is very important to our rights as American citizens.

"I may vehemently disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Benjamin Franklin

The depth and reach of free speech rights have been debated since our country was founded. I fall strongly on the side of protecting free speech, as much as possible, without endangering the physical safety of people. There are many reasons for this, but I'll just put down some quotes that I think reflect my opinion on the matter.

"Every idea is an incitement. It offers itself for belief and if believed it is acted on unless some other belief outweighs it or some failure of energy stifles the movement at its birth. The only difference between the expression of an opinion and an incitement in the narrower sense is the speaker's enthusiasm for the result. Eloquence may set fire to reason. But whatever may be thought of the redundant discourse before us it had no chance of starting a present conflagration. If in the long run the beliefs expressed in proletarian dictatorship are destined to be accepted by the dominant forces of the community, the only meaning of free speech is that they should be given their chance and have their way." Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, dissenting opinion in Gitlow v. New York

"The constitutional right of free speech has been declared to be the same in peace and in war. In peace, too, men may differ widely as to what loyalty to our country demands; and an intolerant majority, swayed by passion or by fear, may be prone in the future, as it has often been in the past to stamp as disloyal opinions with which it disagrees. Convictions such as these, besides abridging freedom of speech, threaten freedom of thought and of belief." - Justice Louis Brandeis, Schaefer v. US

"Fear of serious injury cannot alone justify suppression of free speech and assembly. Men feared witches and burned women. It is the function of speech to free men from the bondage of irrational fears." - Justice Louis Brandeis, Whitney v. California