"... a citizenry that can't think for itself is a citizenry that will neither rebel against the government's dictates nor revolt against the government's tyranny."

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COMMENTS: 
*  ... Two points I want to make. The first is: The 2nd amendment is what enforces the 1st amendment. If the government gets tyrannical and stifles free speech then it's time to revolt. Citizens having guns keeps the politicians honest.  2nd point is: A lot of the political correctness comes from the media demanding political correctness. The irony of that is they are whittling away their own free speech!
   *  Thus taking away the peoples 2nd Amendment Rights will take away the 1st Amendment...and in turn the rest of the Constution will go away. It's a slow, creeping, incremental process that has been going on a long time...just like a deadly disease. ...
*  Unfortunately its not just our government who is pushing this crazy political correctness - its us. Its the voters, the bloggers, the activists, there is an potent force in our culture that passionately wants political correctness to take over. Because the alternative is common sense, morality and reason. And we cant have that.
*  "The Supreme Court is not going to be swayed by you or me or Harold Hodge." Very true, but you can bet your bippy they'll be swayed by corporate America.
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Sheep Led to the Slaughter: The Muzzling of Free Speech in America
By John W. Whitehead, September 3, 2015

"If the freedom of speech be taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter."--George Washington

The architects of the American police state must think we're idiots.

With every passing day, we're being moved further down the road towards a totalitarian society characterized by government censorship, violence, corruption, hypocrisy and intolerance, all packaged for our supposed benefit in the Orwellian doublespeak of national security, tolerance and so-called "government speech."

Consider, if you will, that the U.S. Supreme Court has declared that citizens can exercise their right to free speech everywhere it's lawful--online, in social media, on a public sidewalk, etc.--as long as they don't do so in front of the Court itself.

What is the rationale for upholding this ban on expressive activity on the Supreme Court plaza?

"Allowing demonstrations directed at the Court, on the Court's own front terrace, would tend to yield the...impression...of a Court engaged with -- and potentially vulnerable to -- outside entreaties by the public."

Translation: The appellate court that issued that particular ruling in Hodge v. Talkin actually wants us to believe that the Court is so impressionable that the justices could be swayed by the sight of a single man, civil rights activist Harold Hodge, standing alone and silent in the snow in a 20,000 square-foot space in front of the Supreme Court building wearing a small sign protesting the police state.

My friends, we're being played for fools.

The Supreme Court is not going to be swayed by you or me or Harold Hodge.

For that matter, the justices--all of whom hail from one of two Ivy League schools (Harvard or Yale) and most of whom are now millionaires and enjoy such rarefied privileges as lifetime employment, security details, ample vacations and travel perks--are anything but impartial.

If they are partial, it is to those with whom they are on intimate terms: with Corporate America and the governmental elite who answer to them and have access to them.

To suggest that Harold Hodge is a threat to the Court's neutrality while their dalliances with Corporate America is not is utter hypocrisy.

Making matters worse, the Supreme Court has the effrontery to suggest that the government can discriminate freely against First Amendment activity that takes place within a government forum. Justifying such discrimination as "government speech," the Court ruled that the Texas Dept. of Motor Vehicles could refuse to issue specialty license plate designs featuring a Confederate battle flag because it was offensive.

If it were just the courts suppressing free speech, that would be one thing to worry about, but First Amendment activities are being pummeled, punched, kicked, choked, chained and generally gagged all across the country.

The reasons for such censorship vary widely from political correctness, safety concerns and bullying to national security and hate crimes, but the end result remains the same: the complete eradication of what Benjamin Franklin referred to as the "principal pillar of a free government."

Officials at the University of Tennessee, for instance, recently introduced an Orwellian policy that would prohibit students from using gender specific pronouns and be more inclusive by using gender "neutral" pronouns such as ze, hir, zir, xe, xem and xyr, rather than he, she, him or her.

What we are witnessing is an environment in which political correctness has given rise to "vindictive protectiveness," a term coined by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt and educational First Amendment activist Greg Lukianoff. It refers to a society in which "everyone must think twice before speaking up, lest they face charges of insensitivity, aggression or worse."

This is particularly evident in the public schools where students are insulated from anything--words, ideas and images--that might create unease or offense. For instance, the thought police at schools in Charleston, South Carolina, have instituted a ban on displaying the Confederate flag on clothing, jewelry and even cars on campus.

Added to this is a growing list of programs, policies, laws and cultural taboos that defy the First Amendment's safeguards for expressive speech and activity. Free speech zones, bubble zones, trespass zones, anti-bullying legislation, zero tolerance policies, hate crime laws and a host of other legalistic maladies dreamed up by politicians and prosecutors have conspired to corrode our core freedoms.

As a result, we are no longer a nation of constitutional purists for whom the Bill of Rights serves as the ultimate authority. As I make clear in my book Battlefield America: The War on the American People, we have litigated and legislated our way into a new governmental framework where the dictates of petty bureaucrats carry greater weight than the inalienable rights of the citizenry.

It may seem trivial to be debating the merits of free speech at a time when unarmed citizens are being shot, stripped, searched, choked, beaten and tasered by police for little more than daring to frown, smile, question, challenge an order, or just breathe.

However, while the First Amendment provides no tangible protection against a gun wielded by a government agent, nor will it save you from being wrongly arrested or illegally searched, or having your property seized in order to fatten the wallets of government agencies, without the First Amendment, we are utterly helpless.

It's not just about the right to speak freely, or pray freely, or assemble freely, or petition the government for a redress of grievances, or have a free press. The unspoken freedom enshrined in the First Amendment is the right to think freely and openly debate issues without being muzzled or treated like a criminal.

Just as surveillance has been shown to "stifle and smother dissent, keeping a populace cowed by fear," government censorship gives rise to self-censorship, breeds compliance and makes independent thought all but impossible.

In the end, censorship and political correctness not only produce people that cannot speak for themselves but also people who cannot think for themselves. And a citizenry that can't think for itself is a citizenry that will neither rebel against the government's dictates nor revolt against the government's tyranny.

The end result: a nation of sheep who willingly line up for the slaughterhouse.

The cluttered cultural American landscape today is one in which people are so distracted by the military-surveillance-entertainment complex that critical thinkers are in the minority and frank, unfiltered, uncensored speech is considered uncivil, uncouth and unacceptable.

That's the point, of course.

The architects, engineers and lever-pullers who run the American police state want us to remain deaf, dumb and silent. They want our children raised on a vapid diet of utter nonsense, where common sense is in short supply and the only viewpoint that matters is the government's.

We are becoming a nation of idiots, encouraged to spout political drivel and little else.

If George Orwell envisioned the future as a boot stamping on a human face, a fair representation of our present day might well be a muzzle on that same human face.

Thus, if we're to have any hope for the future, it will rest with those ill-mannered, bad-tempered, uncivil, discourteous few who are disenchanted enough with the status quo to tell the government to go to hell using every nonviolent means available.
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