Free Speech is Not Free

Free Speech is Not Free

We in the United States of America enjoy the blessing of free speech, along with a few other First Amendment protections that include the freedom to peaceably assemble, the free exercise of religion (along with a guarantee that the government will not establish a religion), the right to petition for a governmental redress of grievances, and of course a protection from infringement on the freedom of the press.  These freedoms were guaranteed as a result of oppressive practices by British occupational forces.  It is not at all improbable that these protections were listed first as an in-your-face statement to the King of England.

A lot of freedoms are covered in that First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  However, I am not convinced that those freedoms are free.  To the contrary, I believe that each comes at a cost.  The following is a list of a few of my thoughts about those rights.

One.  A significant amount of blood was spilled on this continent to put those freedoms, those founding principles into effect.  We had a longstanding disagreement with Mother England over these guarantees that ultimately led to the American Revolution.  Even after independence was won, it was not exactly secure as succeeding battles were fought to show that we as a nation would stand our ground against British rule.  When the dust settled, Great Britain became our closest ally in conflicts that, if lost, would take those freedoms away.

Two.  The limits of these freedoms have been tested and tried multiple times at great cost within our own court system.  Those freedoms have been defined and refined and are held sacred.  The area of speech has been particularly tested and as a result we know that we cannot yell “fire” in a crowded theater and fighting words are not protected (see Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 1942) nor can we use slanderous words against another person.  (Chaplinsky has been watered down some and more narrowly defined, but the basic principles in that case still apply.)

Three.  Free speech applies to government protection.  While you are generally free to say what you want in the public arena, there is no guarantee that you will be free to say what you want in my home, in a private assembly, or for that matter on my Facebook Timeline.  A family may establish a rule against profanity within the walls of the home, a church may require speaking in hushed tones within its sacred sanctuaries, and you or I can delete comments we find offensive that are posted by someone else on our timelines.

Four.  There are limits on speech in the public schools.  For example, school administrators may control what is advertised on bulletin boards and may direct that certain clothing be worn or not worn.  For example, school administrators may direct that T-shirts with writing or pictures on them may not be worn.  This is partially due to a principle known as en loco parentis, a concept that says that schools act in the stead or place of parents while the child is at school. Many of the limitations on speech are extended to private universities, not because of en loco parentis, but because of the nature of the institution.

Five.  Certain obscenity laws are consistently upheld as constitutional, in particular as these laws pertain to child pornography.

For many years police could arrest people for uttering the f-word in their presence or referring to them with that term or a term that would relate to the officer’s parentage.  Unfortunately, this is no longer the case.  Police are supposed to be able to take the heat.  I still wouldn’t recommend showing this kind of disrespect in some parts of the country.  “Curbside Justice” still rules in some jurisdictions.  There are exceptions to this general rule, but those are rare as is evidenced by the prolific use of that language in public.

Six.  Perhaps the greatest cost of free speech is the consequences of the exercise of that speech.  While we may be free to say what we wish, we are never free of its civil and social consequences.  Indeed, you may shout fire in the crowded theater, but you will be arrested.  If someone is maimed or killed in the panic that follows other prosecution may result.  Threatening the life of the President of the United States is a specific federal crime.  Additionally, there are social consequences.  Overt actions toward the commission of a crime such as battery will serve as grounds for arrest.  Saying something controversial or inflammatory may not lead to arrest, buy most likely will lead to criticism, verbal attack, and even shunning.  It may lead to exclusion to employment, reprimand and termination from employment, lack of invitations to participate in social events, and exclusion in certain social circles.  In sum, it can lead a person to feeling very alone, even ostracized.  While a person is free to speak out on any given topic, that person will never be free from the way others feel about that person.

Closely related to the freedom of speech is the freedom to peaceably assemble.  There are restrictions on assembly.  For example, anti-abortionists are free to picket abortion clinics, but cannot block the entry of others into that clinic nor can they destroy property.  Klansmen cannot interrupt the worship services of a black congregation.  Protestors cannot riot, break business windows, destroy private property, light buildings and cars on fire, jump up and down on police cars, block traffic, tear down statues and monuments, throw rocks at police or the focus of a protest and so forth, though it appears that protestors these days are able to get away with it.

The point is that referring to the First Amendment as freedom of speech may be a misnomer and misleading as there are indeed costs associated with speech and speaking freely may well land a person in civil and social trouble.  For those who don’t care, I suppose it doesn’t matter.

A Little About Me

I feel compelled to explain to you a little about me.  This is not a big reveal, but may put into context who I am, where I am in life, and maybe even the reasons for the things I say and do.

My parents came from small coal mining and farming communities in southwest central Indiana.  Mom graduated from high school with honors.  Dad has pretty much kept his high school record to himself.  If I am a reflection of his high school achievement I can understand why.  I know he was shy.  Both were Depression Era poor, but since they lived on farms and had work, they were better off than most during that period of time.

After high school, like so many of the Greatest Generation, Dad joined the Army prior to the United States full involvement in World War II.  He was in the Signal Corps, received the Purple Heart, and was honorably discharged as a sergeant.  Following the war in Europe he returned home on leave and married my mother before his departure to the South Pacific.  However, the war ended with Japan before he shipped out and he was then discharged.

Mom took on jobs with J.C. Penny and later at Sears and Roebuck, where she worked in their catalog department.  Dad first went to work at Camp Benjamin Harrison as a civilian attached to payroll and the VA Office.  They lived in a small apartment in Indianapolis and subsided on five-cent hamburgers from White Castle.  They were poor.

In time Dad took a job with the Chevrolet Truck Division where he worked until his retirement in 1975.  Mom did clerical work for Danner Brothers, a five and dime store chain in Indiana, and later with Huber, Hunt and Nichols, a large construction company, where she did clerical work there as well.

I was the oldest of three children.  A brother was born who lived less than a week.  My baby sister died at the age of two following surgery to correct a congenital heart defect.  Their world was devastated with the loss of both children.

I grew up eating ham and bean soup with cornbread and potato soup.  Dad worked part-time as a janitor in a doctor’s office to help pay off mounting medical bills.  Dad bought our first brand new assembly line car in 1960, a 1960 Chevrolet Biscayne.  A Biscayne was the lowest entry level vehicle into the Chevrolet family of cars.

Most people buy a home already constructed.  Many enter into 30-year mortgages and anchor themselves to payments for what may seem an eternity.  Those with a little better cash flow contract out the building of their homes.  Both Mom and Dad wanted a new home in a good area away from the influences of the city.  Dad purchased a parcel of land in White River Township in Johnson County, Indiana, where he built a three bedroom, single bath house by himself with occasional help from Mom and two brothers-in-law.  The plans for the single-story ranch style house came from a magazine.  While he built the house, we lived in trailer that today would be considered too small as a camping trailer.  It had a single bedroom for my parents and a fold-down couch for my bed.  The gas heater worked on occasion.

Though Mom worked at Sears at the time and had access to nice discounts, she hand-sewed many of my clothes in order to save money.

In short, as the saying goes, a penny never passed through my parents’ fingers without it crying for mercy.

My dad figured that when I graduated from high school that I would take a job with him at the factory or perhaps with my uncle on the railroad.  With my high school grades the way they were there was never hope for a scholarship.  I have a copy of my high school transcript and I wonder each time I look at it how I actually managed to graduate.  It was only natural for my father to conclude that I would join him on the assembly line…if I could get smart enough to find the front door.  I chose otherwise.

My life has been all about choices.  Some choices had to be made between the head and the heart.  Knowing the full well the consequences of those choices I often chose the heart first and returned to the heart later.

We have never been financially rich.  I could have gone to law school, but I chose another track.  We could have stopped having children after the first or second or third child, but we chose five.  I have been unemployed.  We have been penniless.  We were so poor that I did my own auto repair work on our kitchen table.  I built our first sofa, which promptly broke when three friends sat on it.  I was embarrassed to tears.  We ate a lot of tuna casserole.  If I never see another tuna casserole again in my life it will be too soon.  There were times when we did not know where the next meal would come from or how we would pay the next bill.  When I once got a hundred dollar a year raise I rejoiced with thankfulness and humility.

While this passed through our lives we looked for opportunities to change our situation a little at a time.  That was all we could afford.  Susan came from a large family and also learned early in life the value of a dollar.  We both applied the lessons learned from our parents.  There were two lessons in particular we learned.  First, don’t spend more than you earn and second, do not go into debt except for a house and maybe a car and possibly an education.  The second lesson was very much contingent upon the first lesson.

I returned to school and finished my undergraduate degree on the 14-year plan and debt free.  I should mention here that my first two years of college were as spectacular as my high school career.  I changed after that and graduated with my B.A. with honors and then graduated with a 4.0 in my graduate education.  I took on part-time work, overtime, and prepared to qualify for advancements.  Penny by penny we saved every dollar we could.  Those dollars frequently went to pay children’s medical bills, new tires, batteries, alternators, and such for the junk heaps we drove, and an occasional expedition to McDonald’s.  Like our parents, a penny never passed through our fingers without it crying for mercy.

So much of our lives are the consequence of circumstances.  We sometimes live in the wrong place, find ourselves trapped in a never-ending cycle of unfortunate tragedies and bad friends who take advantage of us, or ill health.  To suggest that our lives are controlled by our choices is an oversimplification.  The reality is that there are millions of people who are in poverty and will never get out no matter how hard they try.  Education is not the only answer.  I firmly believe, however, that we can all improve our lives.

We have tried to be frugal while at the same time sharing what we have with others.  Case in point, we did not buy our first home until we had been married over 25 years.  We saved and saved until we could make a substantial down payment so we could handle the monthly mortgage payments without abandoning other financial and personal commitments.  We will drive on a vacation rather than fly if we can save a hundred dollars by doing so.  Besides, we like the scenery much better at ground level than we do at 30,000 feet.

As far as careers go, I never made a whole lot of money.  We had sufficient for our needs.  What may have looked like pampering to others came as a result of years of saving, sacrificing, planning, and preparing.  We’ve been blessed by good health, honest friends, and many favorable circumstances, but after learning the hard lesson of what debt can do to a person, we avoided it at all costs.  Like my father before me, I buy low-end new cars and save money for years and years to buy a new living room suit.  (I’ve lost count of all the used clunkers we have owned.)  We are not wealthy.  We chose a different path.  We have sufficient for our needs and occasionally we have sufficient to share.

So, if you look at us and see financial wealth, don’t. What we have came at a painful price.  If you look at us and see poor circumstances, don’t.  We have sufficient for our needs and it also came at a painful price.

The wealth we have does not come with a price tag.