A Further Note

The more I think about my last post, the more I am puzzled by the Left's logic when it comes to free speech. Think about it; when you break it down, religion is just one type of philosophy, but it is the only specifically named philosophy protected by the Constitution. For that to somehow mean that it has fewer protections than any other philosophy is illogical.

A teacher in school who promotes a secular philosophy is given all kinds of protections to promote their viewpoint. Okay, that's fine; they have freedom of speech. I get that. My question is how then can they be restricted just because the philosophy in question is religious? Teachers have the same freedom of speech that the secularist enjoys as well as the specifically stated freedom of religion.

The only answer I have ever heard is that by allowing religious viewpoints, it somehow possibly demeans a minority viewpoint that is not religious; that it violates a "right not to be offended". But this answer doesn't make sense. The Pro-Choice crowd is always screaming how their viewpoint is the majority, so why don't they advocate censoring the Pro-Choice viewpoint to avoid offending someone with a Pro-Life viewpoint?

And if it is a matter of a mythical "freedom not to be offended" then how come this right is only exercised against the freedom of religion? That is, why isn't it invoked with it comes to freedom of speech, or press, or assembly?

For too long the Left has taken the good intentions of the American people and tied them with their own noose. The American people don't mind allowing divergent viewpoints; in fact, we thrive on them. But to use that as a basis to censor the majority runs specifically counter to the American way of life. More on this later; I'm not through with this topic yet.

Federal Funding and Speech Rights

I wonder how Planned Parenthood can officially support a political candidate while receiving tax dollars but somehow churches can't...

If the premise is that by receiving a tax exempt status you are somehow forfeiting your right to free speech then how can an organization who not only gets a tax exempt status but also federal funding get to endorse whomever they wish?

And how about teachers? Can someone tell me where they give up their freedom of speech? Granted, if you're a liberal teacher you can talk all day about whatever philosophy you want, but if a conservative teacher talks about a religious philosophy then it is somehow restricted?

And a student can't mention the name of Jesus in a public speech?

This is a great setup if you're liberal. You get to censor - at a local and federal level - speech with which you disagree. But like most liberal conveniences, there is always a dark side. Once it has been established that it is okay to censor speech that is inconvenient, how do you stop the Federal Government from expanding that power?

If free speech doesn't protect political speech, then it's useless and no citizen - liberal or conservative - has any political power.

Liberal vs. Conservative; It's Not What You Think

The two sides of the political spectrum are not "liberal" and "conservative" but "liberal" and "libertarian". It's pretty simple once you think about it.

You have the Constitution as it was written. There are only two ways to go from the Constitution:

1) If you support giving government MORE power than it Constitutionally is delegated, you are a LIBERAL.

2) If you support giving government LESS power than it Constitutionally is delegated, you are a LIBERTARIAN.

Conservatism is, BY DEFINITION, a belief in the status quo of the Constitution. Whether a specific candidate who CLAIMS to be conservative actually IS, is the subject for another time.

The EXTREMES on those two directions are that LIBERALS turn into TOTALITARIANS and LIBERTARIANS turn into ANARCHISTS. Here's a small chart that explains it: [LINK]

BTW, these stances are possibly regardless of support of a specific claim. For instance, if abortion was literally a Constitutional Right, then the Conservative position would be a Pro-Choice one.