Freedom of Speech - to be continued

 The duality in the u.s.ofa. is always jarring, at best, but the whole treasured - even flaunted-in-the-face-of other countries - notion that we have freedom of speech is yet another beyond mindbogglingly contradiction of life in this country.

Think about it.

I hear so often things like "I can't say what I think, I'll lose my job." "If I put a bumper sticker on my vehicle, it will get vandalized." "If I put a sign in my yard, my neighbors will take it down." "If I say what I believe, my parents will disown me, my friends will desert me, my family will be angry with me."

So even before we test the boundaries of freedom of speech, our fear of consequences to speaking freely often stop us. Why? If we REALLY believed we have freedom of speech, how dare we not speak? 

Ok so there is a valid concern in the risk we take to speak. Let's take employers. People fear losing their jobs, getting fired over say going to a protest, etc. The thing is, IF we believe we have freedom of speech, and IF we know we have a constitution and Bill of Rights protecting that freedom, why do we stop ourselves before our employer attempts to stop us?

There's only one group of people in the u.s.ofa. who give up their constitutional rights when working for this entity, and that is the military.