HAVE WE EVER HAD TRULY FREE SPEECH IN AMERICA?

CONTENT WARNING - GRAPHIC IMAGES!

Had Enough? from PuppetGov on Vimeo.

So, what do you think? Outside of the obvious political bias, are most of these accusations true, in spirit if not in detail? Speaking just for myself, I think we've got a different team on the field but the rules are still the same. If a person says the wrong thing in the wrong way they are going to have problems.

Historically, this goes all the way back to the very first days of our Republic. The Alien and Sedition Act of 1798 resulted in the arrest of Benjamin Franklin's grandson Benjamin Franklin Bache, charged with libeling President Adams. During The Civil War President Lincoln suspended Habeas corpus (an option offered him in the Constitution). The Sedition Act of 1918 resulted in the imprisonment of Eugene V. Debs, 5 time Socialist Party Of America Presidential candidate, for making a speech against American involvement in WWI, along with hundreds of others.

If this is the case, have we ever had truly free speech in America? Has anything really changed? The Republic has survived these abuses, won't it survive today's?

Or is something different this time?