The first amendment, one of the most important building blocks of the foundation of the United States. It sickens me that it always seems to be under attack.

As citizens, the First Amendment guarantees us the right of freedom of speech, press, religion, petition and assembly. We can print what we want to print, say what we want to say, worship who we feel we should, gather in groups and write angry letters to the government if we want to.

I firmly agree with these rights, which is what makes me furious every time I see the first amendment being ignored, deliberately misinterpreted, and altogether broken on both the local and federal level. The freedom of speech seems to be one of the rights that are violated with frightening frequency.

French enlightenment writer Voltaire once said that, “I do not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” More and more, instead of defending our right to say what we want to, the government’s attitude has been more along the lines of, “Say what you want, but only if we agree with it.”  Courts and school boards have been ruling more and more in the favor of squelching anyone, everyone and anything that doesn’t support Obama’s administration and or a liberal agenda.

Reporter’s houses have been raided and notes pertaining to articles that would not be favorable to the government were confisticated; Harvard ( a very liberal college) is putting out students who actually believe and have stated in their papers that that the first amendment should be repealed, “because free speech threatens liberalism.” In California, a student with pro-life posters was assaulted by a staff member after refusing to take down their posters and quoting the campus free-speech policy. The student then had their posters ripped up, shoved multiple times against a wall, and shoved out of an elevator.

The problem is, people don’t seem to know how to use the freedom of speech. Some people have the mistaken belief that free speech also gives you protection of your opinion. No. You have the right to say anything you want, but every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and putting your opinion out there makes you free game to be disagreed with. If are disagreed with, then discuss differences-something we should have a right to. The founding fathers gave us the right to discuss our differences freely, and unfortunately, we have thrown that right into the trash in favor of shutting people down.

Our principles as a nation have been under attack, and we need to stop ourselves from sliding into a nation that is a cruel mockery of what we are supposed to be. Go ahead and disagree with me, go ahead and tell me, you have the right to do so.