Pastor Michael Salman was arrested for holding Bible studies in his home.
Kenneth Webber was fired from his job as a schoolbus driver for displaying a Confederate flag on the truck he uses to drive from home to school and back.
Fred Marlow was arrested for filming a SWAT team raid that took place across from his apartment.
And then there were the three California high school public school students who were ordered to turn their American flag t-shirts inside out on May 5 (Cinco de Mayo) because school officials were afraid it might cause a disruption and/or offend Hispanic students.
While there are all kinds of labels being put on so-called "unacceptable" speech today, from calling it politically incorrect and hate speech to offensive and dangerous speech, the real message being conveyed is that Americans don't have a right to express themselves if what they are saying is unpopular, controversial or at odds with what the government determines to be acceptable.
What we're seeing is the caging of free speech and the asphyxiation of the First Amendment.
Long before the menace of the police state, with its roadside strip searches, surveillance drones, and SWAT team raids, it was our First Amendment rights that were being battered by political correctness, hate crime legislation, the war on terror and every other thinly veiled rationale used to justify censoring our free speech rights.
By suppressing free speech, the government is contributing to a growing underclass of Americans who are being told that they can't take part in American public life unless they "fit in." Mind you, it won't be long before anyone who believes in holding the government accountable to respecting our rights and abiding by the rule of law is labeled an "extremist" and is relegated to an underclass that doesn't fit in and must be watched all the time.
It doesn't matter how much money you make, what politics you subscribe to, or what God you worship: we are all potential suspects, terrorists and lawbreakers in the eyes of the government.
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