Free Speech

Yesterday's Supreme Court ruling that protected hateful protests at military funerals brought home the gravity of our first amendment.

A caller on NPR's Talk of the Nation named Brian, whose brother died in the war on terrorism, explained what free speech means to him. Members of the Westboro Baptist Church showed up at his brother's funeral, he told listeners, but "the counter-protest of over 400 people completely muted anything they had to say . . . While personally it was very distressing and personally they crossed the line, I know that my brother was defending the Constitution. . . and I believe we need to keep it intact."

I especially appreciate our nation's freedoms--those that we often take for granted--when someone like Brian articulates what's at stake.