The first amendment to the Constitution seems pretty straightforward:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or
of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition
the Government for a redress of
grievances.
This has given Americans the right to hold and express some pretty outrageous opinions, and more people from the fringes of both right and left seem to be taking advantage of this. It only becomes a problem when folks with opposing views choose to confront each other and counter-demonstrations lead to violence like we saw this past weekend.
This led me to a disturbing thought.
It is not something I'm advocating, just something that occurred to me -
The Supreme Court has ruled that the act of burning the American Flag is protected under the free speech portion of the first amendment. If the physical act of setting fire to a flag is "free speech," should the act of driving an automobile into a crowd expressing an opposing view be considered "free speech" as well?
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