Fight for free speech rights

Let this be a warning — I am an American and I will fight for our rights. America means freedom and as Americans we will stand up, we will speak out, we will not be silenced by those that try to corrupt what it means to be an American.

As Americans we have a duty, a right to speak our minds — to challenge, to disagree, even to disturb — is the lifeblood of freedom. That right is absolute. It will not be crushed by violence, stolen by government abuse, or bartered away to corporate cowards.

As Americans we stand shoulder to shoulder against anyone who dares to silence dissent. Free speech is not a gift for the comfortable; it is a weapon for the bold, the unpopular, and the defiant. If it only protected easy ideas, there would have been no need to carve it into the Constitution.

Free speech matters most when it is dangerous to those in power. It matters most when it unsettles, when it exposes, when it shakes the walls of those who demand silence. That is freedom — and we will not yield. As Americans we definitely have a duty not to be silent. We will not bow down to any petty, insecure populace or would be king. We will fight for our rights because we are Americans!

Joel Wells

Iowa City