"Without free speech no search for truth is possible... no discovery of truth is useful.  Better a thousand fold abuse of free speech than denial of free speech.  The abuse dies in a day, but the denial slays the life of the people."

-- Charles Bradlaugh (1833-1891)

“The very purpose of the Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.”

West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, 638 (1943).