Speech, free and threatened

  Mark Tapscott at Washington Examiner has an article about Geert Wilders' fight for freedom in the Netherlands. Tapscott calls it a preview for things to come in America. Wilders' bravery is truly extraordinary; he joins the halls of courage with Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Pamela Geller. 
  Orianna Fallacci is another name, now from the past, of someone who warned and stood up for truth, regardless of the consequences. Here she is at Jihad Watch:

Moslem women rarely walk alone along the street. Generally they walk in groups, with their children, and with the husband who keeps three paces ahead to make it clear that he is the master and she must follow him. There are times when even girls who are students, the most progressive girls, do not evade this ruling. You can see them coming out of high school, muffled up like nuns, and they are girls who know all about Einstein or Leonardo da Vinci, but if you come too close or try to photograph them, they'll suddenly huddle together in a group, lowering their heads as sheep do when they're afraid.

  Are we doomed to come to this? 
  It is certainly true that every day conservatives are questioned about their beliefs, mocked and ridiculed.  In fact, Tapscott links to FIRE as proof that conservatives are particularly maligned at universities. Indeed, conservatives can't even mention they listen to Fox News without mockery by liberals. Can you as a conservative imagine mocking a liberal for watching MSNBC (as if there is a comparison..)?
  Can you imagine laughing at someone for that? Mystified, true. But never motivated to mock them for their news channel choice. Yet the White House is hounding the Fox News Channel, the citizens who watch it and the industries who advertise on it. Has there ever been in history an administration like this one.
  The Westboro Baptist "God Hates Fags" hate group protests soldiers' funerals. They're terrible people. The father of one of the soldiers has brought a case against them which has reached the Supreme Court.
  As awful as it is to consider, if we do not support the right of this terrible group to speak, we have to ask ourselves who will be next. 
  Will it be us? 
  A year or so ago, the Neo Nazis made a scene about marching in an inner city Toledo neighborhood. It cost the city a great deal, and it was embarrassing to be the focus of national coverage for such a thing as this.
  But most citizens supported (or didn't try to stop) their march. Not morally. Not politically. Not emotionally.
  Constitutionally, we supported them.
  Free speech, whether on the internet or in front of a courthouse or at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, is the bedrock of our republic.
  May it not be abridged by the censors in this White House.