WHEN FREE SPEECH BECOMES CARE-FREE WE ALL LOSE

In societies that pride themselves with the right to free speech, the right itself doesn't automatically make you right. To test the premise, listen a few hours to the ramblings of the free-speechers in any ballpark or corner saloon. In principle, free speech is indispensable to a free society; at the same time, care-free speech is not.

When push comes to shove, we all understand what prompts our speech. Our Values! Those everyday principles and passions we hold most dear. Our Values are the prism through which we understand our world. Which is why the very same set of facts put before ten citizens will likely be seen in ten different ways.

Examples abound. Just two will do.

* The chatter of free speech that accompanies any presidential decision to take military action ~ Pearl Harbor made WWII an easy call. Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and now Libya are far less easy. But here's the thing today's generations have little experience with. That long-embraced Value: "Politics ends at the shoreline." Any decision to commit American forces demands debate; but once made, needs support. Sitting in those bleachers, in those saloons, in the other party, or on the talk-shows can be valuable dialog until it becomes divisive ranting.

Which is where this Value thing crowds into the frame. If we value collective success, we need to give collective support. Ask any solder in any war zone or any commander-in-chief in charge. But, in contrast to other times, today most free-speechers have little palpable contact with these life-and-death decisions. Rather than the nationwide rallies and blood-drives of the past, more likely there are nationwide grumblings and protest-marches.

Finding the right balance between being right and being loyal is never easy. But at the very least, you have to value a balanced society in contrast to just a loud one.

* Then there is the chatter of free speech that accompanies any look at any entitlement program ~ Medicare and Medicaid were initially heralded as the actions of a caring society. They were seen as a manifestation of what is best in democracy -- the common welfare. Over time, though, many today have lost sight of the Value of valuing human life. And so it is that any debates about entitlements now begin with the figures, rarely the feelings.

No one can deny the soaring costs and terrible flaws. Yet how can anyone ignore the obligation of a righteous society to meet he righteous needs of its people? Tanks, bombers, missiles -- no argument! How then can there be so many arguments over lives, medicines, care? Most speakers speak against government waste, but when pressed many are found to be actually speaking against government commitments.

Once again, an invitation (obligation?) to use the right of free speech not only to vent what is wrong with us, but to vindicate what is best about us.