From time to time, I receive mail from a certain group of readers who are, for lack of a better phrase, "free speech challenged". How special is that?

I have several readers' letters here. Three of them are ranting that my editor should give me the boot for the position I take on immigration. In other words, their solution for someone who writes a different opinion than the one they hold is to deny the dissenter the portunity to express it. I would love to share these comments with you but the rantings to which I refer are so filled with such wonderfully dazzling expletives that I am certain my editor would not allow me to share them with you. Sigh.

There seems to be a growing movement in the "extreme right" of the political spectrum that free speech" is only speech which agrees with their beliefs. Most of the mail I get is from those who would say something similar to,

"Can't you shut a nutcase like this up and find someone else to write what "WE" want to read?"

Now, while I am totally defenseless in the charge of being a 'nutcase", as my dear wife and shrink could attest, I do take issue with what seems to be the popular notion emerging in America that someone with a dissenting viewpoint should be "shut up". And, by the way, most of these requests for suppressing my right to free expression seem to be coming from the political party to which I have belonged all my voting life-I am a Reagan and Bush Republican.

Lest you think that I am deepening my severe case of nuttiness, I will give you some great examples of the emerging suppression of free speech in America:

The Associated Press reported on August 23, 2005 that Conservative radio host Michael Graham was fired Monday by a Washington station after he refused to apologize for calling Islam "a terrorist organization". The man's claim that Islam is "a terrorist organization" is not proof of anything one way or the other. For his expression of an opinion, he lost his job.

I wrote an op-ed piece a while ago called, The Liberal Solution: Assault a Conservative. In that piece, I reported on two incidents involving two conservative speakers in which they were physically assaulted while speaking on-stage to a hostile liberal audience. In that piece, I asked whether this would be what we could come to expect of a liberal's ability to deal with a cogent argument. If you don't like what you hear then commit assault and battery on the speaker. Well, lo and behold, I guess I was prophetic. This behavior has escalated and reoccurred recently with conservative pundit Ann Coulter.

Political satirist Bill Maher was publicly skewered and lost his show ("Politically Incorrect").

The latest casualty in the "word witch-hunt" is University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill who likened some World Trade Center victims to Nazi bureaucrat Adolf Eichmann. He may lose his tenured position as a result.

Regardless of what you think of those on the "Left" or "Right" and what they say, shouldn't these folks be allowed to express a "viewpoint" without the fear of reprisals? I am not talking about someone taking them to task for the position they espouse. That's the whole "name of the game". If you express an opinion then expect to be challenged on that opinion. Nevertheless, there clearly is an emerging tendency in America NOT to engage in civil discourse but to resort to such extremes as committing physical assault or firing people from their jobs for the free expression of their viewpoints. This tendency, as examples show, has been going on for some time.

Examine the merits or demerits of their position but do not punish them for the expression of free speech. If the e-mail I get is any indication of what is happening in America, then America is up to its neck in deep trouble.

During World War I, Theodore Roosevelt said:

"To announce that there may be no criticism of the president or that we should stand by the president right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but morally treasonable to the American people."

An opinion worth having is one that can hold up in a free exchange of ideas!

Douglas Bower

Platform: The American Chronicle Syndicated Column ? articles have been viewed 79,875 times. Ezinearticles.com ? Articles have been viewed 53,211 times and syndicated via RSS feed 1,266 times. The total readership was accomplished in less than a year.

Doug Bower is a freelance writer, Syndicated Columnist, and book author. His most recent writing credits include The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Houston Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Transitions Abroad, International Living, and The Front Porch Syndicate. He is a columnist with The American Chronicle, Ezinearticles.com, Cricketsoda.com, and more than 21 additional online magazines. His column writing is a major platform from which to promote his books. His book, The Plain Truth about Living in Mexico, was released through Universal Publishers, an imprint of Brown Walker Press. His second book, Guanajuato, M?xico: Your Expat, Study Abroad, and Vacation Guide in the Land of Frogs will be released in the summer of 2006.