Dick Gephardt Quotes

Do we really want the FCC to conduct investigations and issue warnings to radio talk show hosts nationwide who simply discuss the important issues of our time? The Constitution says 'freedom of speech,' not 'freedom of government-approved fair speech in rationed amounts.'

A nice, easy place for freedom of speech to be eroded is comics, because comics are a natural target whenever an election comes up.

The right to discuss freely and openly, by speech, by the press, by the pen, all political questions, and to examine and animadvert upon all political institutions ... [is] a right as clear and certain, so interwoven with our other liberties, so necessary, in fact to their existence, that without is we must fall at once into despotism and anarchy.

You ought not in a free country to lay a tax on the expression of political opinion.

If you care for the quality of life in our American democracy, then you have to be for censorship.

Free speech is the foundation of an open and liberal democracy from college campuses to the White House.

I can't emphasize how important free speech is to a liberal and free democracy.

The right to free speech is critical to our democracy.

While people can differ on the issues, no one should seek to discourage freedom of speech.

We need a free media, not just freedom of speech.

I try to do that in this book without preaching - to try to do as you just said that you really have to defend the First Amendment rights of everybody.

I think that, as Americans, we should never forget that when we tamper with freedom of speech, it is a very sensitive issue that affects all of our constitutional rights and privileges.

The current total of countries in the world with First Amendments is one. You have guaranteed freedom of speech. Other countries don't have that.

When I began we did not really have a lot of First Amendment law. It is really surprising to think of it this way, but a lot of the law - most of the law that relates to the First Amendment freedom of the press in America - is really within living memory.

I believe in freedom of speech, but I believe we should also have the right to comment on freedom of speech.

Freedom of the press is not an end in itself but a means to the end of achieving a free society.

There is no reason for the government to limit political speech.

Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

The Libertarian position on the freedom of speech is a strong support of freedom of speech, and we oppose government intervention in controlling what is or is not moral.

In Canada we respect freedom of speech but we do not worship it.

An unconditional right to say what one pleases about public affairs is what I consider to be the minimum guarantee of the 1st Amendment.

A free press can of course be good or bad, but most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad.

Freedom of the press and a free society either prosper together or perish together.

It's very difficult to have just a little bit of censorship.

Where there is official censorship it is a sign that speech is serious.