“We stand for organized terror - this should be frankly admitted. Terror is an absolute necessity during times of revolution. Our aim is to fight against the enemies of the Soviet Government and of the new order of life. We judge quickly. In most cases only a day passes between the apprehension of the criminal and his sentence. When confronted with evidence criminals in almost every case confess; and what argument can have greater weight than a criminal's own confession.”
Felix Dzerzhinsky
On July 9, 1722 the New England Courant published a letter from Silence Dogood. The letter stated in part:
“Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech; which is the Right of every Man, as far as by it, he does not hurt or controul the Right of another: And this is the only Check it ought to suffer, and the only Bounds it ought to know.
“This sacred Privilege is so essential to free Governments, that the Security of Property, and the Freedom of Speech always go together; and in those wretched Countries where a Man cannot call his Tongue his own, he can scarce call any Thing else his own.”
Silence Dogood was the pen name Benjamin Franklin used for a series of letters that he wrote. Franklin outlines the importance of freedom of speech above. If freedom of speech is curtailed it is only a matter of time before every other right will be taken as well. In the letter Franklin continued by saying:
“The best ...
