American exceptionalism, we have always heard about American exceptionalism. To be honest with you I never understood what that meant. What are we exceptional at? Sports? Are we exceptional because we produce the greatest athletes? Music? Are we exceptional because we produce the greatest musicians? Because we have the greatest Army in the world? Does that make us exceptional? I was told American exceptionalism is now based on Freedom, not truth and justice. Freedom of speech except for groups we don’t like. Freedom of religion except for those religions we don’t like. Freedom of love except only certain kinds. Is it only what we will accept, that is American exceptionalism now?

Time magazine published an article stating the United States has been added to the Global Human Rights Watchlist due to the decline of civil liberties. We are on the same watch list that those third-world countries are on that Trump called shithole countries.  I thought I would never see that in my lifetime. We were always the bastions of freedom or, at least, what we have always told the world. Was that always a lie? If our freedoms can be taken away by the stroke of a pen by who is president then we are not the home of the free. Our freedoms should be there for whoever is in office and should never be taken away.

Today many of our freedoms are under attack. The major one is the freedom of free speech. Today there is a permanent United States resident who has been jailed for participating in a Pro Palestinian protest. Mahmoud Khalil has been arrested and threatened with deportation for participating and, supposedly played a prominent role in a non-violent pro-Palestinian protest. Mahmoud is a student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and is married to an American citizen. There are no charges that he broke any law. The only thing he did was to say things that Trump didn’t like. Think about that for a minute. The man was not breaking any laws. The man was not adding a terrorist organization. The man was just standing up for the Palestinian people. I am a person who believes that Israel has a right to exist but I also believe that the Palestinian people have a right to exist and that genocide of any people is wrong. Trump also canceled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University over antisemitism allegations after those protests of students exercising their right to free speech. What is really happening is, Students are exercising their right to protest and the University is being punished for not taking away student's right to free speech. If there ever is a place for free speech it would be our Colleges and Universities.

It is no surprise the freedom of the press is under attack. The Trump administration and much of the Republican party don’t want the truth printed. The Associated Press is no longer able to attend news briefings at the White House. Why? Because they wouldn't call the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. That is an unjust reason and is an effort to control the press by threatening to make it so they can’t do their job. The press is supposed to be our window into the real workings of our government and Trump wants to restrict that window by controlling what a news organization informs the people. That was one of the reasons we rebelled against England in the first place.  When I heard that I opened up the app store on my phone and I downloaded the Associated Press app. Associated Press is where I go to first to get my news followed by PBS and then BBC. I read nothing from Fox News and very little from CNN. I want to be informed and not lied to.

Many of our basic freedoms are under attack but it all starts with Free Speech. You can’t have religious freedom if you don’t have free speech. That’s right. I am not a Christian and I shouldn’t be silenced by Christianity. Free Speech Christians think they have the right to control free speech because they are the loudest voice in the room. You have free speech when the quietest voice in the room carries the same weight as the loudest. If you think free speech gives you the right to post the Ten Commandments, I should have the same right to say why that is wrong. Without the separation of Church and State, free speech will not exist.

Trump decided that he hated Mexico and Mexicans so badly that he changed the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America and even made it sound patriotic instead of the hateful and bigoted thing it is. Bigotry stifles free speech a lot. The Defense Department has taken down all pictures of the plane that delivered the first atomic bomb. Why? The name of the plane is the Enola Gay. Of all the ridiculous homophobic things to do. Trying to eliminate words from the English language is a suppression of free speech and suppression of history. There should be no place for bigotry in our government but there is today,

We talk a lot about freedom but are we free if our freedoms are at the whim of the political party that is in charge at the time? Our freedoms should be absolute and not at the whims of a political party, the Supreme Court, or the church, any church.  One of the main functions of the Supreme Court is to ensure that our freedoms are not the target of whichever political party is in office and this is where the Supreme Court has failed the entire nation. It all starts with free speech but if you don’t believe in free speech then all the other freedoms are up for grabs.