Why free speech ?

     The good citizen must ask : why freedom of speech ? Was this just a magnanimous inspiration of the Founding Fathers ? There was much " free speech " in the Golden Age of Athenian democracy-but not for slaves. There was much " free speech " in the Roman Republic -but not for the slaves nor much for the property-less plebians.
There is still much " free speech " in America-for those who can buy it or own news media. The Internet is an immense boon to really FREE " free speech " for common people.
But still, WHY free speech ? Look to the world of Science: only a free flow of ideas and information can feed progress and relative-if not absolute - truth.
The human mind can be changed-and so can " human nature ". For millions of years it was nothing but hopeless MONKEY NATURE.
It took an impish-not a chimpish- human mind to invent Money & Capitalism. But that is not the end of the story.
Only FREE SPEECH can protect the truth.