I admire your willingness to admit how susceptible you are to being manipulated.
Your definition of the 'concept' of free speech is odd, though. Since I never received the official, importance-ordered list of it's 'tenets,' its likely I'm one of the unfortunate people who has forgotten which tops it, but I'm pretty sure the phrase 'necessary obligation of responsibility' appears nowhere within the 1st Amendment. I do know that the creators of this country considered criticism of the government necessary to the maintenance of democracy, and the protection from tyranny.
Despite your anecdotal allegations about past administrations, you won't find the phrase 'free speech zone' used before 2000, nor will you read stories of the Secret Service being used to to control the PR of a public event, at least since Nixon. The assessment that Bush isn't aware of what's happening is likely true, I doubt there's much he's all that aware of in general, but this administration is unreservedly seeking to curtail dissent in a frightening number of ways. We have Bursey's example simply because he had the guts not to put up with it. Is it wise to refuse the order of of a federal agent? Absolutely not. Is it wise to stand in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square?
Re: fascism
Your definition of the 'concept' of free speech is odd, though. Since I never received the official, importance-ordered list of it's 'tenets,' its likely I'm one of the unfortunate people who has forgotten which tops it, but I'm pretty sure the phrase 'necessary obligation of responsibility' appears nowhere within the 1st Amendment. I do know that the creators of this country considered criticism of the government necessary to the maintenance of democracy, and the protection from tyranny.
Despite your anecdotal allegations about past administrations, you won't find the phrase 'free speech zone' used before 2000, nor will you read stories of the Secret Service being used to to control the PR of a public event, at least since Nixon. The assessment that Bush isn't aware of what's happening is likely true, I doubt there's much he's all that aware of in general, but this administration is unreservedly seeking to curtail dissent in a frightening number of ways. We have Bursey's example simply because he had the guts not to put up with it. Is it wise to refuse the order of of a federal agent? Absolutely not. Is it wise to stand in front of a tank in Tiananmen Square?
Some additional context:
http://www.amconmag.com/12_15_03/feature.html (http://www.amconmag.com/12_15_03/feature.html)