I find the whole argument laughable since only an idiot would think that they can say what they want without consequence, publically and privately.

I remember cases of citizens embarrassing or heckling a powerful senator or the President (Clinton in the case I'm thinking about) and being audited by the IRS for the next five years. That kind of "free" speech cost those folks a lot of worry and headaches.

And the authorities push the limits of the law...remember Ferguson where the police made the protesters constantly move because while they decided that there was a "right" to protest but not to rest.

A group goes to protest outside the publicly-financed office of an important congressman who is a tremendous dick. Suddenly the police "give" you your right but "for traffic safety reasons (never explained)" only small signs can be displayed and no amplified sound. Plus you have to stand on the other side of the road from the office in a little parking lot with no shade from the hot summer sun of So.Cal.. There's what your freedom of speech gets you.

We don't really have "free speech". Remember that asshole frat kid who sang a horrible song on video and then got ran off campus...before a hearing? Where's his free speech? How come a PUBLIC university can discipline students for free speech that's vile? Isn't that a punishment by the state for legal speech? That's not free speech if you ask me.

The idea of Free Speech was compromised from the very beginning here in the USA. Lots of anti-slavers got assaulted and a few killed by the agents of the propertied class. Motion Pictures were censored when certain topics like homosexuality were depicted in any way. Just like it never existed...give "The Celluloid Closet" a read. That was direct government censorship but no one thinks to mention it. It's as if someone wanted us all to forget all about it.

How many "communist" newspapers were shut-down? Where was the freedom of the people to start their own press?

I could go on and on. You get just as much "Free Speech" as they let you have. Just wait, as the internet becomes commercialized, you'll see independent "programming" disappear thanks to cushy government-corporate censorship as well as some made-up "cyber-threats" that mandate complete public registry of all internet users. There's always an excuse to curtail our Free Speech and giving it to corporations.