What is the significance of the First Amendment and Free Speech

significance is a complete understatement when speaking about the first amendment. The United States is one of the very few places who have the right to free speech. Take places like China, where many young kids never learn about the horrible things the world has done, or places in the middle east that must sneak around the web to try and fins information that is accurate and true. The first amendment allows some things that could be considered horrible such as burning the flag of the United States, or allowing Ku Klux Klan marches in Washington square, but what if we didn't have the first amendment? African Americans may not have rights if Martin Luther King was banned from peaceful protests or speaking out against the government. Women could have never left the home, and the country could have been driven by people like those Ku Klux Klan members who walk in Washington square without the choice to speak out against them. The first amendment allows each and every person the right to speak out against the government and against people. If we did not have the first amendment we may very well be a censored country. A country whose people only hear what the government wants them to hear. We may not have had progressive thinkers and promoters of freedom. Would we even have freedom? Maybe, but if we didn't no one would be able to say anything about it. The first amendment is the only thing standing in the way of silencing the people of this country.