Free speech should apply to everyone

First, let me state that I am not a Trump supporter. However, what was done to him in Chicago was appalling.

It was a deliberate violation of the First Amendment providing freedom of speech to everyone, not just to those whose ideas and thoughts correspond to your own. I was brought up with the saying, "I may not agree with what you are saying but I will defend to the death your right to say it."

The people who stopped Donald Trump from speaking and prevented several thousand from hearing what he had to say violated the rights of all those people. Their primary objective was to stop him from speaking. That is evident in the cheers and statements of the leaders and members of that mob.

But the worst part is that their acts are supported and even praised by Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton and many other leaders who profess to have a high regard and respect for First Amendment rights. Instead of chastising and denouncing the people who stopped Trump from speaking, they blame the speaker. In essence, they are defending and promoting the use of mob action to stop people from voicing any opinions that are different from their own. Bernie Sanders even said that Trump should stop saying things that, in his opinion, are wrong.

If that is a legitimate case, then we all can exercise the same and shout down or even stop anyone from saying anything with which we disagree. That means conservatives, anarchists, communists or anyone else would have as much right to stop Bernie or Hillary from speaking as liberals do to stop Trump or anyone else from speaking. The First Amendment is supposed to apply to everyone, not just liberal Democrats.

John Noll

Naperville