Right cannot be limited to what we want to hear

Mr. Keyes:

I feel I need to write in response to "The Bee's View" on Nov. 25.

While I agree Mr. Germana didn't use common sense, I disagree that he overstepped the bounds of free speech. Mr. Germana placed his sign on private property. Don't get me wrong, I do not like what he said, and while I didn't vote for Mr. Obama, a majority of the American public did and I will respect that decision.

I think what got me upset was "We all have a right to disagree but freedom of expression is trumped when it comes to nooses and names." Really? I don't seem to remember you saying anything when the "good" people of Portland, Ore., burned effigies of U.S. soldiers on public streets. I do remember hearing a woman say that was their "God-given right" to free speech. No, that was a right afforded to them by the Founding Fathers, who looked to God for direction, and the deaths of many to guarantee that right.

What I got from your opinion was you are more worried about the image of North Idaho than what was said. Mr. Germana may be a "wingnut" but he didn't yell fire in a crowded theater. I wonder if Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's name had been on that sign, would the response have been the same?

ANDREW ROBERTS

Cocolalla