Going forth with the Fourth

“Why do we celebrate the Fourth? ,” July 6 letter to the editor

Our constitution does not guarantee we can say anything and be free of the consequences. The government didn’t censor Roseanne Barr, the company she worked for felt that their customers wouldn’t want to watch a racist, so they let her go.

It’s not “fake news” when the press reports that G. W. Bush asserts that Iraq had WMDs. Bush did say that, repeatedly. Steve Caplan, Durango

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In a letter to the editor, Jason McCormick laments losing our “right to freely speak our minds without consequence” and then offers up Roseanne Barr as an example of political correctness gone overboard. It makes me wonder if there is no better time than the 4th of July for a refresher on the First Amendment to our Constitution. The First Amendment does not give us the right to send racist tweets without consequence. It plainly says that Congress cannot pass a law that infringes on our freedom of speech. In her case, Roseanne Barr’s First Amendment rights were not violated in any way. There is no law that kept her from tweeting her stupid and ugly thoughts.

There is also no better time than the 4th of July for a refresher on capitalism. After her racist tweet, Roseanne Barr’s show was cancelled by its producers because no advertiser wants to pay money to be associated with an obvious racist. That’s how capitalism works.

I believe that is worth celebrating. Ken O’Neal, Parker

I would venture that President Donald Trump creates more “fake news” in one week of his cryptic, biased and poorly worded tweets than the press does in a year. And when an error is caught, the press generally publishes a correction. Does anyone recall Mr. Trump apologizing for any of his many whoppers? Fake news, indeed. Howard Herbst, Aurora