#11. In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech; a terrible thing to publick traytors.” -Benjamin Franklin
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Franklin, writing in his Dogwood Papers in 1722 (while 16 years old), understood full well how important free speech was, and that subduing it was always the tool of tyrants.