[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 101 (Friday, July 8, 2011)]
[House]
[Page H4786]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FREEDOM OF SPEECH

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the very notion of freedom of 
expression was recently on trial in the Netherlands. The popular Dutch 
lawmaker Geert Wilders was charged with discrimination and incitement 
of hatred after he made a movie depicting Islamic clerics who incite 
violence in the name of religion. He was prosecuted not for his 
actions, but for his words. That is a scary thought.
  There was only one proper resolution here, and, thankfully, the court 
did the right thing. Wilders was acquitted of all charges. The court 
ruled that his statements might be offensive to Muslims, but fell 
within the bounds of political free debate.
  Freedom of speech is a God-given right to which every person and 
every nation is entitled. It is no coincidence that our country's 
Founding Fathers deemed it so important they listed it first in the 
Bill of Rights. A country that refuses one's freedom of speech is 
doomed to grow stagnant. How can it develop as a society when it 
stifles or tries to punish opinion? As Wilders himself said, ``Every 
public debate holds the prospect of enlightenment.'' He certainly is 
correct.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________