Why We Whisper: Restoring Our Right to Say It's Wrong

Americans today live in the greatest nation the world has ever known. Never before has a country been the producer, and beneficiary, of so much wealth and freedom. But with great success comes even greater responsibility. Part of the American legacy is to pass our values to our posterity, as well as to future generations in other nations. To meet this responsibility, the next generation must understand what made America great, what is working, what is not working, and how to improve all the ideas that contributed to past success. No factor is more important in this task than our freedom of speech. This right is both a means and an end to improving and strengthening the nation.

Why We Whisper is about free speech in America, but not "freedom of speech" as it is often defined today. It is not the freedom to practice destructive behavior or to produce obscene material. This book is about freedom of speech as it was intended by the visionaries who designed the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment empowers Americans to join the public and political debate with their ideas and values, including those traditional ideas and values that have made America great. This fundamental freedom is under attack, and unless principled Americans fight back, our grandchildren and future generations around the world will receive a greatly diminished inheritance.

United States Senator Jim DeMint and Professor David Woodard compellingly demonstrate that through court rulings, bureaucratic pronouncements, and well-intentioned, but ultimately unhelpful laws, secular values have allied with government authority to dismantle the ideals of a moral and decent nation. A country once confident of its values and optimistic about its future is now pessimistic, nervous, and confused. Traditional American institutions like the Boy Scouts, churches, businesses, college campuses, and public schools are routinely targeted for attack and government regulation. As a result, morally responsible, patriotic Americans are

Senator Jim DeMint was born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina. Before winning election to the House of Representatives in 1998, he founded a successful Greenville based market research firm. In 2004, Jim DeMint became South Carolina's 55th U.S. Senator. He was recently elected as Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, a body of active Republican Senators who work to advance conservative legislation.

J. David Woodard holds the Strom Thurmond Chair of Government at Clemson University, where he has taught political science since 1983. He is the author or co-author of five books, including The Conservative Tradition in America (Rowman & Littlefield), The New Southern Politics (Lynne Rienner) and The America That Reagan Built (Praeger/Greenwood).