“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

This is our First Amendment in all of its glory.  Whether you are part of Duck Dynasty or Lululemon or Hobby Lobby or Abercrombie or Chick-Fil-A, you have the right to say what you want.  You have the right to believe what you believe. You do not, however, have a right to live a life free from reaction to those words. Go ahead and look. It’s not in there.

The First Amendment does not guarantee that people won’t boycott your store or that you won’t be kicked off of your TV show.  It doesn’t guarantee that your employer or stockholder is going to want to keep you at the helm.  It also doesn’t guarantee that your career won’t go down the tubes.  Look again.  Not there.

When I hear people talking about First Amendment rights being violated, I’m pretty skeptical.  Unless we are dealing with the FCC or other “unnecessary panic” laws such as yelling “Fire!” in a crowded theater, Congress and lawmaking bodies tend to stay out of it.  Most of the time, when we hear people complaining about their First Amendment rights, it is because other people or private companies are reacting and saying that what was said was wrong or offensive or just plain dumb. It’s almost never Congress.

In this age of social media, if you are a public figure, you should expect that any potentially offensive comment you make is going to go viral.  You should expect to be posted and shared, tweeted and retweeted.  In short, you should expect a reaction, potentially even a large one.  So don’t seem so surprised and claim that your First Amendment rights are being violated when people unite peaceably to assemble against you.  

Go ahead and look.  They can.  It’s in there.