The Value of a Safety Valve in a Free Society

     In any society, one is bound to find factions of the population with different opinions on how governments, businesses, and people's personal lives should function. In a society without relatively unrestricted freedom of speech, freedom of and from religion, and freedom of the press, it would be difficult to get those ideas out of your system without organizing a large scale coup or revolution if the government did not approve of your beliefs. This "safety valve," so to speak, of the First Amendment is on of the most valuable aspects of it.
     Society is likely to much much more stable when angry and alienated citizens are allowed to vent. It has been said that people will be less likely to resort to violence.  This freedom of unpopular or angry ideas also allows the government to monitor and follow those with radical ideas, as they do not need to explicitly hide from the government. This also allows for change that a majority of the people believe in to be heard, and prevents societies from stagnating and prevents the need for revolution. Thomas Emerson is quoted as saying, referring to a society that suppresses dissent, "by suppressing reform, censorship may transform problems into a revolution."