United States (US) citizens, as members of a nation that originally defined itself as protecting the individual from the state and guaranteeing the right to dissent, are particularly committed to safeguarding freedom of expression. In this article, based on the observation and the study of US society, the author examines whether practices regarding civil liberties change radically when “national security” is deemed in jeopardy. She concludes that this society is locked in an ongoing struggle with its own contradictions, insofar as a large number of groups, some of them highly organized and with a political agenda, are intent not only on expressing “their” truths, but on imposing them on other citizens, thereby preventing them from cultivating their own understanding and practicing intellectual debate.