PHOENIX – We have news for all those politically correct souls who believe they have a moral right to determine how people should think and speak.

You’re dead wrong. The Constitution of the United States defends free speech and expression, even when it offends some people.

We wish the U.S. Department of Education had reminded itself of that basic fact before it wasted taxpayer money on an investigation of a student “Redneck Day” that occurred in May at Queen Creek High School near Phoenix.

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The student dress-up day was apparently meant to spoof the popular A&E network reality television show “Duck Dynasty.”

The federal investigation was reportedly triggered by a complaint from the Rev. Jarrett Maupin II – residence unknown – who alleged that the student “Redneck Day” created a “racially hostile environment,” according to a report from DailyCaller.com.

Maupin – and apparently some students – were specifically upset about one kid who wore a confederate flag as a cape.

The display of the rebel flag is certainly tasteless, but common in some communities, and not inconsistent with behavior that is generally considered “redneck” in nature. Many modern people use the flag to represent a rural lifestyle. They are not endorsing the racial policies of the former Confederate States of America.

Many of them probably have no idea what the confederacy was, or what it stood for.

But even if the Queen Creek student had intended to use his clothing to make a pro-confederate statement – so what? He has the same right as any American to express himself.  Luckily the Department of Education folks understood that when they replied to the Rev. Maupin’s complaint.

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“We have determined that we have the authority to investigate this situation,” the DOE letter says. “We note, however, that the display of the confederate flag concerns rights protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. Therefore, the scope of the (Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights) investigation will be limited to whether a racially hostile environment was created due to language and actions that were not protected by the First Amendment.”

Too many people on the political left seem to think that freedom of speech and expression should only apply to politically correct speech and expression. That’s not how our nation works. Americans have an absolute right to publicly embrace the most offensive and outrageous of causes if they choose to do so.

If the government is allowed to muzzle the most obnoxious among us, it will soon claim the right to squash any type of speech it finds inappropriate on any given day for any given reason.

At that point we will no longer be free.