Some readers have expressed concern that the Herald has carried a series of political advertisements using innuendo and distortion to attack Gov. Howard Dean on the issue of civil unions for same-sex couples. One letter writer was dismayed that the Herald "supported" such advertisements.

It may be helpful for readers to know that political advertising is a service available to the community without regard to point of view. The Herald does not censor the political advertising it publishes. Nor does the Herald endorse it.

The result is that over time political advertising containing widely varying views will be carried in the paper. Some of it will be offensive and outrageous, but it is up to the public to make that determination. Freedom of speech means that all kinds of speech are placed before the public in a clamorous and open marketplace of ideas. Individual readers will decide which ideas to buy. It is not the Herald's role to decide for them by excluding ideas deemed to be offensive.

Readers of the Herald's editorials know where the Herald stands editorially on the issue of same-sex marriage. Our editorials have strongly endorsed the action of the House in passing legislation allowing for the civil unions of same-sex couples.

That view is expressed in the editorial column. It is not the paper's purpose to impose that view either on the letters to the editor page or in the content of our political advertising. The wide diversity of views contained on those pages demonstrates what is meant by the phrase "marketplace of ideas."

It could happen that a political ad would be so blatantly false, homophobic, racist, or otherwise offensive that the paper could not in good conscience print it. The paper reserves that right. But there is a wide range of speech that may, in our view, be motivated by homophobia or racism without crossing into the territory of the impermissibly tasteless or offensive. It is not the Herald's purpose to limit that wide range of political speech.

A recent news story described the controversy created in San Luis Obispo, Calif., when the publisher of a newspaper there decided he would accept no advertising or cover any news that in his view promoted abortion or gay rights. Using the Herald in that way to further a particular viewpoint, even a viewpoint favored on the editorial page, is not the Herald's purpose.

There is a great benefit to democracy by allowing for the expression of extreme points of view. Suppressing extreme speech only drives it underground where it becomes more dangerous. The free expression of extreme speech is a sign that we are not afraid of democracy, that we are confident a good idea is the best corrective for a bad one.

Another benefit of allowing the expression of extreme speech is that it allows the public to see extremists for what they are. A person full of hate is his own worst enemy. Freedom of speech exposes his hate for all to see.

The present discussion of same-sex unions is testing the confidence and convictions of people on all sides. It has been useful, however, that all sides have had a hearing. A process that is open to all points of view leads to a legitimate result.

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote in a famous dissent that the Founding Fathers "believed liberty to be the secret of happiness and courage to be the secret of liberty."

It requires courage, and also forbearance, to engage in the clash of ideas, but it is the clash of ideas that gives effect to our freedom and ensures the health of our free society.