The freedom to act does not exempt one from the consequences of that action. The Constitution describes government action, not popular opinion. No one kept Maher from speaking his piece. Companies simply said "we will not pay you to say that." Nothing could be more American than that. If someone attempted to harm him, the police would enforce the law as they normally do. If Maher had gotten on the air and spewed some bit of racist crap, would you cry about companies pulling advertising, or ABC killing the show? I haven't heard anything about jack booted thugs showing up at his door to take him off to the gulag, so this is not a freedom issue. It's an issue of what you can say and still get rich saying it. Despite the title of the show, if you say things that alienate the audience, they won't want to pay your bills for you. That's the market at work.