Legally, you are fully right that "free speech" doesn't mean you are free of social consequences of speech.
Socially, while I disagree with Eich's political views, I really worry about starting a tit-for-tat here that leaves no one the winner.
You might think your views are socially dominant. And in your time and place, maybe you are even right about it. But this will not always be the case.
Back in the 60's my dad risked his job to go march with Martin Luther King when MLK was in Detroit. His boss didn't like MLK and would have canned my dad if he found out. If my dad had been fired, I really hope you wouldn't be so blase as to say "well, he's just reaping the consequences of his speech."
I think it is possible to hold both views (it is acceptable to force Eich out; it was immoral to fire workers for being part of the civil rights movement, blacklist workers for being communists). And you don't even have to appeal to the "my side is always morally right" non-argument.
I think the critical distinction is workers versus management.
If an engineer were fired from his job for a donation he made to any organization -- the ACLU, the KKK, the Communist Party, Prop 8 -- then yes, we would have a problem.
Low power individuals, they need to be protected. High power individuals, we need to be protected from them.
Socially, while I disagree with Eich's political views, I really worry about starting a tit-for-tat here that leaves no one the winner.
You might think your views are socially dominant. And in your time and place, maybe you are even right about it. But this will not always be the case.
Back in the 60's my dad risked his job to go march with Martin Luther King when MLK was in Detroit. His boss didn't like MLK and would have canned my dad if he found out. If my dad had been fired, I really hope you wouldn't be so blase as to say "well, he's just reaping the consequences of his speech."