Those who exercise free speech should also defend it — even when it’s offensive
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo. "So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
I am of the opinion that we are all a part of one of the great epochal shifts in human history and that what we fight to secure today will reverberate through society for generations. We did not ask for this moment
What Is This America of Ours?
What is one thing all around us that few see? Our history. Every street name, neighborhood plat, and the winding trail is steeped with choices from the past whose meanings time has rendered invisible. Our towns and cities are carved with roads named after prominent historical figures now forgotten. Our hills, parks, and cemeteries honor many now unknown. It is a peculiar fact of life that we at once stand on the shoulders of our ancestors and often don't look down to honor those whose choices lift us up.
In 1722, under the name Silence Dogood, Benjamin Franklin wrote:
Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech;
Silence Dogood, No. 8, 9 July 1722
Why is freedom of speech so important? As Mr. Franklin stated, there is no such thing as publick liberty without it, but what does that mean? Yes, without freedom of speech, people cannot express themselves, but there’s more. Without freedom of speech, we would never be exposed to contradictory ideas, and we would never grow. The basis of the scientific method is the testing of contradictory ideas. So if freedom of speech is so important, why do people keep trying to shut it down? Take New York State’s “Online Hate Speech Law”. Why is the State of New York attempting to get social media networks to act as government censors for them?
IS THAT WHAT WE HAVE NOW??
Memorize the following line, teach it to your children, and shout it from the rooftops every chance you get. It’s one of the most important truths you’ll ever learn or teach: Free people are not equal, and equal people are not free.
Your first reaction might be, “I thought equality was supposed to be a wonderful thing, something we should all strive for, but this sounds like a rejection of it.”
As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. Whether equality is good or bad depends on the kind that you’re talking about. Context makes all the difference in the world.
I am a Jew, and like many Jews, I fled the land where I was born. That was the Soviet Union. I am far from alone. Seems that at every stage of history, someone has been sure to throw the Jews into the sea. The Jews, however, had already been to the sea – when they left Egypt – and got out safely. That sea was the Red Sea. When I got out of the red, socialist sea, I found a sea of democracy in Israel. And here is what I have since learned:
Under Soviet socialism, there was no democracy. The state controlled the press to the extent that there were no automobile disasters, no mine collapses, no factory fires, no train, streetcar, or airplane crashes, no earthquakes nor floods.
There were no natural disasters under socialism.
Defending Democratic Norms Requires Defending Free SpeechMany in the United States worry about the erosion of democratic norms. Too few, however, exhibit concern for the steady deterioration over the last half-century of the essential democratic norm of free speech.
To paraphrase the Soviet dissident and human rights activist, Natan Sharansky, what it meant to be a loyal Soviet citizen was to say what you’re supposed to say, to read what you’re permitted to read, and to vote the way you’re supposed to vote, and to know it was all a lie.
THANKS TO PRESIDENT TRUMP
The Supreme Court has just released two monumental decisions. Predictable responses have ensued from the expected interested parties. And the widely publicized legal analysis goes something like this...
President Donald J. Trump has presented to the American people the numerous methods employed to commit massive voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election in an address to the nation on December 22nd that the mainstream media refuses to acknowledge.
Not only did President Trump predetermine that there would be unprecedented voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election, senile Joe Biden confirmed it in a Freudian slip when he stated that he and the Democrat Party had “put together the most extensive and inclusive voter fraud organization in the history of American politics.”
THEY ARE NOT THE PARTY THAT YOUR PARENTS KNEW, THEY ARE THE AMERICAN COMMUNIST PARTY, NOT THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY ANYMORE.NO NEED TO VOTE DEMOCRAT AT MID-TERMS!
The Ministry of Truth Is Where the Rubber Meets the
Road
Is this the hill that patriots will die on? Is this the moment when MAGA nation says, "Hell, no"? Is this the time when hardworking blue-collar Americans say with a unified voice: "We will not comply"? Is this the legal case where the Supreme Court acts as if it is ...the Supreme Court and declares Mr. Biden's newly created Bureau of Disinformation unconstitutional from its inception? Is this the final straw, where a clear plurality of Republicans "man up" and act as the opposition party should, and refuse to fund Mr. Biden's "Ministry of Truth"?
