If you’ve been paying attention to the news recently you might’ve seen a couple of stories that underscore the threat to our God-given freedom to speak our mind. As the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution puts it, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”
Yet our ruling class and associated busybodies have recently started saying out loud that free speech must be limited. Two former presidential candidates top the list.
“We lose total control” says the two-time loser and political criminal. Lose total control of what, you might ask? The ability to control what is said on social media and, eventually, anywhere else. This is the stuff dictatorships are made out of.
Then there’s the presidential flameout with too much time on his hands, John “Swiftboat” Kerry Heinz.
It’s a longer clip, so let me bottom line it for you: Kerry says that the First Amendment is “a major block” to curtailing speech and suggests that they have to “win the right to govern” so that “you’re free to be able to implement change.”
What kind of “change” would that be? Anyone care to guess?
Jonathan Turley, a highly respected legal authority, promoted his new-ish book, “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage,” in an op-ed for USA Today (I don’t encourage linking to USA Today or referring to them as a trusted authority, but occasionally they carry columns by people I trust). In it, he takes both Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to task for advocating censorship using lies. For example,
As I have said, the Biden-Harris administration has proved to be the most anti-free speech administration in two centuries. You have to go back to John Adams’ administration to find the equal of this administration.
Harris has been an outspoken champion of censorship in an administration that supports targeting disinformation, misinformation and “malinformation.” That last category was defined by the Biden administration as information “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.”
In the debate, Walz also returned to his favorite dismissal of censorship objections by saying that it is all just inflammatory rhetoric.
Recently, Walz went on MSNBC to support censoring disinformation and declared, “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.”
That is entirely untrue and shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the right called “indispensable” by the Supreme Court. Even after some of us condemned his claim as ironically dangerous disinformation, Walz continues to repeat it.
Below is Turley’s guest appearance on Fox News, discussing his column and mentioning both Kerry’s and Clinton’s assaults on free speech.
Let me repeat what I’ve said before and you probably know, but it needs to be said: Government does not confer your constitutional rights to you; they are supposed to protect your already given rights from any intrusion. If they give you your rights, they can take your rights. You are endowed with these rights; they are yours by nature. Resist and object loudly to any law that interferes with your natural, intrinsic rights.
These wannabe dictators are clearly telegraphing their intentions. Come November, do everything you can to keep Harris and Walz out of the White House.
Thanks Dave, as your piece is spot on ! The closer it gets to the “big day” the crazier it will get, as evident in the “interviews” that Kam-al-a is doing. What the heck were the “rats” thinking, when they chose her to be their candidate?