{"id":10040,"date":"2024-10-16T01:12:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T05:12:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=10040"},"modified":"2024-10-16T01:12:37","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T05:12:37","slug":"when-politicians-oppose-free-speech-except-their-own","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=10040","title":{"rendered":"When politicians oppose free speech \u2014 except their own"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"mailto:?Subject=I%20saw%20this%20on%20National%20post&amp;Body=https%3A\/\/nationalpost.com\/opinion\/j-d-tuccille-when-politicians-oppose-free-speech-except-their-own\"><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/submit?kind=link&amp;url=https%3A\/\/nationalpost.com\/opinion\/j-d-tuccille-when-politicians-oppose-free-speech-except-their-own&amp;title=\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?url= https%3A\/\/nationalpost.com\/opinion\/j-d-tuccille-when-politicians-oppose-free-speech-except-their-own&amp;text=J.D.%20Tuccille%3A%20When%20politicians%20oppose%20free%20speech%20%E2%80%94%20except%20their%20own&amp;via=nationalpost\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/sharing\/share-offsite\/?url= https%3A\/\/nationalpost.com\/opinion\/j-d-tuccille-when-politicians-oppose-free-speech-except-their-own\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol>\n<li><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"articleTitle\">J.D. Tuccille: When politicians oppose free speech \u2014 except their own<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p>Power-hungry legislators are exactly who the U.S. Constitution was intended to thwart<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Author of the article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/author\/j-d-tuccille\/\">J.D. Tuccille<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(<strong>National Post<\/strong> Oct 12, 2024)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/opinion\/j-d-tuccille-when-politicians-oppose-free-speech-except-their-own#comments-area\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/opinion\/j-d-tuccille-when-politicians-oppose-free-speech-except-their-own#comments-area\"><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Join the conversation<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/smartcdn.gprod.postmedia.digital\/nationalpost\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Harris-and-Trump-1.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=288&amp;h=216&amp;sig=8NC-D0FEZWNqVofrJEFYqg\" alt=\"Kamala Harris and Donald Trump\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Presidential hopeful Kamala Harris worried in 2019 that social media sites are \u201cdirectly speaking to millions and millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation, and that has to stop.\u201d Presidential rival Donald Trump, on the other hand, thinks that people who criticize judges should be jailed, along with anyone who burns an American flag. Photo by The Associated Press<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Article content<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The U.S. political system is peculiar. While it\u2019s wandered far from its origins, it\u2019s a government based on the principle that people who seek power can\u2019t be trusted, and it\u2019s a democracy rooted in the belief that majorities can be as tyrannical as dictators. Not everybody agrees, of course, including members of the political class who propose to \u201csave the republic\u201d from rivals while rejecting restraints on power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last month, former Secretary of State and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry <a href=\"https:\/\/www.realclearpolitics.com\/video\/2024\/09\/29\/john_kerry_tells_wef_our_first_amendment_stands_as_a_major_block_against_hammering_disinformation_out_of_existence.html\">complained<\/a> that the competing voices of social media make it difficult \u201cin terms of building consensus around any issue\u201d because \u201cpeople self-select where they go for their news or for their information.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He fretted that if people prefer a news source that \u201cis sick and has an agenda \u2026 our First Amendment stands as a major block to the ability to be able to just hammer it out of existence.\u201d His hope was to overcome this impediment by \u201cwinning enough votes that you\u2019re free to be able to implement change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The same month, 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said Americans are spreading what she calls \u201cKremlin propaganda\u201d and should be \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow\/watch\/clinton-take-trump-at-his-word-and-be-outraged-by-what-he-represents-219498565926\">civilly or even in some cases criminally charged<\/a>\u201d for their speech. Last week she complained \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/tv\/hillary-clinton-declares-we-lose-total-control-if-we-dont-moderate-and-monitor-social-media-content-more\/\">we lose total control<\/a>\u201d if online discussions aren\u2019t heavily regulated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Current presidential hopeful Kamala Harris <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/JenniferSey\/status\/1830830413725786135\">worried in 2019<\/a> that social media sites are \u201cdirectly speaking to millions and millions of people without any level of oversight or regulation, and that has to stop.\u201d Harris is vice-president in an administration that tried just that through back channels, leading Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JudiciaryGOP\/posts\/pfbid06ToDu7T5zndHxk7PL436HXnc4DvrXi3jKTGjA7CDGTHUgpTUsUouzBhpoTRX8Ucel\">tell<\/a> Congress \u201csenior officials from the Biden administration \u2026 repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor\u201d discussions about COVID-19 and Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harris\u2019s running mate, Tim Walz,\u202f<a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/volokh\/2024\/08\/08\/vp-candidate-tim-walz-on-theres-no-guarantee-to-free-speech-on-misinformation-or-hate-speech-and-especially-around-our-democracy\/\">wrongly claims<\/a>\u202f\u201dthere\u2019s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech.\u201d Robert Reich, the Clinton-era secretary of labour, wants Elon Musk arrested \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/article\/2024\/aug\/30\/elon-musk-wealth-power\">if he doesn\u2019t stop disseminating lies and hate on X<\/a>.\u201d Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenWarren\/status\/1375283617341968385\">threatened<\/a> \u201cto break up Big Tech so you\u2019re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets\u201d after Amazon slapped back at her over tax policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This flurry of threats to speech protected by the First Amendment comes from a rogues\u2019 gallery of Democrats who will respond that Donald Trump did it first and that they need to <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalpost.com\/opinion\/washington-has-too-much-power-it-must-be-neutered\">save democracy from his threat<\/a>. They\u2019re right the GOP presidential hopeful also has a taste for abusing power, though who started it is a judgment call, as is the question of who poses the greatest threat to the republic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBurning the American flag, I want to get a law passed \u2026 you burn an American flag, you go to jail for one year,\u201d\u202fTrump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/trump-burning-american-flag-jail_n_66cd720ee4b0778aee5fc9f8\">harrumphed<\/a> in August.\u202fIt wasn\u2019t the first time he\u2019s called for jailing protesters who use flags as fiery props. He made the <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2024\/07\/26\/trump-calls-for-jailing-flag-burners\/\">same call in July<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/homenews\/campaign\/503757-trump-suggests-legislation-that-would-jail-people-who-burn-the-flag-in\/\">floated the idea<\/a> when he was in the White House, even though flag-burning is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\/news\/trumps-proposed-constitutional-amendment-banning-flag-burning-would-have-unintended\">protected by the First Amendment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump also thinks people who criticize judges and Supreme Court justices \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/donald-trump-says-those-criticize-134648911.html\">should be put in jail<\/a>,\u201d as he commented last month (he might want to be careful about that, given his own <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/regulation\/court-battles\/3747749-trump-rips-supreme-court-after-ruling-he-hand-over-tax-records\/\">criticism of the bench<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Also <a href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/113098755955857290\">worthy of legal attention<\/a>, says the former and potential future president, are \u201clawyers, political operatives, donors, illegal voters, &amp; corrupt election officials\u201d involved in what Trump, who claims the 2020 presidential contest was stolen, considers unscrupulous election-related behaviour. They \u201cwill be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trump\u2019s running mate, J.D. Vance, wants to <a href=\"https:\/\/freethepeople.org\/jd-vance-is-part-of-unconstitutional-porn-ban-push\/\">ban pornography<\/a>, though it generally enjoys constitutional protection. Vance\u2019s instincts extend to political opponents. In 2021, Vance <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ohiowarroom\/status\/1443025227106168833\">asked interviewer Tucker Carlson<\/a>, \u201cwhy don\u2019t we seize the assets of the Ford Foundation\u201d and other non-profits that pursue left-wing policies on hot-button issues. The veep nominee also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.herald.ng\/us-corruption-trumps-vp-nominee-jd-vance-calls-for-mass-firing-of-dc-bureaucrats-and-civil-servants\/\">wants<\/a> to \u201cseize the administrative state for our purposes,\u201d replace existing bureaucrats with \u201cour people\u201d and defy the courts if they object.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Florida\u2019s Republican Governor and recent presidential contender, Ron DeSantis, and his party\u2019s lawmakers pushed the Stop WOKE Act to ban controversial racial training adopted by private companies. It was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox35orlando.com\/news\/part-stop-woke-act-permanently-blocked-federal-judge-unconstitutional\">blocked on First Amendment grounds<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you seek evidence that candidates for public office and political partisans disdain restraints on power when that power is in their hands, and want to punish opponents, there\u2019s plenty of evidence on both sides of the aisle. This would come as no surprise to the founders. During debates over adopting the constitution, James Madison <a href=\"https:\/\/founders.archives.gov\/documents\/Madison\/01-10-02-0279\">wrote<\/a> about the balance necessary in designing a government. \u201cYou must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place, oblige it to control itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Madison feared letting majorities run roughshod. \u201cIn a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign, as in a state of nature where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger,\u201d he warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The imperfect result was a constitution that limited government with checks and balances, and a Bill of Rights that forbade officials from interfering with many freedoms. The intent was to let people do and say a good many things that officials don\u2019t like but are powerless to prevent or punish. It goes without saying that the U.S. government is now much larger than intended, and exercises far more authority than was contemplated by the founders. But that\u2019s still not enough for some critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advertisement 6<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Story continues below<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Writing last month in The New Yorker, Louis Menand <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2024\/09\/30\/constitution-book-reviews-chemerinsky-pierson-schickler\">noted<\/a> a new crop of scholars who are dissatisfied with the constitution. In their ranks is Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the law school at the University of California\u2013Berkeley, who hopes to strip anti-majoritarian elements from the system. Others want to completely scrap the document and start over with something that would deliver their preferred results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But these scholars are playing catch-up with a political class intent on simply ignoring First Amendment protections for speech and constitutional restraints on their power. Ironically, efforts to abuse the power of office to hurt opponents is precisely what the founders intended to prevent with the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That authoritarian politicians justify their actions as responses to opponents who they allege are the real danger to the republic is also no surprise. Those who think coercive government is a solution to problems will inevitably try to apply it to opponents they see as problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The American Constitution was intended to thwart the kind of people who now make up pretty much the entire political class. We\u2019ll see if it\u2019s up to the challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>National Post<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>J.D. Tuccille: When politicians oppose free speech \u2014 except their own Power-hungry legislators are exactly who the U.S. Constitution was intended to thwart Author of the article: J.D. Tuccille (National Post Oct 12, 2024) Join the conversation Article content The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/?p=10040\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[836,4139,5706,5710,5606,5708,3449,5709,5707,1821],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10040"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10040"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10041,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10040\/revisions\/10041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cafe.nfshost.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}