The Blog

2020-

2020-12-03 g
"Political liberty is not possible without freedom of speech."

Why Identity Politics’ Speech Controls Will Cancel Self-Government If We Don’t Resist

Only freedom of speech can preserve republican self-government, and only it can cool the fanatical hatreds and false theories underlying identity politics.

Much evidence suggests that freedom of speech may be banned in the coming years under the guise of regulating “hate speech.” Many on the left who demand and welcome this development do not foresee the broad consequences of their actions. Nor do many defenders of free speech sufficiently examine the left’s reasons for banning it.

Just in the past few years, U.S. senators proposed to outlaw words they deem offensive; New York City attempted to fine residents $250,000 if they say “illegal alien”; Big Tech companies continue to ban certain kinds of speech from their platforms; deeply embedded regulatory and judicial precedents, originating in civil rights laws and the sexual liberation movement, have expanded their reach into the private sphere, permitting bureaucrats and activists to regulate speech; and denunciations of individuals and institutions who speak contrary to identity-politics dogma are commonplace.

These are not isolated instances of far-left overreach. Rather, as an earlier generation’s liberalism is subsumed into identity politics, free speech, in conflict with identity politics’ central claims, becomes its first and most important target of attack.

The Cost of Losing Free Speech

To understand the political and moral consequences of losing freedom of speech, we should examine its original purposes, of which there are three: political liberty, freedom of the mind, and the formation of republican habits of character. For Benjamin Franklin, these purposes were related: “Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as public Liberty, without Freedom of Speech.”

Political liberty is not possible without freedom of speech. On the one hand, arguments about the common good and public policies must be presented to citizens if they are to rule themselves — and to do this, citizens must be free to discuss “the Propriety of Public Measures and political opinions,” as Franklin says. On the other hand, free speech is also a necessary tool for exposing and keeping in check “narrow thoughts and narrow men.”

Among other things, this means that free speech can compel the obedience, not to say the virtue, of public officials and oligarchs to the public interest. As the Continental Congress declared, through free speech “oppressive [public] officers are shamed or intimidated, into more honorable and just modes of conducting affairs.”

Second, freedom of speech is needed for freedom of the mind. As the Continental Congress noted, “the advancement of truth, science, morality, and arts in general” depend upon freedom of the press and speech. In this regard, freedom of speech is connected to the highest pursuit of man — the search for the truth in philosophy, science, or religion. But in intellectual matters, just as in the political sphere, freedom of speech contains a defensive element: it prevents the ascent of ideologies hostile to liberty, to which free societies are always vulnerable.

Thomas Jefferson, for example, writes in “Notes on the State of Virginia” that “reason and free inquiry are the only effectual agents against error” brought on through religious or ideological fanaticism. Reason can publicly test the truth of all claims and thus prevents the onset of intellectual despotism.

Third, freedom of speech plays a central role in forming the habits of character necessary for republican government. Through it, citizens develop the habit of speaking and thinking freely about all matters of public concern, and in doing so, they are trained in forming sound judgment. As such, citizens become less drawn in by romantic, revolutionary, and impossible undertakings, tendencies democracies are especially given to.

Moreover, and perhaps most importantly, freedom of speech cultivates in citizens the mental habit of persuading fellow citizens through reason. (read more)

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