A new poll from Real Clear Politics (RCP) highlights a dangerous anti-freedom trend in America, as 50% of Republicans and about 75% of Democrats reportedly approve of the government violating the Constitution and targeting “hateful” online content.
In modern America, it should be increasingly clear that “hateful” is a highly subjective word that can be applied to anything with which a person disagrees. Thus affirming biological realities about sex has actually been called genocide. So not only is the term completely subjective, and thus highly dangerous as a standard for targeting content, but the First Amendment is not meant to apply only to speech that is non-controversial. It is mostly meant to apply to speech that could be controversial, with which some or most people disagree. The federal government thus has no right or ability at all to target free speech. And if this poll is accurate, the fact that so many Americans reportedly think it does is incredibly disturbing.
RCP pollster Spencer Kimball noted that, on the surface, every age, race, political affiliation, and demographic affirmed free speech. “Overall, 9 in 10 voters in the U.S. think First Amendment protections for freedom of speech is a good thing, while only 9% think it is a bad thing,” he said. But it turns out the definition or understanding of free speech is totally different in the minds of many groups of Americans.
Hence, for instance, 42% of Americans under 30 believe the government should censor content that is allegedly dangerous for national security, while only 26% of 65+ year-olds agreed. Meanwhile, 78% of men support “deeply offensive” free speech while only 66% of women agreed. The biggest shift against free speech is among leftists, RCP noted, even though liberals were traditionally a group that at least claimed to support free speech for everyone.
So 74% of Republicans, 61% of Independents, and 53% of Democrats agree that speech should be legal “under any circumstances.” Conversely, almost half—47%— of Democrats only want speech to be legal “under certain circumstances.” And 34% of Democrats stunningly stated that Americans have “too much freedom,” versus 14.6% of Republicans. But 46% of Republicans say Americans now have “too little freedom,” versus 22% of Democrats.
A majority of all political affiliations agree with letting the media report national interest stories, but social media created a divide. While only a third of Republicans and Independents agree with the government censoring for alleged national security purposes, a majority of Democrats agreed with such censorship. The Biden administration asserted in July that its anti-free speech censorship efforts were important for national security reasons.
From RCP, Sept. 21:
Poll respondents were read this statement: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Only 31% of Democratic voters “strongly agreed” with that sentiment, compared to 51% of Republicans…
Democrats are significantly more likely than Republicans to favor stifling the free speech rights of political extremists. Also, Republicans don’t vary by the group: Only about half of GOP voters favor censorship — whether asked about the Ku Klux Klan, Nazis, or the Communist Party.
And, of course, as noted above, the poll showed 3/4 of Democrats and half of Republicans agreeing that the government has a responsibility to censor “hateful” social media posts.
Related: Liberty in Peril: Thomas Sowell’s Warnings on Marxism, Censorship
George Washington once said, “For if Men are to be precluded from offering their Sentiments on a matter, which may involve the most serious and alarming consequences, that can invite the consideration of Mankind, reason is of no use to us; the freedom of Speech may be taken away, and, dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep, to the Slaughter.” It’s a sobering warning for modern America. If we don’t return to prizing free speech, all of our other rights will be taken away, too.
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