The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has been at the forefront of fighting to eliminate obstacles to freedom like speech codes and censorship. The group polled 1,000 American adults with a range of questions about the First Amendment, free speech, and the security of those rights.
The survey, published Thursday, raises questions about Americans of all ages and whether they're truly devoted to free speech and other civil liberties.
Reason.com reports that "Fifty-three percent of respondents agreed with the statement 'The First Amendment goes too far in the rights it guarantees' to at least some degree, with 28 percent reporting that it 'mostly' or 'completely describes their thoughts."
The partisan divide on this question was stark. "Over 60 percent of Democrats thought the First Amendment could go too far, compared to 52 percent of Republicans."
What do you suppose people mean by "too far"?
"Evidently, one out of every two Americans wishes they had fewer civil liberties," Sean Stevens, FIRE's chief research adviser, said on Thursday. "Many of them reject the right to assemble, to have a free press, and to petition the government. This is a dictator's fantasy."
All that's necessary to complete the first American dictatorship is to weaken the Supreme Court. Democrats are threatening to do just that.
Further, 1 in 5 respondents said they were "somewhat" or "very" worried about losing their job if someone complains about something they said. Eighty-three percent reported self-censoring in the past month, with 23 percent doing so "fairly" or "very" often.
Just 22 percent of respondents said they believed the right to free speech was "very" or "completely" secure. But despite these concerns, over a third said they trusted the government "somewhat," "very much," or "completely" to make fair decisions about what speech is deemed "intimidating," "threatening," "harassing," and "indecent," among other labels.
In all, almost 7 out of every 10 respondents agreed that America is going in the wrong direction when it comes to free speech—though it's not clear whether respondents think our culture and government are becoming too tolerant, or not tolerant enough, of controversial speech.
One striking aspect of this survey is the vast number of Americans who trust the government.
Americans are crying out for censorship. Around 40% trust the government “somewhat,” “very much,” or “completely” to make fair decisions about what speech is considered terrifying, intimidating, threatening, harassing, annoying, disturbing, and indecent. Another quarter trust the government “a little.” And only 32% of Americans said they would be “not at all” comfortable with the government limiting the free speech of pro-Hamas protesters.
As long as the pro-Hamas protesters weren't violating the law, they had every right to express their rancid views. But illegal tent encampments, acts of vandalism, and the occupation of buildings were not expressions of free speech. And anyone making that argument needs a First Amendment tutorial.
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