A great article on CNN by Marc J. Randazza. See excerpt below:
www.cnn.com/2016/03/12/opinions/defend-trump-free-speech-opinion-randazza/index.html
Marc J. Randazza is a Las Vegas-based First Amendment attorney and managing partner of the Randazza Legal Group.
——————————————————————————————————————-
It is a fair opinion to think Trump's speech is offensive, problematic, or hateful. But, the First Amendment requires neither tact nor politeness. It requires that we permit all views to set up stalls in the marketplace of ideas, and we let that marketplace decide which ideas prevail. That is why it is called "the marketplace of ideas," not "the marketplace of gangs beating each other up."
Would Trump similarly stand up for the rights of others? I doubt it. But that is not the point.
If you don't stand up for Trump's liberty today, someone may come for yours tomorrow.
If we believe in free speech, we need to believe in Trump's as well.
• The richest Wall Street banker must side with Occupy when the cops attack them.
• Parents of mixed-race children must side with the KKK when they are attacked.
• Even Illinois Nazis should stand up for Jews if someone tries to silence them with violence.
Dammit, this is the United States of America, and there is room for the entire spectrum of political discourse.
And no matter how right you think you are, you are never so clearly right, never so without fault, never so pure, that you have any moral authority to shut down the other side with violence. When you do that, the eventual result is that he who brings the bigger guns will win the debate.
That is not what America is all about.
Thomas Moore would have loved this article and me too, but unluckily it's not real.
ReplyDeleteThere are many Americans who harbor unAmerican thoughts (while thinking they are the true Americans just because they are white and Christian). Only through liberals consistently pushing for what the American Constitution actually says will we eventually get there.
ReplyDelete