Free speech: often ugly, always necessary

One of the worst things -- the very worst -- about current (and recent) politics is the tendency among liberals and conservatives to demonize their opponents by the worst means available. During the Bush regime, opponents of the War in Iraq were frequently branded as fifth-column traitors whose undemonstrated links and ties to terrorist organizations were assumed.

Now, to quote Lt. Frank Drebin of Police Squad fame, "the foot's on the other hand" -- and the same tendencies have emerged, anew, among liberals. Yes, conservatives are all bigots who hate the earth and the minority populations who inhabit it, just as liberals were all commies and terrorists.

There are legitimate arguments to be made about domestic and foreign policy that should happen in calm, rational, invective-free discussion. But they rarely do. So ... what to do?

Nothing. Seriously. It's called "free speech" for a reason, and while no freedom is absolute, the Constitution clearly pushes the idea of individual liberty in each of its core amendments, the first 10, known as the Bill of Rights.

Justin Raimondo of Antiwar.com documents how "progressives" tend to attack civil liberties with the same venom that conservatives do. The simple truth is that neither major political party cares about our individual liberties, except as they can be deformed as issues to win elections. Raimondo writes:

We all know the history of this impulse: the House "Un-American" Activities Committee, government infiltration of the antiwar and civil rights movements ("Cointelpro"), the sinister role played by J. Edgar Hoover and his political police in trying to stifle free speech and dissident political movements in this country — how can any "liberal" worthy of the title support such a brazenly illiberal concept?
The answer is: they’re in power, now. And they have no compunctions — or very few — about clamping down on the opposition, using whatever repressive device comes to hand.

Thus, "hate crimes" and "hate speech" laws, the "Fairness Doctrine," et al. Too many on the Right called for squelching free speech for Bush opponents during their reign; now, too many on the Left are calling for the same, albeit more subtly (and, obviously, targeted against their opponents on the Right). All conservatives are getting tarred with the extremist brush, now that an abortion provider and a security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum have been murdered by nutjobs.

Whether we happen to land on the Right or Left, we all have to accept the fact that others disagree with us. The answer to free speech we don't like is free speech of our own, countering the views we don't share. And that's the only answer.