The Liberal Attack on Freedom of Speech

4) Sponsoring a federal “hate crimes” bill that will greatly expand the scope of federal power and lay the foundation for “thought crime” and suppressing speech. Similar laws are being wielded in Canada, Great Britain, and Sweden to eliminate public discourse critical of homosexuality. In that spirit, the English House of Lords recently enacted a law prohibiting private, religious schools from teaching the Biblical doctrine that homosexuality, like other out-of-wedlock sex, is a sin. As attorney Scott Lively notes, this repeals the religious freedom guarantee in the Magna Carta (1215), the legal fountainhead of individual rights.

5) Using the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) as a liberal mouthpiece, while shutting out conservative voices. PBS abruptly canceled “Islam Versus Islamists: Voices from the Muslim Center,” a documentary that had been slated as part of the America at a Crossroads series, which began airing in April. Although PBS denies any political motive, film maker Martyn Burke says the network first demanded that he fire conservative co-producer Frank Gaffney and then nixed the segment.

6) Insisting that only ideologically predictable scientists are heard on the topic of “man-made” global warming. For example, the Weather Channel features The Climate Code with Dr. Heidi Cullen, who calls for decertifying any meteorologist who won’t toe the line on human-caused “climate change.”

This short list is by no means exhaustive. Using actual government power or merely a compliant media, liberals are trying to reestablish the kind of information monopoly that they enjoyed before the Internet, talk radio, and other conservative outlets provided alternatives.

In closing, let’s revisit Mario Savio’s adventures. Most people don’t recall that, among other things Savio said that December day in Berkeley, he assailed authorities for not allowing him to show certain “movies” in Sproul Hall.

Liberals have a soft spot for porn, because it helps undermine the moral order that facilitates personal responsibility, and thus, independence from the elites. The problem, Savio said, was “a lot of squeamish moral mothers for a moral America and other people on the outside.”

Yes, those people. They need to be dealt with.