Recently, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) has involved itself in a case featuring laws passed by both Texas and Florida that prohibit social media companies from censoring or removing user posts. The laws were passed in the wake of an institutionalized, anti-conservative movement that has garnered steam in recent years, with a growing number of Americans becoming privy to an ever-expanding, weaponized bureaucracy that is being wielded against them. Whichever way the Supreme Court rules, it will have a profound impact on the standards associated with free speech in America.
Advocates of censorship argue that it is a necessity in protecting the public interest. While looking out for the best interest of the public is a noble ideal, it is the slipperiest slope of them all. How do we define “public good”, and more importantly, who is defining it? It is most certainly not the place of the federal government to concern itself with defining virtue. Those with the power to legally define these terms possess an institutionalized weapon against dissenting opinion, and that is a danger to both free speech and our republic.
The Biden administration's efforts to pressure social media platforms to censor user opinion that has been deemed “hate speech” or contradictory to establishment narratives on the COVID-19 pandemic or the results of the 2020 election represent a frightening prospect to what is perhaps America’s most important foundational principle: freedom of speech. Umbrella terms such as “disinformation” or “hate speech” are open-ended canons ready to fire upon those who might voice opposition to the non-negotiable narrative put forth by the new managerial class of left-wing bureaucrats.
These efforts paint a clear attempt by the federal government to launder its dirty work through the private sector. It is not only unlawful to attempt to avoid constitutional boundaries, it is disgraceful. Using private companies to side-step the parameters that keep tyranny at bay reveals the true extent of the rot that has been growing within American institutions. It is almost unrecognizable in comparison with what the founding fathers laid out for us centuries ago. The constitution is the framework that sets this country apart. Without it, little would separate authoritarian tendencies from reality. An America where free speech exists only inside the limited parameters pre-approved by authorities would represent the death of the American democratic era that has endured for nearly 250 years.
The greatest hallmark of the United States of America is our free speech. The best litmus test for the health of our nation will always be measured using free speech as a baseline. The ability to say things that others might find distasteful or offensive is an inevitable byproduct of this right. Throughout the generations, Americans have always recognized a personal responsibility to their own integrity and nation to bear the burden of free speech; that is, to take it upon themselves that the grievances suffered at the hands of those who might use their right to free speech to oppose or offend them do not provoke a wrathful sense of entitlement that might be used to trample upon the rights of others.
We find ourselves in a republic on life support. The all-encompassing political narrative of the current establishment seeks to shut down and tame the American spirit. The spirit that speaks when it pleases, who does not filter its words for approval before speaking, lest it offend, the spirit who brings the hammer of the people down upon those whose vanity has called them to seek power. The United States of America must course correct before our republic, this bastion of freedom, is stripped of its last remaining virtues and plunged into ruin.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the individual author.