Is Communist Speech Free Speech?

mises.org / Andrew Syrios / May 13, 2017

Last month, former Vermont governor Howard Dean announced that “hate speech is not protected by the first amendment.” Specifically, Dean was opposing a proposed speaking engagement for columnist Ann Coulter, whose ideas are apparently so offensive to Dean, that even the most fundamental freedoms cannot be allowed to endure.

Dean no doubt thought he was striking a great blow against the fascists who would deprive us of our fundamental rights. However, if Dean wants to attack speech that is actually connected to mass murder and the destruction of human society, he might want to look somewhere other than Coulter’s enthusiasm for a border wall.

Indeed, if Howard Dean is so concerned about hate, he’s likely find a lot more of it among communists than among people like Coulter, despite her faults.

A Truly Deadly Ideology 

Recently we commemorated another Victims of Communism Day, which is sometimes euphemistically referred to as May Day. This time, there were riots in Paris as “protesters” committed all sorts of vandalism, assault, and mayhem. In addition to the standard Che shirts and the like, there were actually people holding banners with Stalin’s face on it!

In Berkeley, and really across the United States and Europe, we’ve seen various Antifa communists commit all sorts of violence against anyone they deem to be a fascist. And as far as I can tell, Antifa defines a fascist as anyone who isn’t a communist. They’ve pepper sprayed women and hit men with bike locks. These folks certainly aren’t run-of-the-mill left liberals. Indeed, as Antifa has so helpfully told us, “Liberals get the bullet too.”

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