Renk: Do You Believe in Free Speech or Not?
An American culture, history, and literary and interdisciplinary studies professor at Skidmore College, Jennifer Delton, recently wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post in which she stated:
Here’s the dilemma college presidents face in the fall: Either uphold free speech on campus and risk violent counter protests, or ban conservative provocateurs and confirm the “freedom of speech” crisis on campuses. Either way their institution’s legitimacy is undermined.
Should this really be a “dilemma” for state run and taxpayer funded universities and colleges?
I find it interesting that she only calls out the “conservative provocateurs” when discussing violent protest or banning speech. This is where the crux of the problem is, the left refuses to acknowledge their provocateurs and their violent protestors. Until they will acknowledge their “hate speech” and their violent protestors then how are we to come together as a nation to address these issues.
Since when has speech been considered violence?
The First Amendment States:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
First I want to point out that when it comes to religion it does not state that there should be a separation between the government and religion. It only states that the government may not make a law establishing a government sponsored religion.
Second the First Amendment relates only to government, meaning that government cannot “prohibit the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech”. That means people in their own lives can ban free speech but any organization that accepts taxpayer money cannot. Public universities and colleges accept a lot of taxpayer dollars from their perspective states thus making them government institutions.
I believe the discussion and “dilemma” of which Ms. Delton speaks of ends there. Unfortunately with the liberals it does not.
The questions you should ask yourself is:
Why are liberals and the Democratic Party against free speech?
What scares these people about mere words?
Why do they have such little faith in their ideologue that they believe words will scare people away from their ideologue and the policies they believe we as American people should believe in and institute?
That my friends are the really questions.
As a conservative I am not afraid of their words, I do not have so little faith in my ideology and the policies that come from that ideologue that I want to ban the left’s words against them.
That should make many of you who say they are Democrats think twice about actually believing in today’s Democratic Party. They are not your grandfather's Democrat Party any longer. They more than likely have left you.
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