Free speech is increasingly imperiled as nations around the world turn to authoritarianism, which comes packaged as everything from iron-fisted dictatorial rule to coercive “progressivism.”
One thing every brand of authoritarianism has in common is speech codes. Dissenting ideas dilute authority, so they must be suppressed. We should be thankful for the free speech that remains, and rise from our Thanksgiving tables prepared to fight for it.
Our political speech is soggy with endless calls to “fight” for various “rights,” few of which bear any resemblance to what America’s founders considered to be inalienable rights. One important clue to their thinking is that rights were seen as something an unjust government could take away from citizens by force, not something benevolent governments present to citizens as a gift.
Freedom of speech was codified as the first of those rights because preserving the others is impossible without the ability to speak up and organize. We might reflect on the importance of religious freedom as the very first component of the First Amendment because inalienable rights are impossible to understand without acknowledging a power higher than the state from which those rights descend. Once the concept of rights is understood, safeguarding the ability to discuss them and organize peacefully to protect them is vital.