Free Speech Doesn't Have to Be Pretty

Voices from the left and the right ends of the political spectrum have recently spoken up in favor of restricting free speech, the second right guaranteed the people by the Bill of Rights. Most of these calls are well-intentioned, but they are all misguided and deeply un-American.

Demonstrators protesting the current war in Iraq burned American flags and effigies of U.S. soldiers in Portland, Oregon a week or so ago, which led some to call for the resurrection of the imperishable proposed constitutional amendment banning the burning of the American flag. Past incarnations of the proposed amendment have repeatedly passed the House only to fail in the Senate. With Democrats now running the show in both chambers of Congress, any potential revival will likely be dead on arrival.

On the other side, the upcoming First Freedom Project Seminar in Kansas City, Missouri, titled "Federal Laws Protecting Religious Freedom," has given renewed attention to a resolution introduced during the previous session of Congress by Democrat John Conyers Jr. which would, among other things, resolve that the Koran be treated with "dignity and respect." Conservative bloggers like Michelle Malkin and Gates of Vienna's Baron Bodissey, and semi-literate radio host Michael Reagan, unnerved by the participation of a number of Muslim advocacy groups in the Kansas City seminar, have cited Conyers's resolution as an example of what they call the Muslim lobby's "Trojan horse" strategy to supplant the U.S. Constitution with Islamic law.

Since the resolution was introduced almost two years ago, went nowhere and hasn't been brought up in the House since, its belated condemnation by conservatives is much ado about nothing. They are right to suggest that such measures are poisonous to liberty, though most of them are too myopic to see that the anti-flag burning amendment they champion is equally dangerous for the exact same reason.

Freedom of speech means freedom for all speech, not freedom for bland, easily digestible speech only. Most people will never have a reason to burn an American flag or flush a Koran down a toilet, but the Constitution says they have the right to do it if they want to. You don't have to like it. In fact, nobody has to like it. The right to free expression is not contingent on the popularity of the ideas expressed.

Things will not always be pretty in a society that protects the right of its people to free expression. The hateful racism of the Ku Klux Klan and various other white supremacy groups, and the ignorant homophobia of Reverend Fred Phelps and his sect of bigots at Westboro Baptist Church are repugnant to the vast majority of people, but these groups are free to have their say, as are Christian evangelists, and those protesting the war in Iraq, legalized abortion, or whatever else people have a mind to protest.

Even when negative speech crosses the line to negative action, we should be mindful to punish the action and not the speech. The production, distribution and ownership of child pornography is illegal because it is necessarily exploitive and harmful to children. Most Americans find the sexualization of children hideous and perverse, but we must remember that it is the act of child pornography that is rightly outlawed, not the thoughts and feelings that feed it. This means that unless pro-pederasty organizations like NAMBLA are found to be putting their philosophies into practice, no matter how vile the rest of us find those philosophies, they have the same right to exist as your local church.

Military veterans and others with a strong connection to the American flag are understandably upset by its desecration, as are Muslims at the defilement of the Koran, but the right of the people to free speech comes before protecting their hurt feelings. The perpetual debate over the flag is especially perplexing, as vet after vet speaks out in favor of outlawing flag burning as a form of political protest, not realizing that if their side wins, the flag they fought so bravely to defend will be left a meaningless piece of cloth.