Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland caused a stir on Thursday when he made comments about free speech and the First Amendment that appeared to suggest that people who “espouse hate” were not entitled to free speech rights. However, it remains to be seen if by his comments Cardin was insinuating that he or even the Biden administration has plans to repeal part of the Constitution, which would surely draw outrage from citizens of all political sides.
Liberals are always attempting to change the rules when it comes to something that is against their political agenda. Hate speech is protected by the constitution and is backed up by multiple supreme court rulings. However hate speech is subjective, one person’s view on a certain word or phrase, or even body of work can change from one person to another person. Right now according to Democrats and the liberal elites, hate speech right now includes anyone talking about freedom or protecting American ideals.
Daily caller reports, Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland appeared to backtrack Thursday from his claim that people who “espouse hate” are not protected by the First Amendment.
On twitter Senator Cardin stated “Our first amendment is one of the defining jewels of this country. It is NOT a free pass to spew violent rhetoric.”
In the tweet Senator Cardin attached a video where he stated America should take a more European approach to restricting freedom of speech.
Watch.
There was quite a bit of backlash over his comments about wanting to restrict the freedom of speech in America. Comments ranged from citing that free speech is protected to calling for investigations into the governments restricting free speech with twitter.
Senator Cardin replied to all of the comments with a tweet stating “For those interested, here is a longer version of the video referencing hate speech from our recent hearing. Hate speech is protected under the #FirstAmendment, unless it incites violence. #context”
He also attached a longer version of the video where it did provide some context, and ultimately proves even with context that he wants to restrict speech here in America.
Watch.
Ultimately what Senator Cardin provided in his second video is the open admission that he wants private sector companies to be the ones to “do the right thing” and restrict people’s ability to speak freely. He further added that the government does have some role to play in the coming future to help those companies restrict free speech.
Defending free speech, regardless of how offensive one might find it, is essential for any functioning democracy and sounds like something not easily overlooked. We can only hope that this is just another case of a politician getting ahead of themselves in social media and not an attempt at upsetting the free society we have enjoyed for more than 200 years.
Let’s continue this conversation, in the comments below.
