If You Like Free Speech, Vote Republican and You Can Keep It

(Editor's Note: The following opinion column does not constitute an endorsement of any political party, or candidate, on the part of Newsmax.)

If you like the ability to speak freely — to exercise your First Amendment right to state your opinion openly without fear of government reprisal — you may want to steer clear of the Democrat Party this November.

Two years ago presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was asked to address the subject of misinformation about voting.

"I think we need to push back on this," Walz said. "There's no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy. Tell the truth, where the voting places are, who can vote, who's able to be there. . . ."

However, the First Amendment guarantees everyone the right to free speech and carving out exceptions to that right for "misinformation" or "hate speech" would make the government the final authority of the truth.

That in and of itself violates First Amendment guarantees. It amounts to the state telling the people what the truth is, and nothing else can be accepted.

It’s Orwellian — "1984," but 40 years late. And if we want to see where it would lead, we can look only to out British cousins across the pond.

The United Kingdom has an immigration problem similar to ours, and instead of addressing the problem, they’re prosecuting anyone who complains about it.

Earlier this month a man filmed officers arresting him for making an unacceptable post to social media.

"I’m arresting you on suspicion of improper use of the electronic communications network," the officer told him. "This is in relation to some comments that you’ve made on a Facebook page."

When the arrestee asked what were so objectionable, he was ignored.

Elon Musk reposted the video and asked, "Is this Britain or the Soviet Union?"

In April British police arrested another man for hate speech — but that time he was apprised of what he said that was so hateful.

"So, specifically, you’re here because I said that Christians need to take a stand," the arrestee said to the two officers and a man who referred to himself as a nurse.

"This is discrimination against Christians right now, because if I was Islamic, and I said anything along them lines you wouldn’t care.

"You allow hate preachers in this country to preach the killing of homosexuals, and now you’re on my door because I said Christians need to take a stand," he added.

In late February Liverpool resident Shaun Tuck, 37, was sentenced to a 16-month prison sentence after being found guilty of malicious communications for making a racist comment in a Facebook post.

The former footballer and current Everton football club fan is also barred from attending any Everton matches, either home or away, for the next six years.

And that’s what happens when we allow the state to decide truth from fiction, fact from hate.

But here in the United States the ignorance of the First Amendment isn’t limited to the Democrat’s presumptive vice-presidential nominee — their presumptive presidential nominee appears confused as well.

At various times Vice President Kamala Harris told America to stop using the terms "radical Islamic terrorism" and "illegal aliens," although the first distinguishes jihadists from peaceful Muslims, and the second accurately describes a non-citizen who arrived here illegally.

During the Trump administration Harris also cautioned us against saying "Merry Christmas" until undocumented immigrants were given legal status.

And if we are to accept what the Biden-Harris administration claim are "truths," we should place former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, on a "terror watch list" since she left the Democratic Party, while the death penalty should be taken off the table for actual terrorists like 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

In 2013, the fact-check group PolitiFact called then-President Barack Obama's "If you like your healthcare plan, you can keep it" claim the "Lie of the Year."

If we don’t straighten up, fly right, and overwhelmingly vote Republican in November, a future PolitiFact "Lie of the Year" may be "If you like your freedom of speech you can keep your freedom of speech."

But it will also require a change in our own mindset.

The nonprofit Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) released the results of a new poll indicating that a majority of Americans (56%) believe that the rights contained in the First Amendment go too far.

The late theoretical physicist Richard Feynman once said that "I would rather have questions that can’t be answered, than answers that can’t be questioned."

Progress can only be achieved by questioning current assumptions.

The flat Earth theory was falling out of favor, long ago, beginning in the 6th century, B.C.

The phrase "all men are created equal" originally applied to only Caucasian males until it also was questioned.

If we give the state the keys to the truth, America will fall like ancient Greece and the Roman empire.

Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.