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Will Doolittle's avatar

Great column.

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Richard Naylor's avatar

It may be helpful in thinking about the currernt threats to free speech to also draw lessons from what has already happened in terms of the erosion of rights. First it is important to remember that there are a lot of people affected by these threats and not everyone is about to be eaten by the sharkish process. So if we are resilient, all those who are not under immediate attack should speak up and be heard.

Second, we can learn from what has been happening and strive to do better in the present. We should try to remember that other countries have had this happen, this erosion of freedom, and the US is not immune, we may have been exceptionally lucky, but we are not exceptionally virtuous nor immune to the forces that have overtaken other countries.

Third, we much be very careful not to criticize everything that our current administration does or has done. Rather we need to keep our focus on things most americans believe in so that we can eventually hopefully be heard in areas where we are correct. For example, if it is true that France has put 10% tariffs on US autos, then some hard bargaining is not out of the question. But when lies accompany the bargaining, we need to focus on those.

Four, we should look for openings for arguments to counter unhelpful beliefs. For example, rather than attack tesla cars, which are in all our best interest, we need to keep the focus on freedom of expression, abuses of habeas corpus, and other insidious ideas and actions that threaten to undermine our currency and our standing in the world, e.g. soft power.

Just some thoughts ...

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