I’m just going to tell you something real: at this point, it would actually be beneficial to abolish the First Amendment and create a legal speech code in the United States.
The First Amendment system, which includes an assumption of de jure freedom to say whatever you want to say, is now so rife with abuse that a French style system of speech laws would allow you to actually argue that you’re allowed to say what you want to say and can’t be punished for it by private and/or public bodies.
Right now, we have all of the negatives of a censorship regime without the ability to argue in defense of our rights.
I’m not being hyperbolic. I’m saying that as a literal matter, we would have more protections if the things it is illegal to say were enumerated in law. You could have a religious protection that allows you to oppose homosexuality as a Christian in a more directly regulated system of speech control. In America, they can just do whatever they want to you.
A civil liberties group is accusing an Oklahoma judge of infringing on a Christian activist’s First Amendment rights with a restraining order they say is so broad as to prevent him from citing Bible verses against LGBT activism on social media.
CBN reports that Rich Penkoski, head of the online ministry Warriors for Christ, has been publicly critical of churches that support same-sex “marriage” and drag shows for children, including sharing publicly available photos posted by those churches of a same-sex “wedding” and children celebrating LGBT “pride” month, accompanied by Bible verses. Penkoski also disputed an LGBT activist’s denials that sexually-charged performances had taken place at a local “pride” event by posting photos and video to the contrary.
LGBT activists claimed they felt “threatened” by the content, and as a result, a Washington County judge has imposed on Penkoski a five-year “protective” order against conduct that could cause those activists to fear for their safety. Violations would be punished by up to a year in prison.
The Rutherford Institute, a conservative Christian law firm that is representing Penkoski, says that the terms of the order are “so vague and overly broad as to chill lawful First Amendment activities” and “could broadly be interpreted to prevent him from citing similar Bible verses critical of the church’s or LGBTQ group’s activities.”
“Religious individuals have a clear First Amendment right to publicly cite Bible verses that reflect their concerns about moral issues of the day without being accused of stalking, harassing or terrorizing those who are offended by the sentiments,” said Rutherford president and constitutional attorney John W. Whitehead. “This case is a foreshadowing of the government’s efforts to insulate the populace from all things that might cause offense by criminalizing nonviolent First Amendment activities (speech, thought and actions) perceived as politically incorrect.”
The group is now asking the Oklahoma Supreme Court to overturn the order on First Amendment grounds.
To be clear, I don’t actually want to abolish the First Amendment. Someone is going to take that the wrong way if I don’t get even more explicit here.
Any change in US law, like every change in US law since at least 2001, would take away freedoms.
The point, which again, is not hyperbolic, is that countries with specific banned speech terms and concepts have more freedom than the United States. This includes France, in fact, where you might get a six month jail term for saying something negative about Islam, but you won’t be permanently banned from employment or banking or sued into oblivion.
The difference between America and China in terms of the freedom of speech (along with, for that matter, the freedom of association, economic freedom, and so on) is so vast as to be cartoonish in nature. You could say “China has 100 times more freedom than America” or “China has a trillion times more freedom than America.” Or whatever. It’s not quantifiable, because you’re effectively comparing different planes of existence.
It’s not clear to me how long this democracy system is sustainable, given the extent to which the very most basic human freedoms are suppressed. When you combine this (as it probably always has to be combined) with the promotion of the most unnatural acts, of the attacks on God and the order of the universe, you’ve created a chaotic system of hell that can’t possibly maintain structural form indefinitely.
I think that the end of America will come from outside of America. But this is a matter of a timescale. Unless the elite are capable of using some kind of microwaves to control people’s brains and directly regulate their thoughts and behavior, the cracks are going to spread slowly then very quickly.