Democrats Want China’s Restrictions on Free Speech - Turley

Jonathan Turley, a liberal constitutional scholar at George Washington University, wrote Saturday that some Democrats were using the coronavirus pandemic to demand China-style restrictions on free speech.

In the op-ed, published in The Hill, Turley criticized “the politicians and academics who have called for the censorship of social media and the internet,” including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Hillary Clinton, and others:

The only thing spreading faster than the coronavirus has been censorship and the loud calls for greater restrictions on free speech. The Atlantic published an article last week by Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith and University of Arizona law professor Andrew Keane Woods calling for Chinese style censorship of the internet.

They declared that “in the great debate of the past two decades about freedom versus control of the network, China was largely right and the United States was largely wrong” and “significant monitoring and speech control are inevitable components of a mature and flourishing internet, and governments must play a large role in these practices to ensure that the internet is compatible with society norms and values.”

The justification for that is the danger of “fake news” about coronavirus risks and cures. Yet this is only the latest rationalization for rolling back free speech rights. For years, Democratic leaders in Congress called for censorship of “fake news” on social media sites. Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube have all engaged in increasing levels of censorship and have a well known reputation for targeting conservative speech.…

Citizens now will have to decide, as Goldsmith and Woods insist, if “China was right.” For my part, I remain hopeless in my desire for old fashioned free speech before the pandemic. You see, this “new normal” seems a lot like the old normal that the Framers changed with the First Amendment. China may be right for many in Congress and academia, but it remains on the wrong side of history. Not even a pandemic will change that.

Turley, who does not support President Donald Trump, nevertheless testified in Trump’s defense before the House Judiciary Committee during the impeachment inquiry, warning Congress it was abusing its power.

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• Democrats Want China’s Restrictions on Free Speech - Turley (Views: 401, 2020-05-03, 10:47 am)
  • Democrat controlled media equals Chinese propaganda. - Most of the media is bought and (Views: 215, 2020-05-03, 1:41 pm)
    • “significant monitoring and speech control are inevitable - components of a mature and flourishing (Views: 317, 2020-05-04, 4:44 am)
  • A liberal leaning legal scholar in the old sense of the - word liberal, but with principles. (Views: 248, 2020-05-03, 1:50 pm)
    • Turley is finally waking up to how dangerous the left - is getting. (Views: 215, 2020-05-03, 1:55 pm)
    • He’s an old-fashioned liberal, not a totalitarian leftist - type. Time has passed him by in (Views: 272, 2020-05-03, 3:06 pm)
  • I will go one further, Professor Turley. Democrats want - to wield the same power as the (Views: 253, 2020-05-03, 1:54 pm)
    • I think all activity can be regulated in the "interest" - of public health. Scary. (Views: 213, 2020-05-03, 4:00 pm)
  • Rush has been warning of the ChiComms and Dems - for years. (Views: 294, 2020-05-03, 1:57 pm)
    • Yes, you're right! He used to talk about why liberals love - dictators. They have moved even (Views: 285, 2020-05-03, 2:12 pm)
  • Liberal Fascists still so dimwitted they do - understand that they, too, will (Views: 221, 2020-05-03, 2:05 pm)
    • They are against the speech for personal freedom. That's - what makes them so dangerous. (Views: 252, 2020-05-03, 2:15 pm)
    • Marie Harf (former advisor to John Kerry) said small - businesses aren't really meaningful (Views: 226, 2020-05-03, 2:50 pm)
      • Isn't that the same ding-dong - who said that the solution (Views: 197, 2020-05-04, 6:29 pm)
        • YES! She also made a non-existent gun term, high - magazine clips. You are correct. (Views: 221, 2020-05-05, 5:51 am)
        • She's now working for the Dems for 2020. Perfect fit - for Biden, I would say! LOL (Views: 203, 2020-05-05, 5:52 am)
          • Neither of them has the - sense God gave a goose. (Views: 212, 2020-05-06, 8:56 am)
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    • Lovely. Thank you. - Permission, Sir, to copy. (Views: 214, 2020-05-03, 2:49 pm)
      • Permission granted. LOL. I don't know who the original - author is, but I saw it on Fakebook. (Views: 253, 2020-05-03, 2:56 pm)
    • This is an exaggeration - Get over it (Views: 265, 2020-05-03, 3:11 pm)
      • No it isn't. If there's anything to - "get over" it's the delusion (Views: 221, 2020-05-04, 10:15 am)
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    • This is why these despots - keep chipping away at the (Views: 207, 2020-05-04, 10:25 am)
  • As Orwell explained in the novel 1984, it is power. Power - for the sake of power. Nothing (Views: 225, 2020-05-03, 3:04 pm)
  • When you’re trying to be sneaky and oppressive, free - speech is the first necessary (Views: 224, 2020-05-04, 4:45 am)
    • They're not sneaky about it at all. - If it's wrongthink they want (Views: 212, 2020-05-04, 10:30 am)

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