Vance rightly excoriates Europe: What values are we defending?

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On Friday,ย Vice President JD Vance gave a historic defense of free speechย at the Munich Security Conference. In front of a clearly hostile assemblage of European diplomats, Vance confronted our allies with their systemic censorship as they demanded more support to โ€œdefend democracy.โ€ย 

For the free speech community, it was akin to Ronald Reaganโ€™s call: โ€œMr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!โ€

Vance questioned how our allies could claim to be the bastions of freedom whileย denying free expression to their citizens.

He then delivered this haymaker: โ€œIf you are running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you. Nor, for that matter, is there anything that you can do for the American people that elected me and elected President Trump.โ€

Not surprisingly, the Europeans sat on their hands while glaring at Vance for calling them out for their hypocrisy. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius declared Vanceโ€™s remarks were โ€œnot acceptable.โ€ An unnamed German official in attendance declared, โ€œThis is all so insane and worrying.โ€

Theย outrage of the Europeansย was only surpassed by our own anti-free speech voices in government, the media and academia.

Commentator and CNN regular Bill Kristol called the speech โ€œa humiliation for the US and a confirmation that this administration isnโ€™t on the side of the democracies.โ€

It appears that free speech is no longer viewed as pro-democracy.

Indeed, it could be outright fascism.

In one of the most bizarre attacks,ย CBS anchor Margaret Brennan confronted Secretary of State Marco Rubioย over Vanceโ€™s support for free speech given the fact that he was โ€œstanding in a country where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.โ€

n other words, it was free speech that brought Hitler to power and caused the Holocaust.

Brennanโ€™s statement is completely detached from history and logic. 

One of the first things that the Nazis did in coming to power in 1933 was to crack down on free speech and criminalize dissent. Censorship is the harbinger of authoritarianism and Germany is the ultimate example of how no censorship system in history has ever succeeded in killing one idea or stopping a single movement.

Byย Jonathan Turley

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