Muzzling Speech Endangers Democracy
“Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country …
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."
Evelyn Beatrice Hall (1903) … although often attributed to Voltaire
“Anti-Woke” rhetoric has become the centerpiece of conservative politics and given license for subtle, and sometimes not-so-subtle, demonization of and discrimination targeting non-straight (LGBTQ) …
“The tyranny of the minority is infinitely more odious and intolerable and more to be feared than that of the majority.”
President William McKinley
Florida Governor and presidential wannabee Ron DeSantis’ anti “Woke” campaign is a series of undemocratic solutions in search of problems and “red meat” for GOP and MAGA conservatives. …
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
Marcus Aurelius
In 1935, during the depth of the Depression Sinclair Lewis published a novel in which the average American’s political ignorance and complacency resulted in a …
“If a public school were to remove every book because it contains one word deemed objectionable to some parent, then there would be no books at all in our public libraries,”
Peter Scheer – Executive Director
California First Amendment Coalition
There is a dangerous movement sweeping across the country. It began with pressures …
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;”
First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
Certain recent Supreme Court decisions have embraced high-priority political objectives of conservative, primarily Christian Right, activists; justifying their opinions on “originalism” and questionable interpretations of the First Amendment.
These range from …
“Censorship reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is the hallmark of an authoritarian regime.”
Potter Stewart Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court
Under the guise of encouraging parental involvement in the education of their children, state legislators, school board members, teachers and school administrators are being pressured, and sometimes …
“Nothing is more dangerous than an idea”
Alain
In an attempt to resolve a festering difficulty which won’t go away, the Concord School Board has embraced the bureaucrat’s favorite ploy and sent the uncomfortable issue off to a committee for “further study”.
Their nightmare began when educators at the Rundlett Junior High School …