Free Speech Reconsidered

Whether an individual has the right or not is still controlled by government, unfortunately, but I believe it is a universally held principle that all people SHOULD have the right to free speech (the only voices that oppose it being either governments or people whose particular favorite ox is being skewered at the moment).

But should a Government have the right to freedom of expression?

I know all governments assert that right, and exercise it - governments pretty much do whatever they damn well please - but the fact that government LEADERS have in recent history begun to be punished for misdeeds against humanity, the zeitgeist is shifting millimeter by millimeter toward a world where governments can't act wih complete impunity.

So should Freedom of Expression be a Right of governance?

Take what happened in Germany in the 30s, for example, where expressions of anti-semitism made by the government not just wound up written into the law, but legitimized the very concept of anti-semitism to the point of genocide (and because the German culture is one of amazing proficiency, with both high technological and bureaucratic competence, that genocide was executed with appalling efficiency).

Government is not just another voice, it is THE voice. So should THE voice be permitted complete feeedom of expression?

I'm not asking here HOW we would go about restricting that freedom - that's for later discussion IF the consensus emerges that restriction is called for.

Personally, I say NO, government should NOT be permitted complete freedom of expression, largely because of the potential for incalculable harm, as in the German holocaust. (I go even further and would abridge feeedom of expression for ALL non-human entities, with the abridgements increasing in proportion to the power and reach of the voice in question - but for this discussion let's limit the question to governments).

Mark Baird
Alameda CA