On Free Speech and Left-Wing Fundamentalism

The horror of self-righteous vanguards slaughtering innocents in the name of ideological rectitude exercised the democratic left in both the United States and Europe for much of the twentieth century. In response, it generated a deep moral commitment to democratic forms of socialism, a liberal constitutional order and the rule of law as a way of guaranteeing basic freedoms, including free speech, and the importance of not demonizing and denouncing everyone who disagrees with you. Such a position entails a commitment to listening to those with whom we disagree rather than shouting them down or hounding them out at every opportunity. Democratic politics does not begin when everyone we disagree with or don't like has been made to leave the room.