That Darned Amendment

Why what the Founders wrote still matters:

The job of the First Amendment is to protect the individual's right to say what he wants, to argue for his cause or against your cause in any public square — real or, these days, virtual. The First's job isn't to provide some kind of "balance" between an aggrieved group — of Wu's choice, you can be sure — and so-called "corporate interests." "The First Amendment" in the 18th century, Wu claimed, "was a tool that helped the underdog." And yet he would neuter it to silence dissenting voices online — the very collusion between Big Government and Big Tech that murdered the Hunter Biden laptop story to influence the 2020 election. The disingenuousness on display requires Carlin's bitter wit to properly eviscerate, so let me finish with a couple of thoughts that lack Carlin's bite but that he'd surely agree with. The First Amendment's job is to forbid Congress from making any law abridging, among other rights, our freedom of speech. And it's up to the courts to knock down any attempt — by Congress or by executive fiat — to do so.

Let freedom of speech ring...