Free Speech

December 22, 2025

The Long Road to Freedom: María Corina Machado’s Nobel Journey

I will never forget my encounter with María Corina Machado, in Lima, Peru, in 2014. Upon landing in that city she learned that the Venezuelan government, which had been persecuting her, had stripped her of her parliamentary immunity and that if she returned to her native land she would not be able to leave again. Continue Reading...

September 24, 2025

Cycles of Censorship in a Nation of Speech

Debates about Charlie Kirk’s work and legacy inevitably involve the issue of free speech. Both supporters and opponents of Kirk would probably agree that he devoted his life to bringing conservative ideas into institutions that had been relatively isolated from or hostile to such ideas. Continue Reading...

September 20, 2024

The Slow Death of Free Speech in Britain

Slowly, yet perceptibly, free speech is dying in Britain. On July 4, 2024, the people of Britain elected a new government. They did so decisively in terms of seats won, but rather less conclusively with the share of the vote. Continue Reading...

May 09, 2024

The Campus Protests Have Nothing to Do with Free Speech

The turmoil on American campuses today has nothing to do with free speech. Rather, it uses free speech as an appeal to a Boomer trope—but it’s the wrong trope to use in this case. Continue Reading...

November 10, 2022

Who Decides What Books Your Child Should Read?

At its best, a democratic polity ought to deal well with complexity, this complexity composed of clashing ideas and principles as well as the interests of multiple actors and stakeholders. Such a polity will seek proximate solutions that require constant fine-tuning. Continue Reading...

June 10, 2022

Twitter will be no worse with owner Elon Musk, and probably no better

Elon Musk has already created the first truly successful electric car. He wants his company SpaceX to put men on Mars. Musk himself has occasionally joked that he wants to die on Mars, just not on impact. Continue Reading...

February 28, 2022

Justin Trudeau’s political overreach is a greater threat to liberty than the truckers’ protest

The mask has been torn off. If anyone had any doubts that some governments will do literally anything to suppress anyone who protests what they regard as unreasonable measures by the state to address the COVID pandemic, events in Canada has surely disabused them of such illusions. Continue Reading...

February 23, 2022

A new documentary on the life of Kurt Vonnegut is unstuck in time

What would Kurt Vonnegut have made of the accordion-style cycle of lockdowns and other restraints imposed on us by the seemingly permanent American sanitary dictatorship devoted to the religion of health in this the centenary year of his birth? Continue Reading...

February 21, 2022

George Washington will not be canceled

Cancel—as in noisily toppling George Washington’s statue and striking his name off of buildings? In 2020, one group demanded the removal of his statue from the campus of the University of Washington. Continue Reading...

February 13, 2022

Joe Rogan is not a problem, but a mirror

The Joe Rogan Experience is one of the world’s most popular podcasts and, for the past two weeks, the world’s most controversial. Launched in 2009 by comedian and martial arts enthusiast Joe Rogan, the show was originally recorded in his home and is known for its meandering interviews, sometimes surpassing three hours in length, with comedians, athletes, businessmen, conspiracy theorists, journalists, musicians, fringe political figures, magicians, and doctors. Continue Reading...

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