The Patriot Post® · Why Freedom of Expression Matters

Grassroots Patriots are in a massive battle — one whose outcome will decide the future of this country. The stakes are extremely high, and it will probably be a long and difficult fight. Our opponents are unrelenting.

What’s at stake? For all intents and purposes, it is freedom of expression (also known as the First Amendment). It is whether grassroots Patriots can even make their case to America. There has been a pattern that shows the Left wants those uppity Patriots to shut up. Just a few examples: Tucker Carlson’s emails were the subject of spying accusations. WinRed came under attack. Now, Merrick Garland has added yet another exhibit by implying parents getting involved in local schools are “domestic terrorists.”

There is one overarching theme we can see from this pattern: The Left wants grassroots Patriots silenced. This even predates Barack Obama. Remember when the Left wanted the “Fairness Doctrine” restored due to the rise of talk radio, led by the late Rush Limbaugh? But the pattern has remained the same since then, only the pretexts have changed.

From the need to “balance” Rush Limbaugh (back when ABC, NBC, CBS, and CNN dominated the airwaves), to Fox News, to dealing with grassroots Patriots becoming more effective on social media, to ultimately terminating the purported “threat to democracy” posed by Donald Trump (again, pay no attention to the norms and standards leftists destroyed in their “get Trump” jihad).

The target wasn’t just conservative media. At a number of events where Trump supporters sought to gather, notably in San Jose back in June 2016, left-wing thugs attacked. The mayor’s response? “At some point Donald Trump needs to take responsibility for the irresponsible behavior of his campaign.” Does that strike you as being awfully similar to asking a rape victim why she was wearing a certain outfit?

There is one thing that cannot be denied: The violence persisted and persisted and persisted. It was fueled by plenty of name-calling and other types of hate speech, too. And just as when they falsely claimed that Sarah Palin incited the Tucson assailant, or that Trump incited the Capitol riot on January 6, or that Limbaugh was liable for the Oklahoma City bombing, the goal was the same: Shame grassroots Patriots into silence and acquiescence to their agenda.

But the argument they made when they tried to get Rush, Palin, and Trump can be turned back on them, and they know it: What sort of actions have their hate speech led to over the years? Dennis Prager’s question about whether left-wing rhetoric led to the “fortification” of the 2020 election via dubious methods also needs to be asked. Given the results of the Arizona audit, there is good reason to ask those questions.

Why is it that the establishment doesn’t want people asking these questions? Or for grassroots Patriots to even speak out at all? In one sense, some numbers provide the answer: Fox News outdraws CNN and MSNBC in the ratings. Even The New York Times admitted that Limbaugh had 15 million people listening to him.

The fact is, when grassroots Patriots have a fair chance to speak to America, they usually win. They win the arguments, and the policies have worked better than those of the Left. But none of that will matter if they can’t make their case to the public.