Democrats are doubling down on their efforts to censor political speech.
They’re no longer even trying to hide it.
And a top Democrat instantly regretted posting this embarrassing video on social media.
2022 made it clear to the American people that Democrats are the Party of mass censorship.
During a committee hearing, Maryland Senator Benjamin Cardin falsely claimed that hate speech was not protected under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Cardin even posted a video on Twitter of him ranting and raving about the need to censor so-called hate speech.
“If you espouse hate, if you espouse violence, you’re not protected under the First Amendment,” Cardin stated. “So, I think we can be more aggressive in the way that we handle that type of use of the internet.”
“Our First Amendment is one of the defining jewels of this country,” Cardin added. “It is NOT a free pass to spew violent rhetoric.”
Our first amendment is one of the defining jewels of this country. ✅
It is NOT a free pass to spew violent rhetoric. 🚫 pic.twitter.com/4IvCeVq10S
— Senator Ben Cardin (@SenatorCardin) December 28, 2022
Of course, this is patently false, as the First Amendment protects even those things that the Left wants to slap a label of so-called “hate speech” onto.
Of course, nowadays the term is almost always just code for any speech that Democrats don’t like.
Cardin faced backlash on Twitter for posting the clip of him falsely claiming hate speech isn’t protected by the Constitution.
This led to him attempting to walk back his false statement.
“For those interested, here is a longer version of the video referencing hate speech from our recent hearing,” Cardin posted to Twitter. “Hate speech is protected under the #FirstAmendment, unless it incites violence. #context.”
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression put out a statement informing Senator Cardin and other tyrannical Democrats about the First Amendment.
“The government may only punish expressions that fit into the narrow exceptions to the First Amendment. It is a common misconception that hate speech does not enjoy the First Amendment’s protection, but the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that there is no hate speech exception to the First Amendment,” Legislative and Public Policy Director for FIRE Joe Cohn said in an interview with the Daily Caller. “FIRE is pleased to see that Senator Cardin clarified that most hateful speech is indeed protected under the First Amendment.”
It’s the norm for Democrats to demand censorship of “hate speech.”
The reason is because the Left wants to classify all conservative views as “hate speech” as a way to ban and criminalize their political opponents.
Political Animal News will keep you up-to-date on any new developments in this ongoing story.
