Kerby Anderson
The latest survey done by Pew Research documents that most Americans don’t care about free speech. The share of US adults who say the federal government should restrict false information rose from one-third (38%) in 2018 to more than a majority (55%) this year.
If you dig into the demographics of the survey, you also find that Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (70%) are much more likely than Republicans and Republican-leaners (38%) to support the US government restricting information online. It is also worth mentioning that there was virtually no difference between the two parties in 2018.
Dennis Prager adds several conclusions based upon this survey. First, the most important human freedom is freedom of speech. He explains that “free speech is what makes the pursuit of truth possible and makes the advancement of science possible”.
Second, he observes that “America has been the freest country in the world for all of its history.” Unfortunately, this survey illustrates why many of us believe that is changing.
His third and fourth observations fit together. “Free speech is seriously threatened for the first time in American history” and “The threat to free speech comes entirely from the Left.” These observations might sound radical, but I have discussed the basis for them in previous commentaries.
Dennis Prager has documented these observations many times in his writings. He also adds that, “There is no example in history of the Left attaining power and allowing free speech,” and gives numerous historical examples to prove his point.
We should be concerned when a majority of our fellow citizens feel it is appropriate for politicians and bureaucrats to censor what they may deem as false information.

Kerby Anderson
In his new book, Decades of Decadence, Senator Marco Rubio exposes the attacks on four key elements of American strength: good local jobs, stable families, geographical communities, and a sovereign nation that serves as a beacon of freedom and prosperity.
He begins his book by talking about an article published in National Interest when he was getting ready for college. Francis Fukuyama wrote about “The End of History” and predicted a future global order where there were no viable alternatives to democracy. The US defeated fascism during World War II, and the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse.
This utopian vision of the future didn’t take place. In my radio interview with Senator Rubio, I mentioned sitting on a panel with Harvard professor Samuel Huntington, who wrote about The Clash of Civilizations. He predicted world history would be marked by conflicts between three principal groups: western universalism, Muslim militancy, and Chinese assertion.
Senator Rubio explained that the assumption was that nation states would be more focused on economic interests and therefore would not go to war with each other. Politicians started making decisions that benefited this system and stopped making decisions about what was good for America. This empowered China, and now we are heavily dependent upon them for all sorts of essential goods.
We assumed that nationhood was over, and people and countries would be doing what was good for the global economy and international order. Senator Rubio explained that “China didn’t get that memo, and Russia didn’t get that memo, and Iran didn’t get that memo, and North Korea didn’t get that memo.” Many countries have been operating in their national interest.
He believes it is not too late to reject those errors and rebuild this nation. His book provides a critique of the past and a roadmap for the future.