It isn't just about free speech

'Shamefully, even Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst weighed in on the side of censorship, saying in a statement that “Every citizen is entitled to the freedom of speech, but no one should have the right to use government funds or institutions to portray acts that are morally reprehensible to the vast majority of Americans.”'

http://volokh.com/2010/03/29/a-sad-victory-for-thuggery-in-texas/

Strange days we live in. Lt Governor Dewhurst, who I don't know from Adam, is slammed by Eugene Volokh for crimes against free speech.

As if there were not two issues here.

Fist issue- free speech. I am always on the side of free speech, whenever or wherever.

Second issue- whether the public should pay to have its religion trashed, its values mocked and its way of life undermined.

Does Lt Governor Dewhurst have a valid point about the second issue or not? A couple of years ago the BBC commissioned an extremely hateful and blasphemous TV play ripping into Christianity- despite the fact that 70% of Britons are self-declared Christians. This majority are forced by the government to pay over a hundred and twenty pounds every year to fund the BBC whether they like it or not.

I would love to hear the moral justification for being forced to pay to hear your deepest held beliefs rediculed and spat upon. I absolutely uphold the right of athiests and Christian-haters to espouse their views- and I also absolutely uphold my right to not to have to pay for that.

Most American Universities and colleges get funds from the State and Federal governments. Should there not be a mechanism for de-funding Universities and Colleges which consistently promote anti-American, anti-free market, pro-marxist views held by virtually no American taxpayers? If you want to run a University where these views are consistently and methodically taught, let the free market decide how much real demand there is for those things.

When funding issues are mooted, the left insists that it be allowed to dominate Universities and Colleges, and that any attempt to take away their funding strikes at the freedom of speech and the fundamental principles of Academic freedom. The rest of the time, they are perfectly happy to interfere with the free-speech rights of conservatives and patriotic Americans, army recruiters, pro-gun groups and loads of other non-pc organisations, and squelch academic freedom under the guise of preventing hate speech and providing a 'safe learning environment'.

Anybody who can't figure out this shell game really needs to go back to primary school.

The game that the left have perfected is to make guilty people pay to have their own institutions and beliefs subverted.

It is time to stop.