There’s been a growing concern among Americans that free speech is on the way out and isn’t being protected like it should be and has been throughout American history. There’s a virtually infinite amount of books written about how the Founding Fathers intentionally gave Americans the First Amendment so that no one could ever take away their ability to speak their minds in the public space.

It doesn’t matter how grotesque the comments in a public space may be, the government may not under any circumstances infringe on the right to free speech. Calls to violence are not examples of free speech, so there are “limits” so to speak. Yet outside of criminality, no government in America can limit speech that certain persons may find objectionable.

Apparently the Vice President pick for Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, doesn’t understand this at all. Either he doesn’t understand it or he very much disagrees with what the First Amendment stands for and the reason why Americans cherish their First Amendment rights so much.

In a viral interview with MSNBC, Tim Walz tried to argue that there is no right to free speech if that speech includes “misinformation” or blatant lies. He claims that “there’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy.”

I found the full clip… it’s not any better. Tim Walz said on MSNBC that he wants the Government to arbitrate all speech centered around elections pic.twitter.com/iv0DISQpxO

— NoLightStreets (@NoLightStreets) August 26, 2024

In context, he was claiming that anyone telling others that they needed to vote the day after the election, by telling them the wrong date of the election, was liable for criminality. To him, making a joke like telling your political opponents to go to the ballot box on the Wednesday after the Tuesday elections in November is free game for throwing someone behind bars or smacking them with eye-watering legal fines.

“Years ago, it was the little things: telling people to vote the day after the election, and we kind of brushed them off. Now, we know it’s intimidation at the ballot box. It’s undermining the idea that mail-in ballots aren’t legal. I think we need to push back on this. There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech, and especially around our democracy. Tell the truth, where the voting places are, who can vote, who’s able to be there,” Tim Walz said in his MSNBC appearance.

The only problem is he’s dead wrong. The First Amendment does absolutely guarantee the right to tell others in a public forum and space that they should go to the polls the day after the elections, which everyone knows is a joke, because there’s nothing criminal about that speech. The First Amendment does specifically apply to free speech of misinformation. There’s nothing criminal about lying in America. If you don’t want to live in an authoritarian or totalitarian state, that’s the way it should be.

Not only that but it also applies to speech that someone might find “hateful.” In America, it is entirely legal and fair to go on the public streets and tell someone you absolutely hate them because of the way they look. You can tell someone they look like a moron, you can tell someone you don’t like their hair color, you can criticize someone how you want.

The modern American Left has waged war on this because it opens the possibility for someone who belongs to their protected class to be confronted with reality. Someone on the street might tell a trans-identifying male that they believe the trans-identifying male is actually a female. That’s free speech. Call it “hateful” speech all you want, but it’s legally protected speech.

In other countries like the U.K. and Canada, there is no constitutional right to free speech and so it’s a lot trickier. There are various forms of legal rights to free speech, but it’s not so enshrined like it is in the United States. This is why we’re seeing individuals face fines and arrests for telling someone else that they don’t believe in “transgenderism” in the U.K. and Canada.

There are even reports that individuals in those regions are being “visited” by police officers because of social media posts they are making that some find to be “hateful” speech. Some people over in the U.K. are being arrested as well.

British man arrested for making offensive comments on his Facebook page

Americans used to the First Amendment are often surprised about the number of arrests made in the UK for speech crimes

There will by many arrests after the recent riots as online tensions were very high

🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/m3jbbE9wBx

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 5, 2024

Ontario Provincial Police go to ladies house over her social media post…regarding people 💩ing in the WASAGA BEACH sand.

Her TikTok was also removed because she was unhappy her children could not dig in the sand without finding 💩 treasure.

This country has gone downhill with… pic.twitter.com/xrDpF9ZLmJ

— Canada Cop Watch (@canadacopwatch) July 30, 2024

It sounds like Tim Walz wants this type of society brought to the United States. The problem is that it’s in direct contradiction to everything the First Amendment stands for. He’s waging a war on the First Amendment and the rights that have been so precious to the American people that, historically, anyone who admits to wanting to get rid of them are shunned out of politics forever.

The question is whether that will happen to the First Amendment-hater Tim Walz.

Do you think the First Amendment should be repealed? Or do you believe in full free speech rights for all Americans? Let us know what you think in the comments below.