Communism

Question: Does insistence that communism not be part of [American] society unduly infringe on people’s rights of political expression and thus become the thing it is seeking to avoid?

Proposition #1: Communism is not evil.

Proposition #2: Solidarity against the evils of communism deprives people of rights.

Proposition #2.1: Citizens have a right to seek the overthrow of constitutional government notwithstanding that the government is not consistently, uncorrectably depriving its citizens of their rights.

I would argue that all of the above propositions are false. People can say whatever they wish short of planning or encouraging the overthrow of the government; however, they must not be permitted to engraft into the system of our government principles entirely contrary to its existence. As Abraham Lincoln applied it to slavery, so does “this nation cannot long endure half slave and half free” apply to any attempt to accommodate a system of thought and of government that inherently devalues and endangers liberty. Thus the preservation of liberty for all, while it may occur some restriction upon the desires of some, is naturally not contradictory to liberty itself, for liberty is not equal to the ability to act without any restriction. Rather, it is perhaps the ability to have the actions of the greatest number of individuals be meaningful by virtue of being their own.

We could of course ask similar questions with regards to the philosophies undergirding terrorism around the world. Must we permit people to establish terrorist training camps under the guise of their liberty or rights to organize? Clearly not, for the greater crime to liberty would be that which endangers the liberty of all. A pessimistic view could come to see liberty for the masses as being built upon the oppressed minority. This mischaracterizes the issue. Those who insist on seeking the overthrow of freedom are clearly trying to become the premiere oppressors and in so doing end up voluntarily oppressing themselves. The actions of the free majority are a justified defense.