{"id":15517,"date":"2021-01-25T13:39:35","date_gmt":"2021-01-25T18:39:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/?p=15517"},"modified":"2024-09-11T15:55:44","modified_gmt":"2024-09-11T19:55:44","slug":"biden-and-the-death-of-free-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jimbovard.com\/blog\/2021\/01\/25\/biden-and-the-death-of-free-speech\/","title":{"rendered":"Biden and the Death of Free Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"
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American Conservative, January 25, 2021<\/h3>\n

Joe Biden and the Death of Free Speech<\/span><\/a><\/h1>\n
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The president’s first day was marked by a harsh crackdown on the right to protest. So much for a return to normalcy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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January 25, 2021<\/p>\n

|<\/span>James Bovard <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The media loved Joe Biden\u2019s inauguration: his platitude-laden speech and his calls for \u201cunity\u201d struck the perfect note for a Washington establishment that wants no more guff from the \u201cdeplorables.\u201d But few commentators stooped to point out the radical changes of Biden\u2019s big day, such as its being the first inaugural since 1865 with the military openly occupying the nation\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n

In his inaugural address, Biden castigated<\/a> \u201ca riotous mob [that] thought they could use violence to silence the will of the people.\u201d But politicians invoked that same mob to justify silencing protesters for miles around the inauguration. Biden also declared, \u201cThat\u2019s America. The right to dissent peaceably, within the guardrails of our republic. It\u2019s perhaps this nation\u2019s greatest strength.\u201d Yet during Biden\u2019s inauguration, new \u201cguardrails\u201d drove free speech into the dirt.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post,<\/i> a bellwether of the media\u2019s adulation of the new president, had no problem with silencing dissent. Its report on the issue was headlined<\/a>, \u201cIn closing Mall, officials try to strike a balance between the First Amendment and securing Biden\u2019s inauguration.\u201d The \u201cbalance\u201d was achieved by suspending the First Amendment on the most important protest day on the American calendar.<\/p>\n

The Post <\/i>noted that only one protest would occur during the Biden inauguration \u201cwith about five demonstrators manning a video screen, tucked away near Union Station, along a secure perimeter, surrounded by largely vacant D.C. streets.\u201d Amazingly, the Post<\/i> portrayed this as proof that the First Amendment had survived: \u201cD.C. and federal officials reached a compromise. They said the plan allows the city\u2019s tradition as the nation\u2019s preeminent stage for protest and free-speech gatherings to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government dictated so many restrictions on protests that almost all the groups that planned to demonstrate threw in the towel. But that didn\u2019t deter federal officials from taking a victory lap. National Park Service spokesman Mike Litterst declared<\/a>, \u201cWhen the government is under assault, that\u2019s especially a time you do not want to appear to be denying civil liberties or denying people their rights under the First Amendment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Federal repression got a seal of approval from an organization long renowned for its uncompromising defense of free speech. Scott Michelman, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union\u2019s Washington D.C. office, told<\/a> the Post<\/i>:<\/p>\n

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