The First Amendment, Liberals, and Left Wingers

We are all liable to being “played” - and also to be made foolish by our own compulsions and fatigue. 

If you take the original meaning of the term “liberal” which emphasized civic liberties and limited government, liberals don’t have to be “left wing”.   Liberals today *tend* to be “left wing” in reaction to the amount of concentrated power associated with private corporate wealth.  And such liberals do tend to resent the amount of “free speech” corporate money can buy - especially when such “speech” is filled with outright lies as well as the typical biases against workers, families, and consumers in favor of “freedom” for profiteers.

But the liberal civil liberties associated with the US Bill of Rights must be defended and built upon.  We need to be very careful about suppressing free speech even by well funded irresponsible provocateurs.  Their financial backers may be irresponsible and idiotic (selfish and short sighted), but the enemies of democracy have always been those who value personal wealth over the common good.  They can afford to hire the cleverest teams to trick us into destroying our own protections. 

Liberals don’t have to be left wing.  But “left wingers”  MUST be liberal - if they are seriously motivated by progressive, humanitarian, socialist/communitarian, democratic ideals. 

Does the First Amendment Favor Liberals or Conservatives?