Free speech attacks have long history

[struggle4progress]

President Bush created a little bit of a stir recently when he insisted The New York Times was irresponsible when it published stories detailing the administration’s efforts to secretly track overseas money transfers.

He made similar comments when newspapers revealed that the United States is operating secret prisons around the world and that the government is listening in on phone conversations inside the United States without warrants ...

These attacks on free speech and news organizations are hardly new. Since the first rumblings of our revolution, the government has done everything in its power to silence criticism and restrain a free press on the grounds that government is hindered when people learn what the government is doing. In reality, all history has shown that government secrecy almost always is used to hide administration shortcomings and illegal acts. The only ones hindered by these revelations are the lawbreakers who uncomfortably stand exposed in the spotlight ...

Former Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas got it right when he said: “Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions. It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.”

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