Today’s most outspoken critics of the First Amendment have arisen on the left. One of the most reasonable of them is Cass Sunstein, who calls for a “New Deal” on freedom of speech.
But Sunstein sounds eminently reasonable compared to them. In his book, which recently won an award from the Kennedy School of Government, he speaks of “Madisonian” ideals, though some of his critics have charged that James Madison would have been appalled at what’s being proposed in his name. Calling for a “New Deal” for the First Amendment, Sunstein is essentially a statist, a man who still believes government is usually a benevolent force. In his hazy nostalgia for the original New Deal, he seems to overlook its regulatory excesses and the evils committed by its proponents–it was, after all, New Dealers who brought us internment camps for American citizens of Japanese descent.
CS: Every administration from Carter to Reagan has suppressed the trading of scientific information to unfriendly nations. Scientific speech is protected; the government has to show that it will lead to misapplication by someone like Saddam. This is seen by some civil libertarians as against the First Amendment. I don’t see it.
BM: Where would you put yourself in terms of people like Catherine MacKinnon and Stanley Fish?
CS: For children I agree with you.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
BM: From what I’ve read, young men on the street are just as likely to be coerced into prostitution as young women.
