Failing accomplishing a zot, he wants you to believe that any point I make is invalid because its author is to be despised. Consider how tyrannical the implications of Sargon's censorship inevitably become. By his lights my support of Donald Trump counts for nothing on my behalf but any criticism I make of Donald Trump should cease.
Should we have failed to criticize George HW Bush when he broke his no new taxes pledge? Should we have failed to criticize George W. Bush for the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court? The very first vanity I made on this forum more than 12 years ago criticized George Bush for his failure to stop illegal immigration coming across the border. Should I have been shut down for advancing an opinion against a sitting Republican president? If we were around during his administration would we have forbidden criticism of Richard Nixon for founding the EPA? For his Supreme Court appointments?
Sargon wants Free Republic to abandon its role as a forum for conservative opinion to become an amen chorus for Donald Trump. I can think of nothing more dangerous to the nation or to this forum than the kind of censorship he wants to put in place. Not because Donald Trump is especially deserving of criticism, but because the absence of criticism of any person in power leads to tyranny. The First Amendment is in place to protect unpopular speech because popular speech hardly needs protection. Protecting unpopular speech is the price we pay to hear the truth because we might never know what is right unless we hear what is unpalatable. That is why the First Amendment opposes shooting the messenger as Sargon would have you do.
I ask you to judge what I say based on the merits of the arguments. Sometimes Sargon will actually engage on the merits and I never fail to deal with him on that level. More often, sadly, he resorts to attacking me personally and deprives you the reader of an opportunity to engage on a level of policy rather than personality.
The real goal of Sargon is not to shut me down, his real goal is to control you by controlling what you read.
