Censorship, Liberty, and Truth

A sentiment exists among our leaders today that citizens are children and need to be protected. The belief has spread with viral depth. It has persisted with religious tenacity, and the state is at fault. The state is at fault with its paternalistic zeal, with its judicious abandon, and thus we find ourselves beneath its dark umbrella. We are shielded by an effort meant once to avert our eyes from the shadows on the wall, but which now has blocked the sun. No censorship that is unintended to preclude a form of violence or to stem egregious consequence should ever exist at all—lest ignorance over truth prevail.

The people of our nation are brave and determined. Our citizens in decades past are the men and women who pressed westward against a violent wilderness, who fought for independence against an oppressive rule, who died in the battlefields to maintain our way of life, and who today defend our streets, fight our fires, patrol our prisons, educate our children, and defend our borders. We are police and firefighters, social workers, judges, teachers, and citizens of an imperfect world. Our children should know it too—children who go to school in climates of bullying and sexualisation, sometimes of violence, sometimes of neglect. Citizens—all citizens —are likely to see the best and worst of the world. They should; it is part of the human experience.