They haven't pointed it out because the relationship is unclear. E.g. the soviet union was leftist, but engaged in oppression, wars an brutality. The left in

They haven't pointed it out because the relationship is unclear. E.g. the soviet union was leftist, but engaged in oppression, wars an brutality. The left in Europe have no more respect for free speech than the right in Japan, they just censor different things (so called hate speech). I would say that it is the moderate liberals and moderate conservatives who value freedom most, because (almost by definition) they don't have some ideology that they consider more important than mere freedom. Indeed, the far left think of freedom (especially freedom of speech) as a false equivalence between liberating and oppressive speech, (we can see this in the "safe spaces" movement), while the far right think of freedom as open season for degenerate, but appealing, ideas.