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The US constitution bans government limitations on free speech because the people of the 1700s believed that the government was such a powerful force in society
by magicsmoke 6y ago
The US constitution bans government limitations on free speech because the people of the 1700s believed that the government was such a powerful force in society that it needed restrictions placed on it.
It's the 21st century now. We might need to reevaluate whether private enterprise has grown powerful enough that it needs to have similar restrictions as well.
- splintercell 6y agoBut govt is given monopolistic power on violence. Private companies did not acquire power on violence, and the power they did acquire on speech and other things was done through market competition.
- blaser-waffle 6y agoCompanies used to have plenty of violence, and arguably a monopoly of violence in some contexts, e.g. the massive private armies of the Dutch West India or British East India companies. Coca Cola has murdered union reps, and fruit companies have used actual government militaries as tools of their own game, too. Hell, it's a primary trope in cyberpunk -- mega-corps having their own private ninja cyborg army, and with the growth of Iraq-era military contracting, it's not crazy to see that happening. "By 1803, at the height of its rule in India, the East India company had a private army of about 260,000—twice the size of the British Army" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_India_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_West_India_Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_West_India_Company