A meta comment: I've noticed this is a variation of another argument I hear from the national security side, usually from the Kissinger-Brzezinski-ites in parti

A meta comment: I've noticed this is a variation of another argument I hear from the national security side, usually from the Kissinger-Brzezinski-ites in particular who argue that their anti-democratic actions are because the people are too dumb to govern themselves (The so called "Crisis of Democracy") and therefore in some machiaviellian realpolitik way, their unconstitutional actions are justified. (One of Kissinger's famous quotes being something to the effect of the "The illegal we do immediately, the unconstitutional takes a little longer".) I keep thinking back to the freedom of speech circuit Christopher Hitchens did and some of the great speeches on the topic he gave, some of which are him broadly denouncing the ability, want or acceptance of any person or group of persons to be the one who decides what you can and cannot read and/or say. I wonder where the voices of whoever holds those intellectual reins these days is, because I'm not hearing it.