It is absolutely foundational. You're talking about laws, but free speech isn't about laws, it's a notion of moral philosophy. The sense in which it is founda

It is absolutely foundational. You're talking about laws, but free speech isn't about laws, it's a notion of moral philosophy. The sense in which it is foundational is as follows: you cannot have democracy without freedom of speech, because without it there is no free formation of opinions. You can't freedom of association or freedom of assembly without freedom of speech. These latter are interconnected, because an aspect of freedom of assembly is to assemble to hold, for example, political meetings.