Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) criticized and discussed the crackdown on free speech in the United Kingdom and Europe in a recent House Judiciary hearing, asking how liberal democratic countries in the West have allowed themselves to rescind their promise.
Rep. Biggs began the discussion by ripping Democrats for claiming President Donald Trump is restricting free speech in the United States, saying, "The statement that Trump is bringing us to the edge of being an autocratic state in and of itself disproves the premise of that statement. Think about that. It is absurd."
"Under the First Amendment, the general proposition is that the government should not be regulating the content of its citizens' speech," Rep. Biggs continued, adding that "You have the opposing idea that it is the responsibility of the government to decide not only what its citizens should think, but what content they are allowed to see and engage with."
The Arizona Congressman further noted that while Americans have considered freedom of speech untouchable, he provided numerous examples of the Obama and Biden Administrations violating free speech rights, targeting whistleblowers and suppressing information about COVID-19, respectively, while European countries similarly arrest and convict individuals for political speech.
Hearing witnesses Lorcan Price and Morgan Reed described how censorship affects economies, both saying that fines can slow down gross domestic product (GDP) and disrupt innovation.
Finally, Biggs turned to Parliament Member (PM) Nigel Farage, asking him, "What happened to the great countries of the West and their liberal understanding of civil rights and the ability to speak one's mind openly without fear of arrest, censorship, abuse, or harassment by the government?"
"I think what went wrong, in many ways, is we forgot why we actually had those liberties and had those freedoms in the first place," Farage answered, "We forgot the huge sacrifices that were made by citizens alive at that time to defend those principles against tyranny and against dictatorship. We have lost our way in understanding why we are as we are, and I think that has permeated through our education system, where I am not sure we have been teaching good values."
