Free speech is the marrow of democracy. Without it, no other liberties exist. It is detested by tyrants because it empowers their captive subjects. It is mistrusted by puritans because it is the wellspring of subversion. Unless we are able to speak our minds, we cannot innovate, or even begin to make sense of the world. As Thomas Hobbes noted, the Greeks had ‘but one word, logos, for both speech and reason; not that they thought there was no speech without reason, but no reasoning without speech’.
