Recent events in Charlottesville have once again led a disappointing percentage of the country to call for a ban on speech they find objectionable, usually spouting some nonsensical slogan along the lines of: “hate speech is not free speech.” These people, almost all of whom are on the political left, feel that the government should be able to shut down rallies and speakers they personally disagree with. I can think of more than a couple reasons this is both legally illiterate and tragically short-sighted.

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The most obvious flaw is the lack of any such thing as “hate speech” in the United States. In fact, unlike many of our other constitutionally guaranteed rights, the right to free speech has been steadily expanding over the last half century or so. Most recently, an all-Asian band called The Slants brought a landmark case to the US Supreme Court. The court ruled unanimously that an American has the right to be as utterly offensive as they like, without any interference from the government.

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If people who persist in wanting to enforce their own feelings on other people’s rights truly want to give government power over speech, they would do well to remember that power will eventually be held by someone they don’t like. The subjective restrictions they’re pushing for now will almost certainly be used against them someday.

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None of this is to say that there aren’t restrictions on free speech already in place. There are laws against libel, slander, and incitement, but these are very narrowly defined for a reason. Seeking to add hate speech to that list would mean the end of the First Amendment as we know it. Anyone and everyone could claim that they’re offended, and there’s no objective way to measure one claim against another.

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It comes down to this: if you believe that free speech is a right, then you must defend that right for everyone, even if you find some views utterly repulsive. If you only defend the speech of people you agree with, you’re not defending their rights, you’re just defending that specific point of view. I hate the things those idiots in Charlottesville had to say, but if I don’t defend their right to say them, I will have no ground to stand on when someone tries to restrict my own speech.