United States v. Eugene Debs

Sometimes, when we fulfill our commitment to abiding by the bill of rights, it means we end up protecting the rights of people to say or do things that make us uncomfortable.  Perhaps the greatest example of this is free speech.  It is incumbent on all citizens to ensure that speech remains free, but in doing that, it necessarily requires the average person to affirm the rights of people to say things that we, as a society, do not necessarily like.

In this episode, Paul breaks down the case of Eugene Debs.  Debs was a nationally renowned socialist agitator.  He spoke out in the early 20th century against WWI and advocated for peaceful government change to a populist/socialist order.  President Woodrow Wilson's department of justice had instituted the Espionage Act, which criminalized speaking out publicly against the war or the draft.

Join the discussion about why free speech matters, why it is not a partisan issue, and why it is so fundamentally important for people to be able to speak their mind and conscience without fear that a government agency will jail them for it.  The Espionage Act represents one of the most unamerican pieces of legislation we have ever passed, and it is still on the books.  Listen to why it was so dangerous, how Eugene Debs stood up for the right to speak his mind, and why we should all encourage an open and robust marketplace of ideas rather than government approved speech.