Far-right movements don't have the respect for free speech that they claim: conservative writer

Conservative writer and senior editor of the Dispatch, David French, wants to persuade Christians, especially conservative Christians, to reject the authoritarian rhetoric of the far-right, Yahoo! News reports.

“The fundamental reality is that none of these movements really have a high degree of respect for individual liberty. They especially don't have a high degree of respect for the free speech or free exercise rights of those who disagree with them,” French said in an interview on “The Long Game,” a Yahoo News podcast. “That's a movement that is building.”

French says these ideas don’t yet have “a huge power in numbers,” but that is changing because the all-or-nothing nature of today's partisan divide is “mapping itself onto partisan animosity.”

“If you really don't like the other side, if you're animated by a lot of animosity and motivated by a lot of animosity, when somebody comes along and says, ‘Well, here's some ideas to really just take it to your enemies’ — even if they're post-liberal ideas, even if they're ideas that undermine the First Amendment — people are wrapping their arms around it,” French said.

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"The more animosity that builds between parties, the less people are interested in the liberty and the flourishing of their political opponents, and the more they're interested in their defeat and their domination,” he added.