California is not “forward thinking,” wrote Justice Kennedy in his recent opinion on NIFLA v. Becerra.
The state claimed to have a “forward-thinking” legacy when it enacted the California FACT Act in 2015 which required pro-life pregnancy centers to notify women that the state provides free or low-cost abortions.
An advocacy group for the centers, NIFLA, ultimately sued California Attorney General Xavier Becerra over the act by claiming it compelled speech in violation of the First Amendment.
The Supreme Court agreed.
“It is not forward thinking to force individuals to ‘be an instrument for fostering public adherence to an ideological point of view they find unacceptable,’” Kennedy wrote, citing the 1977 Supreme Court case Wooley v. Maynard.
He continued:
It is forward thinking to begin by reading the First Amendment as ratified in 1791; to understand the history of authoritarian government as the Founders then knew it; to confirm that history since then shows how relentless authoritarian regimes are in their attempts to stifle free speech; and to carry those lessons onward as we seek to preserve and teach the necessity of freedom of speech for the generations to come.
Kennedy’s statement goes beyond this court case; in fact, it touches upon the deception of modern-day SJW politics, which claims to be “progressive” yet, in reality, it’s bringing back the mass hysteria of the Salem witch trials and its rejection of due process.
What’s often seen as “progress” in politics is actually a centuries-old cycle of transformation between authoritarian and liberty-driven ideas.
Governments – and multinational corporations – routinely gain power through authoritarian means, which of course are generally rejected at face value by the public.
Thus, the powers-that-be repackage freedom-restrictive laws and limitations as “forward thinking solutions” the public can then buy into because they supposedly serve a “good cause.”
But, as cliche as it sounds, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
“Governments must not be allowed to force persons to express a message contrary to their deepest convictions,” Kennedy added. “Freedom of speech secures freedom of thought and belief.”
“This law imperils those liberties.”
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