[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 153 (Thursday, September 18, 2025)]
[House]
[Pages H4415-H4416]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            BEATING HEART OF DEMOCRACY IS FREEDOM OF SPEECH

  (Mr. McClintock of California was recognized to address the House for 
5 minutes.)
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, freedom of speech is the beating heart 
of a democracy. It is the entire reason that this building exists, so 
that we can talk out our differences.
  Free societies do not fear free speech, even when that speech is 
hateful or malignant or stupid. Free societies recognize that the only 
way to separate fact from fiction, love from hate, truth from lies, 
wisdom from folly, or good from evil is to put them side by side and to 
trust the people to know the difference.
  No central authority must ever be given the power to take this vital 
freedom away from the people or to punish anyone solely for expressing 
their opinions.
  We have based our entire form of government on the assumption that, 
when exposed to all sides and all viewpoints, more than half of the 
people are going to get it right more than half of the time. This 
assumption has served us well through the centuries.
  The left rejects this premise. For many years, leftists have told us 
that speech is violence and can be answered with violence. This 
justifies their shouting down opponents and disrupting peaceful 
assemblies.
  We have repeatedly watched leftist mobs burn our cities, loot 
shopkeepers, and assault people on the streets while leftist 
politicians egged them on.
  We see the growing physical attacks on law enforcement. The left used 
the FBI to suppress debate on critical issues ranging from COVID 
lockdowns to Biden family influence peddling to climate hysteria. It 
has called for government commissions to regulate it. In Europe, 
leftist governments now criminalize it.
  Mr. Speaker, I raise these points because a Member of this House 
recently made some truly vile and despicable remarks about Charlie Kirk 
after his brutal assassination. Her words should be loudly and 
universally condemned.
  Last night, on the House floor, a resolution of censure was brought 
against her in the name of Charlie Kirk to formally punish her for her 
hateful rhetoric, but what did Charlie Kirk say about hate speech?
  He said this 5 years ago: ``My position is that even hate speech 
should be completely and totally allowed in our country. The most 
disgusting speech should absolutely be protected. . . . The ACLU used 
to hold this viewpoint. The American Civil Liberties Union, they sued 
so that legitimate Nazis could march through downtown Skokie. . . . Why 
would the ACLU do this? Because, they said, as soon as you use the word 
`hate,' that is a very subjective term because then, all of a sudden, 
it is in the eyes or it is in the implementation of whomever has the 
power. So here is my belief: The more speech, the better.''
  That was Charlie Kirk.
  We must never allow the left to become our teachers. If we ever do, 
we will lose our country. There will be no moral high ground, no 
changing of minds, and no rebirth of faith and freedom that we so 
desperately need.
  Free societies do not fear words and thoughts, even those that are 
hateful, ugly, evil, or obscene, because the same freedom that protects 
these darkest

[[Page H4416]]

impulses of our nature also protects the right of men and women of good 
will to confront them, expose them, and reject them. The only true way 
to expose them as wrong is to do exactly what Charlie Kirk did until 
his last breath and with his last breath.
  When the left calls us Nazis, fascists, and murderers, this might be 
hateful and hurtful, but it is speech, nonetheless. It should be 
criticized in the strongest possible terms as irresponsible, 
inflammatory, outrageous, revolting, and wrong. It should be ridiculed 
and shamed.

  Businesses have every right to protect their reputation, and schools 
have every right to protect their children, but we should defend their 
right to say what they will and trust that the vast majority of 
Americans will see it for what it is.
  There are only two ways to resolve our differences: There is reason, 
and there is force. The American Founders gave us a Republic governed 
by reason and illuminated by freedom of speech.
  That is the civilization that Charlie Kirk lived for and died for. He 
devoted his life and ultimately gave his life to restore, strengthen, 
and perpetuate a free society based on discourse and reason.
  What a tragedy it would be if, in our outrage and grief, we were to 
throw it all away.

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