[dissent]

It's a well understood principle and an abstract value. It's got nothing to do with the US per-se, except it found it's way into your constitution and is protected. The conservative right were never for free speech, that was plainly obvious from the start. That doesn't mean principled free speech absolutists can't exist. And it doesn't mean they need to be pure. You can permit them their flaws while still holding up the value. More free speech, rather than less.