What if that speech is child pornography, or assault and threats, or intellectual property?
Child pornography, is not speech. Should be banned.
Assault, is not speech. Should be banned.
Threats, you are correct threats and incitement to violence should be banned. This is the special case to freedom of speech it results in direct harm or coercion. Harm and coercion should be prevented.
Intellectual property is interesting. Yes the government should be able to enforce contracts. But this raises a good point.
You are correct however the blanked statement "It’s not the governments job to decide what speech is okay and what speech is not." is too simplistic and is incorrect.
>You are correct however the blanked statement "It’s not the governments job to decide what speech is okay and what speech is not." is too simplistic and is incorrect.
Why isn't it? We already allow the government to decide many other things, such as what we are allowed to sell (i.e through food safety regulation). Is there any reason why speech is different from other actions that it should have special treatment and be untouchable?
Speech is verbalisation of our beliefs. Once the state starts dictating what we can believe we lose much of our freedom and liberty. As such any restrictions on speech should be done with extreme care.
I'm pretty libertarian on many of my views. I think the government should have as little influence in peoples lives as possible. That's the only way, that I can see, you can have a society that allows for a truly diverse range of cultures and beliefs living as they desire under one government.
Where the government does need to step in is on interaction between people. Such as enforcing contracts and keeping actors in the markets honest. This doesn't infringe on personal liberty nearly as much as restrictions on speech.
But there are plenty of regulations I disagree with and think people should be left to make their own decisions freely.
Also I'm not sure you understood my concession above. You're question doesn't seem to follow?
What if that speech is child pornography, or assault and threats, or intellectual property?