Hail to the Censor, Hillary Clinton: New at Reason

You would think that a leading presidential candidate rolling her eyes at “freedom of speech” while advocating content-based takedown orders for U.S. media companies might generate a news cycle or two worth of raised eyebrows.

But Hillary Clinton’s illiberal proposals were drowned out within hours by the furor over Republican frontrunner Donald Trump calling for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” (Not to be outflanked on tech-toughness, the populist mogul also proposed “closing that Internet up in some ways,” and scoffed even harder at potential critics: “Somebody will say, ‘Oh, freedom of speech, freedom of speech.’ These are foolish people.”)

But as Reason Magazine Editor Matt Welch writes, long before Donald Trump became a one-man media-distraction machine, Hillary Clinton had mastered the art of pushing maximally against free expression without being tagged as a foe of the First Amendment, unlike her friend and anti-media collaborator Tipper Gore. Clinton has crusaded against not just “gangsta” rap (the scare quotes are hers), but also the “poison” spread by movies, television, and video games. Her record includes not just Gore-like Capitol Hill condemnations of content and agitation for parental warning labels, but also unconstitutional legislation mandating federal punishment for those who sell and market controversial entertainment.

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