June 15, 2021
Free Speech: an Instrumental Defense of the Marketplace of Ideas
This piece is forthcoming in “Divided we Fall”
By Victor Menaldo
Traditional defenses of free speech revolve around limiting the government’s ability to infringe on citizens’ expression and association. They also center on treating free speech as an unalloyed right, something sacrosanct, no matter the consequences. Here, I depart from this orthodox approach. On the one hand, I will make the case that free speech should be about a cultural appreciation for free expression and the social institutions that foster the marketplace of ideas. On the other, I will argue that free speech is valuable for instrumental reasons: We should cherish it because of, not despite, its effects.
Before doing so, I want to introduce a new framework for thinking about free speech. We might refer to it as a political economy approach. It is based on appreciating the costs of shifting from one speech paradigm to another; specifically, of transitioning from free speech to censored speech or vice versa. The aim is to introduce readers to the idea that getting the speech paradigm right is important because once we lock into one approach, others are foreclosed, as are their desired effects.
Unfettered free speech means the speaker has the right to talk, if not think freely. To say what is on her mind. Unencumbered: Without worrying too much about how it will be received by others. The listener, therefore, must bear the consequences of that speech. It might offend him. It might make him angry. It might simply be something he was not ready to listen to. Of course, this may mean the listener finds a way to ignore or avoid the unwanted speech and therefore sidesteps its costs and inconveniences. Or it might mean that he just grins and bears it.
This is only one possible way of organizing information flow. An alternative is to give the listener the right. That means: The speaker must anticipate how her speech will affect the listener, and she must adjust her behavior in kind. Anticipating she will be censored or excoriated, she must adjust what she says or how she says it—to avoid offense, injury, or discomfort. Or, of course, there is yet another way to do allocate speech rights: To find a middle ground, where the speaker experiences some limits on what she says and the listener relaxes the expectation that he will be perfectly accommodated—which, in any event, would demand uncanny foresight on the speaker’s part. Try as it may, Cancel Culture will probably never be able to achieve such an end.
In a perfect world, it would not matter who is afforded the initial right, speaker, or listener. Suppose that the rules of the road are unfettered free speech. If it were worth enough to the listener, he would find a way to encourage, entice, or bribe the speaker to adjust her speech. To be more accommodating. And vice versa: If there were limitations on speech, the speaker may persuade or cajole the listener to allow her more freedom to speak. She may even pay him to allow her to fully articulate whatever is actually on her mind.
Of course, we do not live in a perfect world. If the listener has the right to hear what wants, it might be impossible, or at least difficult, for a speaker to arrive at an arrangement with him that is closer to what she would like. To speak more freely. In fact, the art of convincing the listener might itself depend on a right to free expression. And vice versa: When free speech is the coin of the realm, listeners might simply have a hard time getting speakers to curb what they say. Speakers may not even understand how to censor themselves. To find the right euphemism. To develop a better bedside manner when transmitting their thoughts. Cancel Culture be damned.
Therefore, getting things right in this case matters. In fact, it is of paramount importance. What is at stake is huge: democracy, economic development, and egalitarianism.
It turns out that if we want to live in a more democratic, prosperous, and egalitarian society, it is critical that our cultural default be free speech, not fettered thought. Even if there are costs associated with unfettered free expression for listeners, such as those I listed above, the benefits of giving the right to speakers far outweighs them.
First, take democracy. This approach to structuring political life rests on free access and entry into the social sphere by both individuals and groups. They must be able to organize. To run for office. To vote. To air different ideas. These things are the basis of vibrant competition in the political realm. And they underpin accountability. Without incentives and opportunities to organize and speak freely, you cannot get closer to understanding what the people want and need. That depends on experimenting with new ideologies and policies. It is about speaking truth to power. It requires information gathering, connecting cause and effect, and identifying and sharing problems and injustices.
Second, take prosperity. The key to economic development is innovation. Indeed, the most powerful predictor of higher standards of living is openness to new technologies and approaches, not accumulating a whole bunch of blast furnaces, scientists, or natural resources. Just ask the Soviet Union. In turn, innovation depends not only on technology, but constant institutional changes, cultural dynamism, and endless experimentation. It depends on the diffusion of best practices, knowledge, information, techniques, strategies, and business models. Countries that encourage entrepreneurs to try new ways of doing things, that allow firms to organize in novel ways, that encourage workers to broaden their horizons and receive flows of knowledge and knowhow grow wealthier—thus endowing their citizens with more food, better housing, greater health and longevity, and more leisure.
Finally, take egalitarianism. Free speech is not only critical to shrinking the gap between rich and poor countries—the former located at the technological frontier and the latter reliant on access to the ideas, knowhow, and techniques that they sometimes take for granted—but also to reducing inequalities between citizens within countries. The most important cause of income inequality and social stratification is the hoarding of information and knowledge at the top of the distribution. When individuals are free and able to acquire the education and skills that complement new technologies, they unlock their potential and bolster their productivity. This allows them to earn higher wages and enjoy other opportunities to generate income, such as receiving royalties from inventions or generating profits from making good investment decisions.
Free speech allows folks to hone the skills and attitudes associated with knowledge acquisition. Openness to new ideas. Challenging conventional wisdom. Experimentation. And the cultivation of facts, logic, and evidence by practicing the scientific method, not genuflecting to dogma. Nobody ever got more democratic and richer by unquestionably worshiping their more benighted ancestors. Respect them, sure. Honor them, of course. Question them? Always.
It is of course the case that we should also keep the government from infringing on free speech. And it is obvious to many citizens that we should enshrine this right in a foundational document like the Constitution because we value it so dearly. But even if these two things were not true, it is still critical from a social engineering perspective that we encode free speech into the DNA of our culture. Let us not allow ourselves to become a society that loses its democracy, prosperity, and egalitarianism and then regrets having eroded the basis of those good things. Therefore, remember to celebrate free speech, even if it sometimes causes you offense or injury.
