Furthermore, I think a lot of politicians in the EU use the issue for their own ends in a very self serving manner. Mark Rutte banning the Dutch rallies worked in the sense that it killed any hope of a PVV surge, but to me represented an uncomfortable attack on freedom of expression, a concept which I am increasingly trending towards an American interpretation of.
This is an interesting piece. The freedom of expression we have is unprecedented, and, should it take a step forwards into the whole world, may have at its core the capability of unleashing understanding and peace. Thanks to our corrupted media, it has been attacked and vilified because the people using it are extremists. But I am reminded of the example of when James Madison turned a blind eye to a mob - that his basic idea was that, if it were not a mob, it would be disbanded. To him, a mob seemed better than cracking down on their freedom of expression.
One thing that Madison said that revealed his philosophy was, “Americans have the right and advantage of being armed - unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.” This quote shows clearly and decisively that he believed a government must not be afraid of its people, and in fact have what may seem to be an impossibly open relationship between the two. Fear ought to never be a motivator for policy.
