Conservatives Attack Free Speech

On Monday, Georgia Lieutenant Governor Casey Cagle threatened to revoke a sales tax exemption on jet fuel for airlines after Delta and United withdrew discounts for members of the National Rifle Association (NRA). Cagle tweeted:

I will kill any tax legislation that benefits @Delta unless the company changes its position and fully reinstates its relationship with @NRA. Corporations cannot attack conservatives and expect us not to fight back.

No matter what one thinks of Delta, United, and the NRA, this is a dangerous precedent. In short, Georgia is giving the airlines an ultimatum: Don’t attack conservatives, or we are going to take your money. If you dare take a position on a political issue that we don’t like, we will penalize you.

On Tuesday, Rush Limbaugh expressed support for Cagle:

…if Delta was gonna fight the NRA, if Delta was gonna join the Democrats here in this silly boycott of the NRA, then conservatives were gonna fight back, and he [Cagle] killed the sales tax exemption. Delta was denied the sales tax exemption on jet fuel that they were to get starting today. Now the Democrats and the left are going nuts about Republicans doing what the left does all the time….

Oh, really? You want to boycott the NRA? Well, fine, then here’s your exemption on sales tax and stuff it down your throat. Pay full fare, full rate, whatever. This kind of pushback is new.

As someone who makes a living expressing ideas, Limbaugh should be more sensitive to the free speech aspect of this issue. Instead, he sees it purely in terms of conservatives versus “progressives,” rather than in terms of fundamental principles.

Limbaugh notes that the left uses this tactic “all of the time.” But rather than identify the danger to free speech, he applauds conservatives for embracing the same tactic. Apparently, he thinks it’s more important to defend conservatism than to defend free speech.