Bob Sparks: Attempts to limit critical voices is usually a bad idea

Florida’s Secretary of State as well as the former United States Secretary of State both have been in the news recently.  Ken Detzner may not know Condoleeza Rice, but they could compare notes about freedom of speech.  

Detzner, and by extension the administration of Gov. Rick Scott, are accused of silencing a critic by cancelling a publicized speaking engagement.  Critics are trying to silence Rice by having two colleges revoke their invitations to have Rice speak on their campuses.   Silencing opposition should not be the method of operation, yet all too often that road is traveled.

Florence Snyder recently wrote in Context Florida on the controversy set in motion by the Florida Department of State’s cancellation of a lecture by Florida State University Professor Diane (D.K.) Roberts.   Roberts was to address an expected audience of 40 to 50 people at a venue overseen by the department.

The cancellation elevated an under-the-radar lecture to a statewide cause celebre.  The Twitter-verse ignited shortly after the news broke.   The tempest boiled out of the teapot.

To be sure, Roberts is an unabashed critic of Scott.  Those extending the invitation had to know what they were getting.  In this case, criticism of the state’s environmental policy was the entrée.

Whether Detzner and his team had a change of heart or received a “suggestion” from the Plaza Level at the Capitol, the decision to cancel was the wrong call.  This is a case study in having a tin ear to the political fallout that would assuredly ensue.

It is possible Detzner was not even aware when the original invitation went out, but it fell upon him and his department to tell Roberts her calendar for the evening in question was now clear.  It is highly unlikely that Scott himself became involved, but whoever was ultimately responsible did Scott no favor.

A higher profile case of attempted “prior restraint” involves Rice.  In February, she received an invitation from a unanimous Board of Governors from Rutgers University to deliver this year’s commencement address.

On that day, several members of the Rutgers faculty unofficially went berserk.  The faculty council adopted a resolution asking the Board to “rescind its misguided decision” to invite Rice.

The faculty’s stated problem with Rice was her role in the decision to invade Iraq and her support of “enhanced interrogation” techniques (aka “waterboarding”).  Though unstated by the faculty council, she is also a critic of the Obama administration’s foreign policy.

Rice is also scheduled to speak at the University of Minnesota on April 17.  Her appearance is part of a series of lectures organized by UM’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.  She will talk about “overcoming adversity as an African-American woman who faced discrimination growing up in the southern U.S.”

Her appearance in Minnesota is not sitting well at all with the Students for a Democratic Society.  They are asking the University Faculty Senate to rescind the invitation for the same reasons cited at Rutgers.

Those in favor of silencing Rice at Rutgers and Minnesota need to answer a key question themselves.  Would they also pledge to oppose any appearances by current Secretary of State John Kerry and his predecessor Hillary Clinton due to their roles in the Iraq war?

Let’s not forget that Rice did not have a vote in the decision to go after Saddam Hussein.  When presented with the same intelligence as the George W. Bush administration, both Senators Kerry and Clinton voted “yes” to authorize Bush to unilaterally invade Iraq.

If the would-be silencers would oppose an appearance by any elected official who voted for the invasion of Iraq, they would enjoy enhanced credibility.  They would still be wrong, but it’s better than being wrong while possessing selective outrage.

Wouldn’t the public be better served by hearing from all sides?   The French Enlightenment writer Voltaire once said, “Think for yourselves and let others enjoy the privilege to do so too.”

In other words, people have a choice whether they want to hear from Condoleeza Rice or Diane Roberts.  Among the many liberties we Americans enjoy is the freedom to vote with our feet.

Sticks and stones….

Bob Sparks is a business and political consultant based in Tallahassee. Column courtesy of Context Florida.