Truth in the Free Expression of Ideas

“When men have realized that time has upset many fighting faiths,” Justice Holmes states in his dissent to the court opinion in United States v. Abrams, “they may come to believe even more than they believe the very foundations of their own conduct that the ultimate good desired is better reached by free trade in ideas ... that the best test of truth is the power of the thought to get itself accepted in the competition of the market, and that truth is the only ground upon which their wishes safely can be carried out. That at any rate is the theory of our Constitution.” It is also, I believe, the basis of all education. For education is another word for the quest for truth in which the examination of all ideas is integral and necessary. Lies may be learned everywhere, but the truth is reserved for those who seek it.

All of us at Middlebury are extremely lucky. The time devoted to what we call work is filled with what Aristotle calls leisure — when the concerns of daily life have been suspended so that we may dedicate ourselves to finding facts, arguing over ideas, listening to others and, most of all, consulting the best authorities in an attempt to know the truth. In this pursuit we are guided by those far wiser than ourselves and we have the luxury not to live by uninformed opinion. In the realm of political thought, I believe that I, and those like me, have benefitted from Middlebury in a way different from many other students. Conservatives and Republicans are a very small minority at the college. Our ideas are almost never popularly accepted, our values are not widely shared and the policies we support are often criticized. The liberal and Democrat tenor of the school forces us few to be well-informed and to consider our own arguments. It gives us the opportunity to become fully versed in the opinions of others, to be tested in what we think and to come to a better understanding of when our own thoughts do or do not stand up in the market place of ideas. However, I do not think these benefits are given equally to all students at Middlebury.

In his book On Liberty, John Stewart Mill states, “Popular opinions, on subjects not palpable to sense, are often true, but seldom or never the whole truth … Such being the partial character of prevailing opinions, even when resting on a true foundation, every opinion which embodies somewhat of the portion of truth which the common opinion omits, ought to be considered precious.” This is true throughout the country and the world. Popular opinion, whether it is liberal or conservative, republican or democratic, is never the complete truth. Education in the truth demands the unrelenting examination of our opinions; those opinions especially that we think could never be challenged. True education depends upon the free expression of ideas and the critical consideration of all thoughts and opinions.

Popular opinions require unpopular opinions to test whether the truth is indeed popular. The truth does not prevail easily and obviously. Half truths might; easy truths will, but the hard truths, the enduring truths, need to be tempered by conversation and argument. I have been lucky to learn, lucky to refine my opinions with the hearty response of my fellow students. However I believe that this should be the experience not just of the minority of conservative students but the experience of all. Political ideas on both sides of the aisle should be subject to argument, to criticism and to debate. If the truth could be taken for granted, then liberal education would be unnecessary. For true liberal education with regard to political opinion to be undertaken at Middlebury, the opinions of the minority must be protected as well as those of the majority; those of the majority must be tested as well as those of the minority. Such an equality of opportunity in the market place of ideas would be to the benefit of all. It would allow conservatives and liberals alike to speak their minds, to consider their own and each other’s arguments and to move from the realm of opinion to that of truth.

The Constitution of the United States does not only adhere in theory but in fact to the idea that truth will win out in the marketplace of ideas. It protects the ideas, their expression and the people that express them through the right to free speech, freedom of the press and free assembly. It allows majority and minority opinions to be represented in government and prevents the tyranny of the majority or the domination of the minority. Thus, it protects those ideas that seem to us good and noble and those that seem vile and base. Such protection is essential to any real quest for truth, any real education. For the expression of ideas should never come with so much criticism as to silence its source or so much discomfort as to make the expression only a whisper.  We, at Middlebury should make it our mission to protect the free expression of ideas and those who express them by speaking out mind and listening when others do the same.