There is not much the conservative movement and former Vice President Joe Biden agree on concerning politics. He’s a solid liberal. Yet, when it comes to free speech rights and the First Amendment, there is common ground: it’s wrong to shut down speech you find inappropriate. That opinion alone could land you in the doghouse with the sheltered, coddled, and illiberal cohorts of campus progressives. Anything they find triggering must be shut down; that’s the ethos. And yes, it’s a rather authoritarian one. At a University of Delaware event this week, Biden reiterated that point, while mentioning how the First Amendment is essential to what makes this country a special place. It makes us who we are in the Bill of Rights. Free speech, debate, and scrutiny also provided as way to neutralize emerging totalitarian tendencies; bad ideas get aired out and squashed (via Reason):

"It's interesting," said Biden. "When I was coming up through college and graduate school, free speech was the big issue but it was the opposite. It was liberals who were shouted down when they spoke. And liberals have very short memories. I mean that sincerely." Biden accused liberals of hurting themselves "badly" when they don't allow speech to take place. He specifically referenced the madness at Berkeley earlier this year and noted that the pre-emptive violence was deeply counterproductive. "You should be able to listen to another point of view, as virulent as it may be, and reject it, expose it," he said. "The best thing to do is let this stuff be exposed. Don't be like these other people. Don't give the Trumps of the world the ability to compare you to the Nazis or you to the racists because you're doing the same thing. You're silencing."

The one thing I would add: let’s drop the “you can’t shout fire in a crowded theater” talking point. The roots of this story ironically rest with the very activity that Biden and other free speech activists are trying to prevent (via NRO):