Many on the right (including libertarians who are usually considered right) believe that free speech should not be limited, except for direct incitement for unlawful action. The US supreme court agrees unanimously. This is practically about racist or sexist speech, because – go figure – no one wants to limit left-wing extremist speech. If you walk around with a hammer and sickle flag demanding the execution of the capitalists, people just find you stupid but no one wants to punch you.

However I’m not here to protect Nazi speech because of principle, but for strategic reasons. I believe that the moderate right (all of it, including libertarians) are doomed without Nazis freely spouting their idiocy which was tested in the 1930-45 period with horrible results (which kind of leave me puzzled how can anyone be still a Nazi). My stance is the direct opposite of what current moderate right does: clear condemnation of Nazis and looking the other way when their rights are violated. The best example of the status quo is the reply of Mitt Romney to President Trump when he condemned both Nazis and Antifa for the deadly riots in Charlottesville. He said that “Our allies around the world are stunned and our enemies celebrate; America’s ability to help secure a peaceful and prosperous world is diminished. And who would want to come to the aid of a country they perceive as racist if ever the need were to arise … State forcefully and unequivocally that racists are 100% to blame for the murder and violence in Charlottesville.”

Why can we be sure that Mitt Romney is wrong? Because we know that he is a racist himself, no better than those who marched with their torches in Charlottesville. How? Well, from the media of course:

The list could go on endlessly, but hopefully you got the picture. Calling Romney racist was so widespread that after Trump won, liberals openly questioned if it was a good strategy to “cry wolf” on Romney because it immunized voters against the “racism” of Trump.

Well, after you finished lynching Romney to save “America’s ability to help secure a peaceful and prosperous world”, you should consider what the above means. It’s clear that Romney is no racist, otherwise he wouldn’t push the “apologize and condemn” party line when he is not even running. But it didn’t help him a bit. When he was running, he was called a racist anyway. Why? Because it works and because it costs nothing. “Is a racist” is not objectively observable, so you can form opinions all day about the racism of anyone. There is no way to disprove the claim. Even a life without a single episode of racism doesn’t help, because whenever you have any kind of conflict with people who happen to be of a different race, you can be labeled racist. If I ever called a black WoW player moron and slacker without having a slightest clue about his race, I’m officially a racist, since I surely knew and this “low DPS” is just a dog whistle. Tobold labeled me a racist for not supporting illegal immigration.

However, there is a counter to this strategy: protecting the rights of the real racists, white supremacists and arm-saluting Nazis. It works two ways: at first it provides a frame of reference. While anyone can be labeled racist or Nazi via some long chain of logic stemming from a harmless comment or a colorblind conflict with a colored person, the difference between such insinuation and a skinhead shouting Sieg Heil is obvious. Compared to a real Nazi, an ordinary person with a bad remark or personal conflict is obviously not looking bad. That of course needs people to see actual Nazis and hear their disgusting demands.

The other reason is to make the term itself less harmful. People should see these Nazi clowns with their obvious low status and see how their rhetoric does not turn into meaningful violence. While there are Nazi terror attacks, you still have more chance to be killed by an angry cow than by a white supremacist. The “he is secretly racist” is only effective if racists are considered a powerful conspiracy instead of a bunch of losers who blame others for their failed lives. The reason why leftist violence isn’t causing hysteria on the right is that a fat purple hair feminist isn’t scary even if (s?)he has a baseball bat and a mask.

As long as the moderate right is strongly condemning Nazis, they will be called Nazis. It will only stop if the real Nazis are free to express their filth. I hope the decision of President Trump to condemn both sides for the violence and repeatedly calling “An-tee-fa” out for their criminality is a step towards this direction.