Yet Vance did hit on a conundrum – how to respect the freedom of speech that is essential for democracy without unleashing popular forces that would shred the rights at democracy’s core?

Easy. You start by recognizing that free speech should not be absolute, and that some speech is inherently harmful to society. Where those lines are drawn is up to the individual society.

It’s really not that hard or novel.

When society is sick, any form of rebellion is extreme. We should be asking how do we defend free speech without bending over for nazis.