Who Loves Liberty?

The argument from supposedly liberty-loving liberals goes like this: We protect "extreme" and unpopular speech because if that is safe, they'll never get to our core liberties. If they can ban smut, argue the slippery-slopers, what's to stop them from banning criticism of the politicians? 

One problem: While Frank Rich et al are preening on their soapboxes for making smut as American as apple pie, the government, under Republican and Democratic presidents alike, has been banning criticism of politicians. 

Just last week, the Obama administration argued before the Supreme Court that it has no principled constitutional problem with banning books.

Jonah Goldberg.