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Comment by SilverElfin | Hacker News Reader

America has constitutional protections for freedom of speech, that are greater than any other country. I mean that literally. The government official was not sacked for “publishing government stats” - that is, it’s not their speech as an individual that led to their firing.

And I have no idea what you mean by “TACO state”.

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Sorry, Americas constitutional protections are effectively a myth. There is nothing to enforce or even defend them. They are theory at best, easy to be twisted any time powerful enough person wants.

Couldn't you make that argument for any law in any society?

Sure, which is why the value of such a law should be judged based on how well it's enforced, and not merely how often it's espoused.

How is it a myth? Anyone can say what they want, barring a small set of exceptions like defamation. This is enforced and defended by the legal system. It’s the opposite of what you are claiming.

The power of literal government agencies are used against people and organizations literally based on their speech. Literally over words.

Meanwhile, literal financial political corruption is framed as speech.

And second, give how expensive civil suits are, you not having enough money to pay layers means that slapp suits are very effective limits on free speech in practice.

You should try watching some auditors on the tube of your choice. They make good money suing when their rights are violated. I wish individuals had that protection in Canada.

I think the point is, despite America having "constitutional protections for freedom of speech, that are greater than any other country," it has fallen to such a sorry state that a government officer is fired for reporting inconvenient numbers and that's not even the craziest thing the president did this week.

...which raises question on whether "freedom of speech" is the great defense against authoritarianism Americans believe it to be.

Yes it obviously is a great defense against authoritarianism. Trump still can’t stop you as an individual in exercising your freedom of speech. A government “officer” here is just an employee (of an agency that is controlled by the president), fired for doing their job poorly (allegedly), not for speech.

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