Conservatives are well aware of the concerted effort to silence dissent being made across social media and the mainstream media. Ever wonder why? Surely sharing some stupid post with a few friends, most of whom won’t even click the link, can’t make a difference, right?

Wrong.

Our abbreviated history lessons leave us with the impression that important stuff happens fast – which is almost never true. From the first stirrings of discontent to the first shot of the American Revolution took TWENTY years. It takes time to identify the problem, decide whether or not it can be solved with the political tools at hand, try a few things, fail a lot, begin to build support, start the process of convincing others of the correctness of your views, adjusting said views as other folks bring good ideas to the mix, try again to solve the problem without a pitchfork, several setbacks, at least one idiot does something stupid, more stupidity, more talking, more convincing, more trying and then FINALLY the break comes. The problem gets solved.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

In the middle of all of that, life continues. Other issues crop up. The road is never straight and the detours are rarely short. This is the fabled and much maligned process of muddling through. It’s pretty lousy as a Hollywood movie plot, but so is most of real life. The politics of the public square works. Not fast, not neatly, and certainly not without a boatload of frustration – but it does work.

This was the process that got us the Constitution. The US started off with the Articles of Confederation. The Articles preserved state autonomy at the cost of Federal power. That wasn’t inherently bad but it didn’t really meet the needs of a nascent backwater nation-state. It took eleven years and a secret Constitutional Congress to even get a new constitution drafted – then a lot of wrangling get it ratified which included adding on a Bill of Rights.

Was it perfect? Of course not – nothing humans make ever really is – but it was pretty darn close. Amazing what three months in a hothouse in the middle of summer can accomplish – but it’s the eleven years leading up to it and all the mucking around and fussing and fighting that made it possible to even have that meeting, let alone ratifying a brand new Constitution.

So, what does that have to do with your pithy meme post nowadays? Everything. The public square is as much about the banal and imperfect conversation as it is the academic discussion. More so, I’d argue.

People rarely change their minds or make up their minds whole hog with only one input. It’s lots and lots of little ones. Sure, the Founding Fathers wrote the Federalist Papers – but the real change occurred in the taverns and churches as these new ideas about liberty and government by the people, strong central government constrained by a balance of powers, the rule of law over the rule of men were discussed, cussed, argued, fussed about, fought over, joked about and bandied about.

This is how ideas are really tested. Thousands of people fussing and discussing, finding the weaknesses and the strengths, figuring it out and muddling on through – this is the messy process that gets us the best ideas and the best ways to implement them.

Those who seek to silence others only do so because their ideas cannot withstand the scrutiny of the public square. They fear the humorous meme and the sarcastic video. Neither of these are great works of academic merit – but they don’t need to be. The idea within them can either stand on its own feet or it can’t. The argument is built over dozens of comments, posts, memes, videos, podcasts, blogs – ad Infinium.

It’s also built across the fence and the dinner table. It’s built in casual conversations that last only a few minutes. It’s built not in great speeches but in little talks. We take the great speeches, the videos, blogs, articles, academic papers, media reports and boil them in the cauldron of ideas every time we just chat about it with a friend. That’s the public square in action.

Slow, messy and hot – but what comes out is the best of the best. Dross doesn’t survive the process – unless if never gets put in. That’s what censorship, canceling and silencing are all about – keeping weak ideas safe from the power of the public square.

That’s why Facebook pays incompetents to pretend to fact check any idea that they find stronger than their own – or which has that potential. That’s why the Leftists desperately try to silence all the little voices that dare chew on a weak idea of theirs. Censorship is the tool of the weak who desire power.

Every voice counts. The one in the megaphone only starts a part of the process – the real work happens in the little conversations and sometimes the big arguments. Free speech only protects when we use it – and they are trying to scare Americans into not using that freedom. Because their ideas cannot win in the public square – they aren’t good enough.

The first step to a better America is having the guts to say what you believe.