Authoritarians support eroding speech rights rather than abolishing them outright

Evidence

I doubt many American lawmakers would vote for an amendment to repeal freedom of speech outright. Even High RWAs believe in it, certainly for themselves. But I suspect authoritarian legislators would often support bills that whittled away our freedom of speech, when they did not like the speech. They would do the same for freedom of the press. And even though the First Amendment prohibits the establishment of a state religion, we have reason to suspect right-wing authoritarians would vote for a law to have their religion taught in public schools. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3609

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the recurring theme that successful authoritarian captures proceed by erosion, not revolution. — connects to: WWI repression of dissent pushed Progressive jurists toward stronger speech protections — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 168; High-capacity low-democracy regimes use rights rhetoric while suppressing organized Islamist opposition — Charles Tilly, Regimes and Repertoires, 513