Republican lawmakers and mouthpieces are currently floating the idea of working to pull funding from universities that publicly support and foster support of Hamas, the Palestinian terror group responsible for the recent attacks in Israel and the ensuing response. They are also suggesting revoking the visas of foreign students caught engaging in pro-Hamas activities and antisemitic rhetoric. The idea is gaining traction among the Republican presidential candidate crowd.

Critics are caterwauling that such a move would violate the free speech rights of universities and foreign visa holders. Conservative contrarians (otherwise known as the “I’m not one of THOSE conservatives!” folks) are accusing Republicans of being hypocrites – a “free speech for me but not for thee” sort of thing.

I find that particular criticism to be disingenuous. It feels more like a “gotcha, you hypocrites!” than an exercise of thought.

To borrow a fond phrase from the left – you’re free to say what you want, but you’re not free from the consequences of saying what you want.

[It’s a start, but it doesn’t address the problem systemically. Federal support for colleges should be ended *entirely*, not just on a few campuses. I discussed that in my rant earlier today. — Ed]