During the era of the Fairness Doctrine:
Then Ronald Reagan repealed the Fairness Doctrine, and all this ended. Saddam Hussein tried to kill George H.W. Bush in Kuwait after the Gulf War (a war act by a Stalin fan) and one guy died landing his plane in front of the Clinton-era White House (friends suggested it was a publicity stunt, not an assassination attempt).
- Bill Clinton saw an ex-military ex-con (convicted and imprisoned by the US Army for violent assault) subdued by the Secret Service for shooting at people on the White House lawn. Thank God, no one was harmed.
- George W. Bush, of course, lived through several assassination attempts, almost all connected with al Qaeda, except for another nutjob who tried before 9/11. Again, no one was harmed.
Two plots against Barack Obama, mostly staffed by moronic losers, were interrupted by the Secret Service and other officers. This is made possible entirely by better policing. Final summation:
- Thought control: ineffective.
- Suppressing conspiracy theorists: lets them fester and explode.
- Exposing them: shrinks and humiliates them.
- Effective law enforcement: saves lives.
End of argument.