Free Speech Cannot Survive Without Free Trade

Free speech, by its very nature, cannot survive without free trade.  Think about it.  If the government allocates goods and services, that means you you have no choice and must rely on the government to give you what you need to survive.  One person or a small group of people will decide whether or not and how much food/shelter/medical care/transportation/vacation/etc to give you.  Whoever makes the decisions about who gets what will inevitably have an enormous amount of power.  People will live in fear of breaking unspoken/written rules laid out by the government distributor… they will be unable to criticize the government or the committee in charge of distribution.

Free speech flourishes however in free economies.  People have many options to choose from and have no fear of stating their preferences or beliefs.  No one person or group holds absolute power.  

If an individual doesn’t like the type of medical care offered under a government agency, they are out of luck.  If the individual doesn’t like the type of medical care offered by a private business, they can go to one of thousands of other doctors offices.  

Models of government distribution of goods and services prevent people from speaking freely for fear of offending a powerful person, whereas no such fear exists in the private market (assuming anti-trust laws are in place).