The Conflict Of Political Equality And Freedom Of Speech And Its Harmony

Are equality and freedom compatible or contradictory? If they are contradictory, which one is prioritized in regard to value position? It is never an easy job to answer this question. As two basic values in modern society, equality and freedom are important fields of ethnics, politics, philosophy and law. In the past hundreds of years, plenty of thinkers have unfolded heated debates on the relationship between equality and freedom. Most of the debates, however, are away from experiential world and are unfolded based on metaphysics from theory to practice. So speaking to oneself in one’s own level occurs frequently. Therefore, touching upon the mechanism of American Campaign finance regulation and starting from the smaller point of political equality and free speech, my dissertation aims at figuring out the relationship between political equality and freedom of speech.It is found that political equality and freedom of speech are concerned with the problem of value rather than the problem of fact. Value judgment is the judgment of people and depends on the determination and preference of people. And the judgment never stops as long as people live. Thus, it is determined that the conflict between political equality and freedom of speech may occur at any time. In modern democratic society, however, Social interest pattern becomes more diversified. For the purpose of co-existence, actors must remove the existing interest obstacle and seek for diversified cooperation. That is to say, political equality and freedom of speech are not highly contradictory. Instead, they can be mediated in conflicts.