Losing liberty, 1 regulation at a time

In case you didn't know what happened to Mark Steyn, he was accused of violating someone's rights in Canada (Muslim issues) by his speech. He testified recently in Canada about the procedure Canada has of government employees watching civilians' speech for infractions:

As Canadians have discovered, liberty is lost very quietly and quickly. And trying to get it back is slow and painful - particularly at a time when artists, universities, publishers and others who congratulate themselves incessantly on their truth-telling courage find increasingly pre-emptive self-censorship the better part of valor.

The Europe of 2020 will have considerably less freedom of expression than today. American exceptionalism is going to have to be exceptionally exceptional to hold out against that trend.