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).