Vivek Ramaswamy declares freedom of speech is the ‘precondition for truth’ in Iowa campaign stop

"Free speech is a precondition for truth," he said. "I'll tell you this free speech is a condition for peace in America, right because you tell people they cannot speak that is when they scream. You tell people they cannot scream. That is when they tear things down."

"Speech and open debate that you get to speak your mind and you do and you do and you do too. As long as I get to in return, that's the bargain of what it means to be American," Ramaswamy said. "Our founding fathers knew James Madison on down before him even Thomas Jefferson wax eloquent about even my favorite one. They knew that free speech is a precondition for truth."

"You think about those school closures two years ago, you think we would have closed those schools in this country?" he asked. "If we had been allowed to say that we shouldn't close those schools in this country? Right? We wouldn't have."

Do "you think we would have waited three years before he woke up to the fact that that virus started in a manmade lab in Wuhan?" the candidate asked. "You couldn't say it. They delete your accounts if you said that, right?"

"This isn't some liberal arts luxury though," he continued. "Free speech is a precondition for truth. I'll tell you this free speech is a condition for peace in America, right because you tell people they cannot speak that is when they scream."

Ramaswamy went on to praise parent's rights organization Moms for Liberty. "One of the things I love about Moms for Liberty is nobody's going to tell you that you're not going to speak you will be heard. That is what it means to be American," he said.

In a tweet, the Citizen Free Press praised the candidate as "a rising MAGA star." It noted, "You will never hear this from Pence or Christie."

On Tuesday, Ramaswamy traveled to the indictment of former President Donald Trump to show his support. In a speech, he pledged to pardon Trump in the event he gets convicted.