

My ideological opponents are already silencing speech. I gain nothing by ceding that tool solely to them.
As long as fascists exist they must be silenced. When they seize power, they will not do you the courtesy of allowing you to speak just because you let them. It’s naive to think otherwise.
Violence (or the threat of it) is the only means of influence that the people have ever had. As you’ve correctly identified, when other avenues of enacting their will are stymied, violence results, but that threat of violence must be what sits behind every vote, or the vote would have no power.
To put it succinctly, “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”