There is a lot at stake in this election cycle, as you all know. But in my mind, the make-or-break issue is protecting the First Amendment and, by extension, the Constitution and our freedoms.
Yes, the border matters immensely. Yes, the US is embroiled in wars abroad that should never have broken out.
But without freedom of speech and the ability to break the near monopoly on information distribution, our country will be gone. We won't even have a fighting chance.
Before you say, "the Supreme Court will save us," recall that the Democrats have been agitating to expand the Court and pack it with leftists. Countless articles have been written to delegitimize the Court, and Democrats in Congress and in the Biden administration have been laying the groundwork to nullify the independence of the Court. We can't predict whether they will succeed, but by the time the Supreme Court hears a case, the censorship regime will be fully in place.
Freedom of speech is under coordinated attack across the West. The UN is pushing it. The World Economic Forum has it in its sights--naming "disinformation" as the greatest threat, eclipsing war, famine, and epidemics. The European Union is at war with freedom of speech, even demanding that Twitter/X not platform Donald Trump at all.
It was a stunning display of arrogance, and the Biden/Harris administration seemed more than fine with it. No pushback at all.
— Jane Coleman (@JaneBColeman) October 6, 2024
In just the past few weeks, Hillary Clinton has bemoaned that without "total control," we baddies have a voice, so she votes for total control. John Kerry declared the First Amendment to be an "obstacle" to the transnational elite's war on the free market.
Listen very carefully to this entire clip. Kerry is telling you what the Democratic Party will do if they win this next election.
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) September 29, 2024
“The dislike of and anguish over social media is growing…making it harder to govern…People self-select where they go for their news or their… https://t.co/lTEcK165HW
Both Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have called for limits to our speech, declaring that the federal government should have the right to shut up American citizens.
Convincing people that there is an exception to freedom of speech called “hate speech” has been one of the greatest marketing successes of the anti-free speech movement. I've been fighting it on campuses for almost 24 years now and it's a justification used all the time to target… https://t.co/ioHUdDng6Z
— Greg Lukianoff (@glukianoff) October 2, 2024
Tim Walz defended silencing people, falsely claiming we have no right to say things he considers "hate speech" or "disinformation." As you know by now, EVERYTHING the Democrats don't like is hate speech or disinformation. So Walz is both wrong on the Constitution and promoting a totalitarian vision in which technocrats and politicians decide what can be said.
If the past few years have taught us anything, it's that the government, the "experts," and media figures spread lies and hoaxes while declaring all dissent to be "misinformation."
Remember "sharp as a tack?" "Safe and effective?" "Prevents infection and transmission?" "Hunter Biden's laptop is Russian disinformation?" "The Steele Dossier proved Trump is a Russian asset with a pee fetish?"
In the debate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz pulled the fire alarm on free speech. In defending censorship, Walz invoked the "shouting fire in a crowded theater" line-the favorite mantra of the anti-free speech movement. It also is fundamentally wrong...https://t.co/MmPhjsMe4t
— Jonathan Turley (@JonathanTurley) October 4, 2024
Jonathan Turley has been one of the few figures who is regularly featured in the media--although now mostly on Fox News as far as I can tell--who is sounding the alarm. Most of us are shouting on Twitter/X, because it is one of the few places where we can still speak freely, and there are still old-style liberals out there who are appalled at the clamping down on speech.
But there are too few, and they are so disgusted that they are leaving the Democrat Party. This means that if Kamala Harris wins, they will have no influence.
The fact that Tulsi Gabbard was put on a terrorist watch list tells you how entrenched the authoritarians are in our government. That is mainly due to the malign influence of Alejandro Mayorkas, who is perhaps the most evil bureaucrat who has been in the American government for decades or perhaps ever. He has been at the center of almost every evil action of this administration, including the border crisis, the failed protection of Trump, FEMA's failures going back years and especially evident in North Carolina, and countless other horrors. I am convinced that the failures of the Secret Service in protecting Trump began in his office.
How many lies has the administration gotten away with? How much propaganda have they spread? Think of the breathtaking abuses of power we have seen in the past few years.
If Harris wins, you may not even be able to object. In Canada and Great Britain, people are already being persecuted or thrown in jail for their speech. What will prevent that here? Look at what they have done to Trump. If they can do that to him, what could they do to you and your neighbors?
Free speech at least gives us the power to persuade, to object, to stir up dissent. Speech may not prevent abuses of power, but they gives us a chance to fight back.
Turley calls freedom of speech an indispensable right, and he is correct. Without out our country is done.
And free speech is on the ballot.
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