Support for same-sex relations has plummeted among Americans over the past year, according to a Gallup poll released Friday.
Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll found that 64% of Americans believe same-sex relations are acceptable in 2023, compared to 71% in 2022. The 7-point drop in views of gay and lesbian relations represents the steepest decline of all polled social issues. Moral acceptance of same-sex relations has fallen to its lowest level since 2019, a year in which 63% of respondents said they found gay relationships “morally acceptable.”
Still, the poll shows that same-sex relations are still viewed much more favorably than in past decades. In 2012, 54% of Americans found gay and lesbian relationships acceptable. In 2002, 38% of Americans found them acceptable. Likewise, a record-high 71% of Americans support same-sex marriage, according to a June 5 Gallup poll.
There was a shift away from most liberal beliefs in the Gallup Morality poll, but same-sex relations dropped 7%(!) as Republicans went from majority to minority support https://t.co/WbIm1CXOdN
The backslide in acceptance same-sex relations comes mainly from Republicans, according to Gallup. Only 41% of Republicans reported finding same-sex relations morally acceptable, a sharp drop from the record-high of 56% in 2022. The 41% figure represents the lowest level of support same-sex for relations in nearly a decade. In 2014, 39% of Republicans found gay and lesbian relationships “morally acceptable,” according to the poll.
Support for gay relationships among Democrats slightly declined from 85% in 2022 to 79% in 2023. Independents saw a slight uptick, with support increasing from 72% to 73%.
The decline of same-sex relationship acceptance comes amid a broader backlash against the LGBT movement over the past year, with many Republican state legislatures moving to ban sex changes for children and explicit books featuring gay sex from school libraries. Conservatives expressed outrage against Bud Light and Target over the alleged promotion of transgender ideology, which has resulted in declining sales and stock prices for each entity, respectively.
Some have questioned if the political packaging of homosexuals with gender ideologues would result in a backlash against the gay and lesbian community.
“But when you examine the other issues at stake — public schools teaching the concepts of queer and gender theory to kindergartners on up, sex changes for children before puberty, the housing of biological males with women in prisons and rape shelters, and biological males competing with women in sports — you realize we are far beyond what the gay rights movement once stood for. It’s these initiatives from the far left that are new; and the backlash is quite obviously a reaction to the capture of the gay rights movement by queer social justice activists,” gay rights activist and public intellectual Andrew Sullivan wrote in a May blog post.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2023-06-17 11:47:042023-06-17 12:25:17American Support For Same-Sex Relations Sees Biggest Decline Ever Recorded
Special prosecutor John Durham concluded that “neither U.S. nor the Intelligence Community appears to have possessed any actual evidence of collusion in their holdings at the commencement of the Crossfire Hurricane investigation.”
“FBI records prepared by [Peter] Strzok in February and March 2017 show that at the time of the opening of Crossfire Hurricane, the FBI had no information in its holdings indicating that at any time during the campaign anyone in the Trump had been in contact with any Russian intelligence officials.”
According to the 306-page Durham report, the Obama FBI tried and failed to obtain a FISA warrant to spy on George Papadopoulos.
Durham concluded the Steele dossier was a complete joke and that the FBI failed to corroborate any of its key claims: “Our investigation determined that the Crossfire Hurricane investigators did not and could not corroborate any of the substantive allegations contained in the Steele reporting.”
Obama knew. Clinton knew. Biden knew. Comey knew. Brennan knew. McCabe knew. Strzok knew. Clapper knew. Schiff knew. FBI knew. DOJ knew. They all knew.
It was way more than a hoax, it was a coup. When do heads roll?
CIA Director Brennan subsequently briefed President Obama and other senior national security officials on the intelligence, including the “alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her…
The FBI investigation of former President Donald Trump’s alleged collusion with Russia in 2016 was “seriously flawed” and had no basis in evidence, special counsel John Durham said in a report released Monday.
Durham concluded his four-year review with a scathing indictment of official bias in the probe, which fueled Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of Trump’s theorized conspiracy with the Kremlin to win the White House.
“It is the Office’s assessment that the FBI discounted or willfully ignored material information that did not support the narrative of a collusive relationship between Trump and Russia,” Durham wrote.
“Similarly, the FBI Inspection Division Report says that the investigators ‘repeatedly ignore[d] or explain[ed] away evidence contrary to the theory the Trump campaign… had conspired with Russia… It appeared that … there was a pattern of assuming nefarious intent,’” he added.
“An objective and honest assessment of these strands of information should have caused the FBI to question not only the predication for [the investigation], but also to reflect on whether the FBI was being manipulated for political or other purposes. Unfortunately, it did not.”
Durham, the former Connecticut US attorney who was tapped to lead the review in 2019 by then-Attorney General Bill Barr, dug deep into the origins of Operation Crossfire Hurricane, but his final report didn’t urge new criminal prosecutions.
The FBI’s leak-ridden investigation began in summer 2016 and ultimately dragged on under special counsel Robert Mueller through more than half of Trump’s term in office — with a granular stream of leaks to the media creating the impression of damning evidence mounting against Trump.
Update: according to the Durham Report former CIA Director John Brennan briefed Obama and staff on the plot by Hillary Clinton to create a false narrative about Russian interference in the election and colluding with candidate Donald Trump. High ranking democrats all knew about… pic.twitter.com/lwYk83OZyx
🚨BREAKING: According to the Durham Report, the plan by Hillary Clinton to create a false story linking Donald Trump to Russia was briefed in August of 2016 by CIA Director John Brennan to President Obama, VP Biden, AG Loretta Lynch, and FBI Director Comey. pic.twitter.com/r2NvwJyKW8
The Durham report is damning. It shows the FBI operating as a disinformation shop for the Clinton campaign, ignoring its own rules, and blatantly & maliciously interfering in a presidential election. The Steele dossier was fake, and FBI knew it all along. pic.twitter.com/vGkPYloz5B
— John Daniel Davidson (@johnddavidson) May 15, 2023
🚨 DURHAM REPORT: According to his handwritten notes, CIA Director Brennan subsequently briefed President Obama and other senior national security officials on the intelligence, including the “alleged approval by Hillary Clinton on July 26, 2016 of a proposal from one of her… pic.twitter.com/Tfu9l2atSB
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Geller Reporthttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Geller Report2023-05-16 08:02:562023-05-16 08:34:38Durham Report: FBI Had No ‘Actual Evidence,’ Trump-Russia ‘Collusion’ Probe Was a Hoax
The twin crashes in US commercial real estate and the US bond market have collided with $9 trillion uninsured deposits in the American banking system. Such deposits can vanish in an afternoon in the cyber age.
The second and third biggest bank failures in US history have followed in quick succession. The US Treasury and Federal Reserve would like us to believe that they are “idiosyncratic”. That is a dangerous evasion.
Almost half of America’s 4,800 banks are already burning through their capital buffers. They may not have to mark all losses to market under US accounting rules but that does not make them solvent. Somebody will take those losses.
“It’s spooky. Thousands of banks are underwater,” said Professor Amit Seru, a banking expert at Stanford University. “Let’s not pretend that this is just about Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic. A lot of the US banking system is potentially insolvent.”
The full shock of monetary tightening by the Fed has yet to hit. A great edifice of debt faces a refinancing cliff-edge over the next six quarters. Only then will we learn whether the US financial system can safely deflate the excess leverage induced by extreme monetary stimulus during the pandemic.
A Hoover Institution report by Prof Seru and a group of banking experts calculates that more than 2,315 US banks are currently sitting on assets worth less than their liabilities. The market value of their loan portfolios is $2 trillion lower than the stated book value.
Led by Quadrillion-Dollar Man Joe Biden — about whom more later — today’s Democrat Party has decayed into a collection of psychoses fortified by police power, perpetual-motion monetary printing presses and easy access to atomic weapons. What could go wrong? Damn near everything.
Democrats spent much of the last generation attempting to heal the Southern blacks whom they brutalized through Jim Crow segregation. They promoted legal equality for women, aimed to enrich the poor and eradicated tear-inducing air and blazing rivers.
Despite their ham-fisted methods and extravagant budgets, yesterday’s Democrats often tried to do the right thing.
Today’s Democrats stroke their exotic fetishes in public, typically at taxpayer expense. Their counterproductive projects explode in their faces like unhurled grenades. And whenever they can cleave Americans racially or sexually, they do so with quasi-erotic passion.
Behold this snapshot of Demented Democrat insanity:
Washington, D.C.’s. City Council voted to let foreign citizens, including illegal aliens, vote in municipal elections. Exercising Congress’ power to overturn local D.C. laws, House Republicans voted unanimously to scrap this measure. “Only AMERICANS should vote in AMERICAN elections,” Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan argued via Twitter.
Among House Democrats, 79% (162 of 204) disagreed and voted to let foreign citizens cast ballots in the nation’s capital.
D.C.’s City Council battled a local crime surge by reducing penalties for robbery, carjacking, home invasion and other violent offenses. Every Republican voted to junk this law. However, 85% (173 of 204) of Democrats dissented and stood proudly with their thug-hugging District counterparts.
Elusive Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has had his plate full, what with three pairs of passenger jets that nearly collided at JFK, Austin and Chicago airports in about as many weeks.
On February 3, a train laden with toxic chemicals derailed at East Palestine, Ohio. On-scene geniuses then set it ablaze and ignited an American Chernobyl. After 11 days without comment, Poisonous Pete shattered his silence — via Twitter.
He did find time to obsess over the racial makeup of America’s construction workforce. He whined to the National Association of Counties about “a neighborhood — often a neighborhood of color — that finally sees a project come to them, but everyone in the hard hats on that project, doing the good-paying jobs, don’t look like they came from anywhere near that neighborhood.”
After scolding the Daily Caller News Foundation’s Jennie Taer for interrupting his “personal time” as he strolled through Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night, Buttigieg finally reached East Palestine Thursday. This was one day after former President Donald J. Trump comforted its terrified residents and 20 days after a man-made mushroom cloud rained carcinogens on these American citizens.
Today’s Democrats believe that genitalia are as interchangeable as Lego parts. So, they steer insecure boys and girls toward “gender-affirming care.” This sounds as inviting as a Jacuzzi. However, such “care” manipulates hormones, halts puberty, castrates via chemicals, chops off breasts and lops off penises.
Left-wing teachers and school officials pressure vulnerable minors to keep their parents oblivious to these enormous, life-changing, irreversible medical interventions.
In a massive blow for transgenderism, New Hampshire’s Milford School Board voted Feb. 6 to disable boys’ room urinals with trash bags.
“No one requested this change,” student Jay Remella told WMUR-TV. “It was solely made by the school board and a parent complaint.”
After hundreds of high-school students walked out to protest this decision, the board reversed itself and liberated the urinals, proving who the real grown-ups are in Milford.
Democrats’ Menstrual Equity for All Act of 2021 mandates that every California government school supply free feminine-hygiene products in each female and all-gender restroom and at least one male bathroom.
“I think it’s crazy and unbelievable that they would put a tampon and pad dispenser in the boys’ locker room because they should KNOW that boys will be boys and waste them and cause trouble,” said a 13-year-old male Bernardo Heights student.
San Francisco Democrats have proposed $5 million in slavery reparations for every eligible black resident. If all 46,466 black San Franciscans qualified (per Census data), this would cost each of 768,735 local non-blacks $302,223. Total: $232.3 billion.
Reparations would consume this city’s entire $14 billion budget for the next 16 years and leave $0.00 for police, firefighters, schools, roads, healthcare, or anything else through 2039.
“If we don’t stay under 1.5 degrees Celsius,” President Biden told donors on January 31, “we’re going to have a real problem. It’s the single-most existential threat to humanity we’ve ever faced, including nuclear weapons.” The Democrats’ bright-green, $369 billion Inflation Reduction Act is supposed to help Biden meet his 2.7° Fahrenheit objective
Good luck with that.
Climate expert Bjorn Lomborg ran the IRA through the United Nations’ temperature models. He discovered that the IRA reduces expected global warming through 2100 by just 0.0009° F. This is like cranking a thermostat from 72° F all the way down to 71.9991° F.
So, $369 billion achieves just 0.0333% of Biden’s goal. Thus, Biden’s desired 2.7° reduction would cost $1.108 quadrillion — with a Q — more than 35 times America’s $31.5 trillion national debt.
Such madness confirms that the Democrat Party has slouched from a serious political institution into America’s largest mental hospital.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2023-02-27 11:49:392023-02-27 16:12:48Here Are Some Shining Examples Of Pure Dem Insanity
If you have always felt somewhat lost on the political landscape, this primer is for you.
With midterm elections around the corner, many are undoubtedly trying to brush up on their knowledge of politics, having mostly ignored the topic since the last election. Maybe you know some of these people. Maybe you are one of these people.
For those trying to get a crash course in politics before they vote, the process can be a little daunting. You might try reaching out to a politically-knowledgeable friend, but chances are you’ll end up getting more of a rant than answers to your simple questions.
So, in an attempt to provide less of a rant and more of an introduction, here are some basic ideas that will help you get oriented on the political landscape. Note, this isn’t about specific platforms or candidates, nor is it a civics lesson—there are plenty of other places to get that information. Instead, this is more of an introduction to political philosophy. It’s about the principles and big ideas that motivate the various positions.
The Fundamental Question of Politics
The starting point of politics is a very simple question: What should the government do? How you answer this question basically determines where you fall in the political realm.
Whether you’re a Republican or Democrat or somewhere in between (or somewhere else, or completely lost), there are certain things almost everyone thinks the government should do. For example, most people think the government should provide things like police, courts, roads, and national defense.
There are other government initiatives, however, that are more contentious. This would include issues like gun regulation, drug prohibition, public schooling, and business regulations like the minimum wage.
Another way of thinking about the fundamental question of politics is to ask “what decisions should the government make for us, and what decisions should individuals be allowed to make for themselves?” As Thomas Sowell said, “The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.”
Should the government have the final say as to whether people use cocaine, or should that decision be in the hands of the individual? Should the government raise taxes, meaning they decide what to do with a certain sum of money, or should they lower them, meaning the individual decides what to do with that money?
When framed this way, it becomes clear that the more the government does—that is, the more the government makes decisions on our behalf—the less we are free to make our own decisions. Every decision the government makes for us is a decision we can’t make for ourselves. In the words of Ronald Reagan, “As government expands, liberty contracts.”
This insight can be used to develop a very basic political spectrum. At one extreme you have the government making virtually all decisions for its citizens, to the point where the government has “total” control over its people. That would be totalitarianism. At the other extreme you have the government making absolutely no decisions, at which point you have no government, that is, anarchism.
Each political philosophy fits somewhere on that spectrum, and where it fits depends on how much it says the government should control our decisions.
The Political Compass
The spectrum above has the advantage of being simple, but it doesn’t always do a good job of representing where people stand. For example, if someone wants lots of government involvement in the economy (regulating businesses, minimum wage laws, high taxation, lots of government programs etc.) but also desires strong social freedoms (free speech, drug legalization, etc.) it can be hard to represent that position on a 1-dimensional axis. Thus, to make these distinctions somewhat clearer, political philosophers have come up with a 2-dimensional political compass that splits economic and social views into their own categories. Economic views are represented by the horizontal axis and social views are represented by the vertical axis.
Though there are two axes instead of one now, the premise is very much the same. At one extreme you have total freedom and no government interference (the far right economically and far down socially). At the other extreme you have lots of government and virtually no freedom (the far left economically and far up socially).
It’s worth noting that “socially liberal” views are sometimes called “libertarian” in contrast to “authoritarian” as in the graphic above. But this is different from the philosophy of libertarianism, which favors both economic and “personal” liberty.
It’s also important to clarify “socially liberal” in this context. The term is often taken to mean libertinism. In the political context, however, “socially liberal” does not mean condoning any particular set of lifestyle choices. It just means rejecting the criminalization of lifestyle choices that do not violate anyone else’s rights.
With some artistic license, the previous 1-dimensional spectrum could be overlaid on the political compass. It would essentially be a line running diagonally from the top left corner (totalitarianism) to the bottom right corner (anarchism).
Republicans (aka conservatives) and Democrats (aka liberals) are both near the middle of this compass. The main difference between them is that Democrats generally lean toward more social freedom and less economic freedom (bottom left quadrant) whereas Republicans lean toward less social freedom and more economic freedom (top right quadrant). So Democrats might push for higher taxes and looser drugs laws, whereas Republicans will push for lower taxes and more stringent drug laws.
Libertarians (bottom right quadrant) are often seen as a weird mix of some Republican and some Democrat positions (“socially liberal, fiscally conservative”), but the above framing hopefully makes it clear why this isn’t the case. Libertarians are simply for freedom in all its forms, and it is the liberals and conservatives who have the strange mixes, championing freedom in some areas while trying to restrict it in others.
A Question of Values
Where you fall on the political spectrum ultimately comes down to what you value. If you want the government to provide lots of services but stay out of people’s personal lives, you’ll probably fit best with progressives/liberals. If, on the other hand, you believe there should be stricter social rules but that the government should largely leave the market alone, chances are you’re more of a conservative. And if you just want the government to leave people alone in every domain, you’re probably a libertarian.
These are only generalizations, of course. Every side has its nuances, and as you talk to people from different perspectives you’ll probably start to pick up on them. In fact, the best way to learn is to talk with people who disagree with you. Even if they are the ranting type, asking questions of political nerds can really help you understand where they’re coming from. You might still disagree, of course, but you will at least have a better grasp of the political landscape.
And who knows? They might actually change your mind.
This article was adapted from an issue of the FEE Daily email newsletter. Click here to sign up and get free-market news and analysis like this in your inbox every weekday.
Patrick Carroll has a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Waterloo and is an Editorial Fellow at the Foundation for Economic Education.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Foundation for Economic Education (FEE)http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngFoundation for Economic Education (FEE)2022-10-28 14:03:522022-10-28 14:06:30An Introduction to Politics for the Politically Clueless
Republicans could win another 12 to 25 seats in the House of Representatives in a massive sweep this November, a new analysis from Cook Political Report predicted.
The predictions present an even more optimistic situation for Republicans than Cook’s last analysis, which predicted 10-20 seat gains for the GOP. Seats with Democratic incumbents were moved from “likely D” to “toss up” in four races, and two races with Democratic incumbents were moved from “toss up” to “likely R” in this week’s analysis.
“Enthusiasm is on our side, as evidenced by historic turnout from Republicans in primaries and early voting,” a GOP spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Americans are rejecting Democrats’ failures from high prices to out-of-control crime to their woke agenda. Democrats are hemorrhaging support amongst voters across every state, district, and demographic.”
Republicans are beating Democrats in voter enthusiasm with a 78%-69% edge, strengthening their September lead but still not matching their lead prior to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, according to Cook. Democrats are generally performing worst in blue states that swung heavily for Biden in 2020 including New York, Oregon and Connecticut; Cook attributes this to voters in red and purple states fearing abortion restrictions.
The House is currently controlled by Democrats by an eight-seat margin, but the results predicted by Cook would give the GOP a four-to-17 seat edge. Republicans have maintained a consistent lead in midterm polls, with voters primarily concerned about inflation and the economy and rating the GOP as more trustworthy in handling those issues.
Republicans are beating Democrats in voter enthusiasm with a 78%-69% edge, strengthening their September lead but still not matching their lead prior to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, according to Cook. Democrats are generally performing worst in blue states that swung heavily for Biden in 2020 including New York, Oregon and Connecticut; Cook attributes this to voters in red and purple states fearing abortion restrictions.
The House is currently controlled by Democrats by an eight-seat margin, but the results predicted by Cook would give the GOP a four-to-17 seat edge. Republicans have maintained a consistent lead in midterm polls, with voters primarily concerned about inflation and the economy and rating the GOP as more trustworthy in handling those issues.
The Democratic National Committee did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2022-10-26 06:05:582022-10-26 06:11:17The Floodgates Just Opened For A Red Tsunami, Analysis Finds
Hard working Americans continue to suffer from historically high levels of inflation caused by the Biden administration’s out-of-control spending and opposition to domestic energy production. Soon after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) report for September, which confirmed inflation is accelerating and isn’t going away anytime soon, President Joe Biden claimed “If Republicans win, inflation’s going to get worse.”
Such a reckless claim demonstrates the president’s fundamental misunderstanding of the problem his policies have caused … or how to solve it.
Overall inflation was up another 0.4% in September, or 8.2% year-over-year. Even the less volatile measure of “core” inflation increased by 0.6% in September for a 12-month increase of 6.6%. This is the highest increase in core inflation in 40 years and shows that inflation is broad-based and continues to spread throughout the economy.
Americans are well-aware that food prices have increased dramatically. Food prices rose 0.8% in September alone and have increased 11.2% in the last 12 months. This is the highest year-over-year increase in the United States since 1979. Cereals and bakery items are up 16.2%, dairy items are up 15.9% and fruits and vegetables are up 10.4%.
American workers also suffered another month of declining purchasing power last month. These decreases have become all too customary under the Biden administration’s policies, and in just the past year, purchasing power fell by 3.3%. Since the beginning of the Biden administration, the average worker has paid a $2,500 inflation tax. Lower-income Americans and senior citizens on fixed incomes are particularly vulnerable to rapid price increases.
Ongoing inflation has led the Federal Reserve to engage in some of the most aggressive monetary policy most Americans have ever seen. That’s bad news for Americans whose investments are being destroyed and whose dreams of owning a home or starting a business are being delayed. The Wall Street Journal reports that 30-year fixed-rate mortgages now average more than 7.1% compared to just 3% a year ago.
For a homebuyer borrowing $250,000, the monthly interest and principal payment has increased from approximately $1,050 per month to a staggering $1,680 per month.
The only thing keeping the headline inflation rate from hitting another 40-year high is that energy prices declined slightly in September. That appears to be changing quickly, and not in a good way.
The energy prices in September’s inflation report were recorded before the OPEC+ announcement that the cartel will cut production by two million barrels per day starting in November. A market correction also looms around the corner when the administration’s releases of oil from the strategic petroleum reserve will come to an end. Because it refuses to expand domestic production, the Biden administration will be left with few real options to lower prices at the pump.
The announced reduction of 2 million barrels per day, combined with the long overdue termination of releases from the strategic reserve is already assessed to send oil prices skyrocketing. Goldman Sachs recently forecasted that oil prices will likely reach $110 per barrel.
The 4.9% decline in gasoline prices in September is but a temporary reprieve, and it is highly probable that a national average of $5.00 per gallon will once again crush Americans’ wallets.
Oil and gasoline are only one piece of a more eerie picture. The coming winter should be of significant concern. Natural gas prices are driven by global factors, and with the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, Europe is facing a potential economic catastrophe driven by extreme energy volatility. This would further raise prices for heating American households.
The Biden administration’s embrace of big government socialism has wrought the worst economy in 40 years. Rather than trusting the American people’s ingenuity, the administration’s centralization of authority and special interest cronyism have devastated our Nation’s citizens. Government debt is now more than $31 trillion, and forecasters estimate deficits of more than $1 trillion per year in the future.
Dependency, debt, and demagoguery are not the foundation of a strong economy. Only by returning to an America First economic approach led by renewed energy independence can the American people once again realize the shared prosperity we enjoyed a few short years ago.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Sam Buchan is a former Director for International Economic Policy on the National Economic Council and is currently the Director of the Center for Energy and Environment at the America First Policy Institute.
Michael Faulkender is a former Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Department of the Treasury and is currently a Senior Fellow at the America First Policy Institute.
Republicans are focusing on issues that matter to voters:
✔️Lowering prices on everything from gas to groceries ✔️Keeping our communities safe ✔️Securing the southern border ✔️Stopping the flow of fentanyl into the country ✔️Investing in our children's education
We know that Biden, Harris, Schumer, Pelosi, Democrat governors and mayors, and the Democrat Party itself are all in with their “social justice myths” for the 2022 midterm and 2024 presidential elections.
The Defund the Police movement is the lynchpin holding up the Democrat Party’s social justice myth.
We also know that while they are shouting from their roof tops and in the streets to “defund the police” they’re also increasing their own security details and use now weaponize police forces, like the DOJ, to attack their political opponents, e.g. the armed FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago and arrests of over 30 Trump supporters.
We are now a revolutionary society in decline using the courts, prosecutors, the administrative state, and the law itself to punish enemies, help friends, and declare such asymmetry “social justice.”
What once distinguished the United States from illiberal regimes following the Orwellian mantra “some are more equal than others” was the hallowed American idea of “equal justice under the law.”
The phrase is engraved above the entrance to the United States Supreme Court—an ideal that took centuries to achieve. Yet it is an ancient concept—what the Greeks called isonomia that distinguished classical democratic Athens from its anti-democratic rivals. Isonomia later became enshrined as the central criterion of all Western consensual governments.
Does it still exist in Joe Biden’s America?
In many ways, no—due both to state and private vendettas as well as state efforts to destroy rather than merely defeat political opponents.
[ … ]
To incite the January 6 riot was prosecuted as a crime, but Kamala Harris, who was soon to be a vice-presidential candidate in the summer of 2020, could incite with impunity. Even more, she helped to raise bail for violent offenders during those riots and said of the summer-long “protests” shortly after the violent attempt to storm the White House grounds:
But they’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop, and this is a movement, I’m telling you. They’re not going to stop, and everyone beware, because they’re not going to stop. They’re not going to stop before Election Day in November, and they’re not going to stop after Election Day Everyone should take note of that, on both levels, that they’re not going to let up—and they should not. And we should not.
What do those who had recently torched the historic St. John’s Episcopal Church take away from Harris’ adolescent greenlighting?
Here are some tweets by Democrats on defunding the police:
'It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe.' — Minneapolis officials say they will dismantle the city's police department pic.twitter.com/vlxwErN3cX
Another unarmed black man, shot in the back, by a WI police officer! No matter the outrage at the killing of George Floyd by a police officer, knee on his neck, the killing of black men continues. Is this a defiance by the police that indicates they don’t intend to stop?
We vividly remember watching a Steven Spielberg film in 1993 where the government weaponized its police, took away the right of their citizens to keep and bear arms and glorified mass murder of certain political rivals, and the Jews it was titled Schindler’s List.
Fast forward to 2022 and we now understand that we have gradually left the ideal-idyllic principle of equal justice under the law and devolved into defining justice based solely on race, gender identity and political posturing.
Today those who embrace the words of the founder of the Democrat Party Thomas Jefferson as contained in the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and U.S. Constitution are deemed enemies of the state.
The idea that no-one is above the law has devolved into a myth in which the lawless are actually rewarded by never being brought to justice.
It now seems that justice is no longer blind folded but rather she is favoring some over others.
We now see the use of “social justice” and diversity, inclusion and equity as just catch words for a tyrannical do as I say or but not as I do police state.
Today some idolize and even worship convicted felons like George Floyd to show how justice is now based upon the color of one’s skin, not the content of one’s character.
Today one party lies, promotes myths and then denies what they have done. Rather than defend their policies they demonize their political opponents.
America is at a tipping point. We either are a nation of laws and law and order or we devolve into a dystopian state based upon the government’s definition of social justice.
In his novel 1984 George Orwell wrote, “If you want to picture the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.”
The metaphoric ‘stamping’ creates a strong violent image amongst the audience mimicking the brutality of the Stalinist regime. Today we are in the Biden Regime.
We have given you fair warning. Elections have consequences.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Dr. Rich Swierhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngDr. Rich Swier2022-09-25 11:25:362022-09-25 14:48:28Watch this 7-minutes of Democrats Demanding that the Police be Defunded.
Over 1 million U.S. voters in 43 states have fled the Democratic Party since 2021 and registered as Republicans, according to a new report.
Republicans have gained major ground in suburban counties, according to the voter registration data examined by The Associated Press, as well as “in virtually every region of the country.” The findings come almost four months before the midterm elections in November, which a bipartisan swath of pundits has deemed a probable “red wave” in part due to messaging failures among the left.
“While Democrats may see a slight enthusiasm bump following the Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, it’s highly unlikely they’ll be able to sustain that for the next five months,” Andy Surabian, a Republican strategist, told The Daily Caller News Foundation.
Data for roughly 1.7 million voters who switched political parties was analyzed by the AP. The data, which according to the outlet comes from the political firm L2, reportedly shows that around two-thirds of the 1.7 million voters became Republicans — while only about 630,000 voters became Democrats.
Biden’s support in the suburbs has been widely credited as the reason for his success in the 2020 presidential election. While these areas “have tended to show a net advantage to Republicans,” Biden “registered a net Democratic advantage for the first time since Barack Obama’s victory in 2008,” Brookings Institution, a left-leaning think tank, said in a November 2020 report.
However, suburban counties near large cities like Denver, Atlanta and Pittsburgh, as well as near smaller cities like Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and Des Moines, Iowa, have garnered Republican support, the AP reported.
“Biden and Democrats are woefully out of touch with the American people, and that’s why voters are flocking to the Republican Party in droves,” Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel told the AP.
The data showing more registered Republicans comes after Democrats lost in droves across states last fall. In Virginia, Republicans swept statewide, notably taking the gubernatorial race with the election of Glenn Youngkin.
Republicans also won big recently in Texas, where Mayra Flores flipped a blue district in June with the support of Latino voters. The Democratic National Committee did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00The Daily Callerhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngThe Daily Caller2022-06-27 12:38:332022-06-27 12:38:33Republicans Snag Over 1 Million Voters From Dems In Past Year: AP
The Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund’s “Justice For Sale Report” reveals how the left put pro-Black Lives Matter district attorneys and state attorneys in power across the country to let criminals off the hook and endanger communities in the name of “racial justice”
The U.S. currently has 75 George Soros-backed prosecutors overseeing half of America’s 50 most populous cities, according to a new report from the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund (LELDF).
Traditionally, elections for district attorney have been quiet affairs,” reads LELDF’s report. “That changed recently as millions of campaign dollars have flowed into these down ballot contests.
FINDINGS:
• The US currently has at least 75 Soros-Backed social justice prosecutors, supported through campaign dollars and/or Soros-funded progressive infrastructure groups. • These 75 prosecutors represent more than1 in 5 Americans or more than 72 million people, including half of America’s 50 most populous cities and counties. • From 2018 to 2021, Soros spent$13 million on just 10 prosecutors’ races, where his organizations were by far the biggest spender in the race and comprised the majority of the progressive candidate’s campaign spending – as much as 90% in some cases. • To date, Soros has spent more than$40 million on direct campaign spending over the past decade to elect prosecutors. • Soros uses a series of shell organizations, affiliates, and pass-through committees to steer contributions to both candidates and his robust support network for progressive prosecutors, which provide gravitas and perks to preferred prosecutors.
Here are some related articles about how Soros and Democrats are more interested in freeing criminals than protecting American citizens from crime and criminals:
Since the inauguration of Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. on on Wednesday, January 20, 2021 hundred of thousands of Americans have died.
We looked at how many Americans have died since January 20, 2021 and here’s what we have found.
COVID-19:Statista reports that as of June 7th, 2022 the United States is the country with the highest number of confirmed cases and deaths. There have been 1,033,830 deaths due to Covid. Deaths attributed to COVID-19 accounted for 72.4% of U.S. excess deaths. Click here for the death rate per 100,000 by state as of June 1st, 2022.
Deaths: JAMA Network reported Between March 1, 2020, and January 2, 2021, the U.S. experienced 2, 801, 439 deaths, 22.9% more than expected, representing 522, 368 excess deaths (Table).
Deaths of Minorities:JAMA Network reported The excess death rate was higher among non-Hispanic Black (208.4 deaths per 100 000) than non-Hispanic White or Hispanic populations (157.0 and 139.8 deaths per 100 000, respectively); these groups accounted for 16.9%, 61.1%, and 16.7% of excess deaths, respectively. The US experienced 4 surge patterns: in New England and the Northeast, excess deaths surged in the spring; in the Southeast and Southwest, in the summer and early winter; in the Plains, Rocky Mountains, and far West, primarily in early winter; and in the Great Lakes, bimodally, in the spring and early winter (Figure).
Deaths by State:JAMA Network reported excess deaths were increasing in all regions at the end of 2020. The 10 states with the highest per capita rate of excess deaths were Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, Arizona, Alabama, Louisiana, South Dakota, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Ohio. New York experienced the largest relative increase in all-cause mortality (38.1%).
Mass Shootings 2021: The New York Times reported that the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one with four or more people injured or killed, not including the perpetrator, counted more than 600 such shootings in 2020, compared with 417 in 2019. That carnage has continued into 2021, with hundreds of shootings so far this year. The archive, a nonprofit organization, has counted 25 mass murders, which it defines as four or more people killed, in 2021 as of mid-November. In 2021 the number of mass shooting in the United States were: Essex, MD 4 killed; Boone, NC 4 killed; Rock Hill, SC 6 killed; Atlanta, GA 8 killed; Allen, TX 4 killed; Muskogee, OK 6 killed; Indianapolis, IN 17 killed from April 15th to January 24th; Chicago, IL 5 killed; Boulder, CO 10 killed; Colorado Springs, CO 6 killed; San Jose, CA 9 killed; Orange, CA 4 killed. Additionally, BallotPedia reported: : November 23, 2021 in Harvey, Illinois While students were leaving Thornton High School for the day, a person in a vehicle driving by exchanged gunfire with a student. No one was injured. [4]; October 26, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois Shots were fired during a fight outside Jose de Diego Community Academy. No one was injured in the gunfire. [5] ; October 13, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois Shots fired from a passing vehicle at a pedestrian struck James McDade Classical School, breaking one window. No one was injured. [6] ; October 12, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois Shots were fired at the exterior doors of Wendell Phillips Academy High School as they were opened to let students out for the day. A security guard and a 14-year-old girl were injured. [7] ; September 23, 2021 in Joliet, Illinois A window at the St. Paul School was shot out during an exchange of gunfire between two moving vehicles. Although classes were in session at the time, the students were in the basement and no injuries were reported. [8]; September 15, 2021 in Champaign, Illinois Police responded to reports of shots fired on a field between Jefferson Middle School and Centennial High School. On arriving, they found 13 spent cases but no evidence that anyone had been injured. [9] ; August 22, 2021 in Rockford, Illinois A 13-year-old boy was shot during a fist fight in the parking lot of West Middle School. He was expected to survive as of the day after the shooting. A 17-year-old was taken into custody. [10] ; June 1, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois A 17-year-old boy fired shots into a crowd outside Lincoln Park High School and grazed another 17-year-old boy’s arm. There were no other injuries. [11] ; January 10, 2021 in Springfield, Illinois A 16-year-old girl practicing driving in the parking lot of Southeast High School and a 20-year-old woman who was in the car with her were shot and injured. There were no fatalities. [12]
Mass Shootings 2022:The Washington Post reported over 200 mass shootings in 2022 to date. There have already been more than 240 mass shootings this year in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. Thirty-three have taken place since a rampage at an elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., left 19 children and two teachers dead on May 24. Just this past weekend, mass shootings in multiple cities killed 11 and wounded more than 60. Mass shootings, where four or more people — not including the shooter — are injured or killed, have averaged more than one per day so far this year. Not a single week in 2022 has passed without at least four mass shootings. Additionally, BallotPedia reported: May 17, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois A gun in an 8-year-old student’s backpack at Disney Magnet School went off, injuring another student. The boy had found the loaded gun under his mother’s bed.[1]; March 29, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois Shots fired from a vehicle driving by hit Thomas A. Hendricks Community School. Although no one on campus was injured, a passenger in another car was struck by the gunfire.[2]; January 4, 2022 in Rockford, Illinois Two 17-year-old students at Auburn High School were shot while sitting in a car in the school parking lot. Both were expected to survive at the time of the shooting. Three suspects were later taken into custody.[3]
Biden and the Biden administration including the FBI, DOJ, DHS and other agencies have been in office during all of these murders.
So whose responsible? The criminals or their guns? We suggest that we are now experiencing a wave of criminality that began on January 20th, 2021 and is continuing to this day across America.
America is suffering from the very deadly Donkey Pox.
A prolonged American Prospect whine about GOP community outreach centers in minority communities, especially the Lumbee tribe in North Carolina, includes this contrast.
The ad recounted the 1958 Battle of Hayes Pond, where a Lumbee contingent of 400 chased off a Ku Klux Klan rally…
In June 2020, a small Black Lives Matter protest took to the streets, beginning from the UNC Pembroke campus. Estimates put the march’s attendance at around 150 people, demonstrating, as thousands of American towns did, against police violence. The march didn’t get far before it was set upon by an armed and agitated Lumbee counterprotest, 300 strong, “probably more than that,” said the Rev. Tyrone Watson, president of the Robeson NAACP, who was among the demonstrators. “They had automatic rifles and handguns. It was something that you would see in the ’50s.” In a cruel inversion of the Battle of Hayes Pond, the protesters were pelted with bottles and rocks, menaced with knives and guns by Native counterprotesters beneath a large Trump flag.
It’s not an inversion, but a repetition.
When the Lumbees fought off white supremacists, they were cheered, but when they fight off black supremacists, suddenly they’re the bad guys.
Tyrone Watson tries to depict an Indian tribe defending itself against black supremacists as somehow comparable to Bull Connor. But that’s how supremacists think.
The encounter led to a series of angry media attacks like this one.
Reckoning With Anti-Blackness in Indian Country – The New Republic
Won’t someone those Indians to kneel when a black supremacist marches by.
The Lumbees were cheered for opposing one set of racists, but jeered for opposing another bunch of racists whose supremacism and bigotry are in vogue. And the Indians are being compared to the KKK.
As the protesters approached a shopping plaza anchored by a Maxway discount store, they were outnumbered by counter-protesters. A crowd of mostly Native Americans threw whatever they had on hand. One man had a knife, and another carried a military-style rifle slung over his shoulder. A large flag in support of then-President Donald Trump flew from the back of a pickup truck.
Watson, 52, immediately thought of the Ku Klux Klan.
“Instead of KKK signs,” he said, “they were Trump signs.”
When you hate everyone, maybe you’re the problem.
Watson… has navigated a world where he says black people endure racism from two fronts: the whites and the Indians.
If you’re Indian and vote Republican, the media and its black supremacist allies will call you the new KKK.
EDITORS NOTE: This Jihad Watch column is republished with permission. All rights reserved.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2022-06-04 07:39:002022-06-04 07:40:08Media Accuses Indians of Racism for Opposing Black Lives Matter
If you supported him, would you put him in front of a camera ? What Leftists have done to America is in full international view. Now the White House is in panic mode and is “hidin’ Biden.” Has America become as decrepit as its putative leader? We can still hope that all this will be only temporarily.
It’s now been 16 weeks since President Biden sat down for a one-on-one interview, with the last one occurring before the Super Bowl in the dead of winter.
You read that correctly: 112 days have passed since Joe Biden faced questions outside of the rare press conference or press scrum. Such a format doesn’t leave much room for follow-up questions or pressing on certain points when this president makes a misleading or curious statement — statements that seemingly always need to be clarified or cleaned up not long after being uttered.
So much has changed in those 16 weeks since Biden engaged in such a format….
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2022-06-04 07:29:132022-06-04 08:35:23Hidin’ Biden: 112 days and counting since Biden’s last TV interview
The problem with this bill is that it is increasingly common for Leftists, including high-level members of the political and media establishment, to call all those who oppose the Leftist agenda “white supremacists” and “neo-Nazis,” including law-abiding Americans who abhor racism and fascism and are simply standing against Communist indoctrination, transgender delusions, and other lies foisted upon us from above these days.
Three federal agencies would be tasked with rooting out domestic terrorism threats within the government and across the US under a bill slated for a House vote Wednesday.
The measure (H.R. 350) would authorize domestic terrorism offices within the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the FBI. It would also require officials to assess White supremacist and neo-Nazi threats in the US and inside agencies.
The May 14 mass shooting of mostly Black victims at a Buffalo, N.Y., grocery store prompted renewed urgency for passing the bill after lawmakers scrapped plans for a floor vote last month.
Similar legislation (S. 963) is pending in the Senate but may face challenges if Republicans in that chamber take up their House colleagues’ complaints that the bill would allow federal officials to target everyday people as potential threats for speaking out about issues such as Covid-19 and school policies. Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the bill’s sponsor, said Monday that his panel will hold a hearing on the bill.
House bill sponsor Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) acknowledged that Republicans’ complaints about potential federal overreach have weighed heavily in the House but said Democrats would try to return focus to the bill’s purpose does during floor debate….
The House bill has also created friction on the left, with some groups, including the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, lauding it as a way to counter domestic terrorism without profiling racial and religious minorities. The [Hamas-linked — ed.] Council on American-Islamic Relations and others argued last month that agencies would inevitably use new authorities to target marginalized communities.
Bill supporters aimed to address those concerns this week through an amendment that tweaked the definition of domestic terrorism and added a section on First Amendment protections. CAIR, Defending Rights & Dissent, and other groups on Monday said they appreciated the changes and would no longer push lawmakers to vote no….
DOJ, DHS, and the FBI already have teams that investigate domestic terrorism. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the three agencies would need more than 100 new analysts, agents, lawyers, and support staff to address the bill’s requirements.
The attacks against me should be viewed through a political lens – this is their standard (despicable) playbook – but nothing will deter me from fighting for a good future and your right to free speech
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2022-05-20 04:46:362022-05-20 05:55:18New ‘domestic terrorism’ bill supposedly targets white supremacists and neo-Nazis
Elon Musk tore into the Democratic Party in a Wednesday tweet calling them the party of “division and hate.”
“In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party,” Musk said. “But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold.”
In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party.
But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican.
Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold … 🍿
The multibillionaire said he will vote Republican for likely the first time in his life in the 2022 midterm election after overwhelmingly voting Democrat in the past. He said the Democratic Party is controlled by unions and trial lawyers.
“I might never have voted for a Republican, just to be clear,” Musk said during a Tuesday “All-In” podcast. “Now this election, I will.”
“It definitely feels like this is not right,” Musk added. “The issue here is that the Democratic Party is overly controlled by the unions and by trial lawyers, particularly class-action lawyers. … In the case of Biden, he is simply too much captured by the unions, which was not the case with Obama.”
Liberal media pundits and Democratic lawmakers have warned of the supposed dangers of Musk’s vow to foster free speech on Twitter in the midst of his $44.3 billion takeover. MSNBC host Joy Reid previously accused the Tesla CEO in a April 26 segment of “The ReidOut” of wanting the “old South Africa of the ’80s” back, in reference to the Apartheid.
“There was a time when people had the double hashtags around their names because they were Jewish and right-wingers were saying ‘get in the oven’ anytime you made any benign comment on Twitter,” Reid said. “They attacked women, the misogyny was crazy on Twitter for a while. Elon Musk, I guess he misses the old South Africa in the ’80s, he wants that back.”
Musk trolled Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after claiming she has to “collectively stress” about an increase in hate crimes due to his takeover. Musk responded, “stop hitting on me, I’m really shy.”
Liberals have not taken kindly to Musk vowing to allow former President Donald Trump return to the platform when he officially takes over the social media company. Then-White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the administration is determined to prevent platforms from spreading disinformation at a May 10 briefing.
Musk has been highly critical of the left, recently stating “the far left hates everyone, themselves included,” noting that he does not support the far-right either.
Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich said Musk’s Twitter takeover will lead him to seek “freedom from accountability” in an April 24 tweet.
Free speech on the internet endangers democracy, Barack Obama told Stanford University.
The widely hailed speech at Big Tech’s favorite university claimed that autocrats are “subverting democracy” and that democracies have “grown dangerously complacent.” In the slow parade of teleprompter clichés he even warned that “too often we’ve taken freedom for granted.”
To Obama, the threat to democracy doesn’t come from government power, but the lack of it.
“You just have to flood a country’s public square with enough raw sewage. You just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose trust in their leaders, in mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, in the possibility of truth, the game’s won,” he summed up.
Like every Obama speech, “Challenges to Democracy in the Digital Information Realm” didn’t offer anything new, just a distillation of familiar talking points and misplaced assumptions.
The assumption at the heart of Obama’s speech and that of the range of arguments depicting free speech as a cultural and national threat is that the purpose of discourse is state power.
Obama, like many post-liberal lefty critics of free speech, reduces speech to its social impact and its social impact to its political impact. This holistic integration is so fundamental to Marxists and many lefties that they don’t even think twice about the idea that everything we do is reducible to a move on the great abacus of social justice. The food you eat, the car you buy, and the words you say have the potential to either save or damn the planet and humanity.
This quasi-religious conception of mass social mobilization pervades American society. It’s the precondition for wokeness because the only possible moral justification for terrorizing random people on social media is the conviction that governance isn’t political, it’s social, and that the only way to avert climate change and social inequality is by controlling what everyone believes.
Wokeness collapses the distinction between the private and public spheres, and between government and individuals. In a national social crisis, the only conceptual framework through which the Left ever really governs, there’s no time for such liberal niceties as private spheres.
Obama’s speech neatly illustrates the fascism at the heart of this panopticon political project.
Introduce disagreement and you “raise enough questions” that people “no longer know what to believe” and then “lose trust in their leaders”, “mainstream media” and even “truth”. Stripped of all the Brookings Institute globalist prose, what Obama is really saying is that individual disagreement undermines the state. And that truth is dependent on public faith in the state.
This is a value system utterly at odds with the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, one which envisions an intimate link between individual speech and state authority that would have horrified King George III, but absolutely delighted Hitler or Stalin.
It assumes that there can be no other legitimate points of view other than the official one and that there should be no leaders except those who share them. Limiting the range of opinions is necessary to protect state power because there is no distinction between them and the state.
Or as a certain Austrian artist once put it, “One people, One state, One leader”.
When he was promoting his last book two years ago, Obama made the same arguments. “If we do not have the capacity to distinguish what’s true from what’s false, then by definition the marketplace of ideas doesn’t work. And by definition our democracy doesn’t work.”
The assumption that the democratic process leads to truth rather than choice, absolute rightness rather than people power, is an undemocratic paradigm. Its inevitable conclusion becomes that of Obama, that democracy must be protected by controlling the people.
Not only elections, but ideas, are too important to be left to the public.
Obama doesn’t want a marketplace of ideas because people might get the wrong idea and vote him and his political allies out of office. The explicit goal of internet censorship is to control election outcomes by filtering what information the public is able to access.
Like the provenance of a certain Delaware artist’s laptop.
Narrowing the range of acceptable information in order to narrow the range of acceptable opinions, candidates and political systems is the first fundamental trick of tyrannies. It takes a certain chutzpah and a stock of Orwellian buzzwords to redefine that as protecting democracy.
Obama complains, “China’s built a great firewall around the Internet, turning it into a vehicle for domestic indoctrination” and proposes a democratic firewall around the internet under a “regulatory structure” to be designed with “communities of color” to slow “the spread of harmful content.” The democratic people of color firewall will be so much better than China’s firewall.
Pro-censorship elites have the same assumptions as China about the interaction between speech, society, and the state which is why they, like Obama, arrive at the same conclusions. They can dress up those conclusions in buzzwords about “democracy” and “people of color”, but those are differences of style, not substance. The trains all end up at the same station.
Obama speaks about “bugs” in the Constitution. While he is always happy to critique America, the particular totalitarian bug here is deeply embedded into the leftist worldview which denies that people have individual agency, insists that everyone is a prisoner of their social context, and contends that the purpose of the society and the state is an enlightened intertwining. The bug, which is really more of a feature, directly leads to the same outcome as in China or Stanford.
A free society requires healthy breathing spaces between politics and life. The difference between a politicized society and a tyranny is only time. The question at the heart of this debate is “What is discourse for” which is really the question of, “What are people here for?” To believe, as the Left does, that people primarily exist as vehicles for political change is to enslave them.
That’s why every leftist revolution invariably slides toward tyranny along the same worn tracks.
The Founding Fathers believed that people would self-define their purposes. That was why America’s revolution uniquely led to freedom and why leftist revolutions lead to tyranny.
America defined freedom as individual power while lefties define it by the power of the state.
Obama is simply replaying what happens when liberation is treated as a collective enterprise, a journey toward rather than from, that can only be achieved collectively, through the exercise of state power rather than individually through personal choices. The internet, once individualistic, has become collective, and social media, the ultimate embodiment of that collectivism, has become the battleground between individualist expressers and collectivist censors.
Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is an investigative journalist and writer focusing on the radical Left and Islamic terrorism.
http://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.png00Jihad Watchhttp://drrich.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/logo_264x69.pngJihad Watch2022-05-05 07:42:132022-05-05 07:46:51Only Internet Fascism Can Save Democracy
