No American should be censored by the government. Ever. There is a reason this is the FIRST amendment, and not the last. When I went through the public schools in the 1980s, I was taught that free speech is nearly absolute (no yelling fire in a theater, but other than that anything goes) and that this was one of the core principles that made our country uniquely great. The general sentiment was “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Yes, unpleasant speech, even “hate” speech, is protected in this country because that’s the whole point. You can say stupid things, you can say offensive things, you can “wrong” things. Pleasant, agreeable speech needs no such protection, and hate is highly dependent on who is defining it. Free speech means exactly that—FREE.
Further, I was taught to have faith in free speech. The example used was that allowing the KKK to march freely and spout their garbage was what ultimately destroyed it. Suppressing them would have made them martyrs but the light of the sunshine allowed their bad ideas to be seen, debated, and ultimately rejected. Let the best ideas win. “Americans will make the right choice, you just have to believe in the process, as messy as it can sometimes be”, my social studies teacher imprinted on our young brains. I still believe that fully.
“Americans will make the right choice, you just have to believe in the process, as messy as it can sometimes be”,
My 7th grade social studies teacher, Attleboro MA
Thanks to Elon Musk, who recently purchased Twitter with his vast fortune, we now know that state actors were working with private actors to suppress speech for the purposes of influencing the outcome of an election. Democrats in the government worked with democrats in private industry to suppress information which was detrimental to democrat candidates. This violates the principal of free speech and violates the Constitution because the government is NOT allowed to do this.
The most egregious example is the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop, which was broken by the New York Post prior to the 2020 election. Twitter, YouTube, Google, and Facebook actively suppressed the story. Fifty “intelligence agents” signed a letter proclaiming it was Russian interference. It was not. The mainstream media mocked the story and buried it. Joe Biden dismissed the laptop as “a Russian plant” during the fourth Presidential debate when Donald Trump asked him about it. The moderator stopped the line of questioning immediately, and scolded Trump for going “off topic”. Those trying to call attention to the story were called conspiracy theorists. The story got little coverage outside fringe media until recently. But the laptop was real, and the coverup was coordinated.
700 days after the New York Post broke the story, even CBS News has confirmed the laptop as authentic. What took them so long and why confirm it now? Musk might have something to do with it. Last week, Elon Musk released the internal documentation of how Twitter suppressed the story, and his tale should offend everyone who cares about truth in a democracy.
In case you missed it, as you were supposed to, Hunter Biden dropped his Macbook into a pool and took it to a repair store. He gave the repair shop his password and signed a contract stating that if he didn’t pick it up in time, he would forfeit ownership. Hunter did not pick up the laptop and legal ownership transferred to the repair store. It was not hacked, and it was not stolen; Hunter signed it over. As lawful owner of the laptop, the store owner looked at the contents in horror, made a copy of it, and gave the laptop to the FBI– which did NOTHING with it but that’s another story of corruption.
After two years of waiting for the FBI to respond to his inquiries, the store owner finally went to the NY Post with the story, which verified it and ran with it. Twitter immediately blocked users from tweeting the story or even sending links to it in direct messages. Why did the store owner think the FBI might want to see the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop and why did he think it was important for the public to know about it before potentially electing Joe Biden? The short answer is because the laptop is filled with emails, documents, and text messages suggesting that Hunter Biden was selling access to his father, Joe Biden, and that Joe was in some of the deals to the tune of millions of dollars from China, Ukraine, and many other sources. Ukraine was paying Hunter $350,000 A MONTH to serve as an “energy advisor”. I don’t know about you, but if someone was paying my son that kind of money, I would take their phone call. Some deals suggested “10% to the big guy”. Who was the big guy, exactly? Great question.
The laptop also showed ample evidence that Hunter is not a good person, but Hunter was not running for election, so his personal failings are not relevant. The key issue at hand was whether Joe Biden was compromised by any of this, and that is a valid question that voters had a right to know was at least a possibility. Voters were inundated with questions about Trump, but Biden was systematically shielded. Whether Joe Biden is ultimately implicated or not is irrelevant, what IS relevant is that had this information been widely known it would have influenced votes away from Biden, as post-election polls have repeatedly shown. Twitter knew this too. The laptop is damning, to put it politely.
The Hunter Biden laptop story shows the power of social media to promote or suppress stories without any oversight. Now add government and DNC actors into the mix and you have an actual attack on the democratic process. Can you imagine the media coverage if it were Erik Trump’s laptop that was found instead? Do you think the coverage would have been similar? They all damn well knew the laptop was real. Anyone with any technical savvy could see that immediately. They just didn’t care.
The right to a fully informed electorate is an issue that transcends politics.
Alan Forbes
If the shoe were on the other foot, democrats would be rightfully enraged, as republicans are today.
We need to come together as Americans on this and insist that freedom of speech must not be infringed, ever. The power to decide what is or is not disinformation, misinformation, or even “hate” is too easily abused. Any student of history knows this. I can decide what is BS for myself, thank you very much, and so can you.
Twitter acting by itself to suppress free speech is not a first amendment violation, but acting under orders from government officials to suppress free speech, with no judicial review, to influence an election, certainly is.
Elon Musk, the new owner of Twitter
Government officials swear an oath to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. When you conspire with private enterprise to violate the Constitution, you are violating that oath.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
The Oath of Office for US Senators
At the very least, conspiring to suppress speech is grounds for removal from office and disqualification from holding future government positions. There are some who argue that such behavior is treason.
Musk has the names, the dates, and the emails, and he is not amused. Neither am I.
Guest Columnist Alan Forbes is the Chair of the Portsmouth Republican Committee and views are his own.
