Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ) A recent conference call involving congressional members from both parties got a little weird after a Democrat senator asked whether the federal government could censor information on social media to prevent a run on US banks. The call, which was held with Biden administration officials (Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, and FDIC), was a question-and-answer session covering the recent collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank. Rep. Thomas Massie first revealed the concerning question immediately after the call, and now, we know who asked it. According to Michael Shellenberger (most recently of Twitter Files fame), it was Sen. Mark Kelly, the recently re-elected Democrat from Arizona.
Kelly is a former astronaut, so I don’t believe he’s stupid. Still, I’m at a loss as to what he was thinking when he asked that question of the Biden officials on the call. Why would the federal government, under any circumstance, have the ability to directly censor information on social media? Even with the recent revelations of the Twitter Files, the censorship was done by proxy through government pressure. Massie offered further context, saying that Kelly may have meant his question in the context of foreign actors. But should that matter? If the government can censor information on a whim, even under the guise of pushing back on foreign interference, that is a power that will undoubtedly be abused. We have ample evidence of that given the FBI’s involvement in the censorship of the Hunter Biden story, which was not foreign disinformation. The Democratic Party’s flirtation with tyranny should concern everyone. It’s no longer just the domain of the fringe. Mainline, even “moderate” Democrats are now suggesting that the government should have total power over online speech, making decisions on censorship without any due process or constitutional authority. That they justify such with yet more rantings about foreign interference only makes it worse. If you can justify censorship of information by blaming American adversaries, then you can justify censorship of just about anything. There is no limiting principle. Kelly should take a step back and think about what he’s asking for and whether he truly understands the ramifications. Further, Arizonans should seriously contemplate the caliber of the elected officials they’ve been electing recently. Kelly is an empty suit at best, never mind the election of now-Gov. Katie Hobbs. The republic can’t last if the federal government becomes as all-powerful as Democrats obviously want it to become. |
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