Below is my column in the Messenger on the recent opinion finding that the Biden Administration is violating the First Amendment through a massive censorship operation. In response, many politicians and pundits are simply repeating the definition of censorship as its defense: we are banning views because they need to be banned. Every authoritarian government in history has justified censoring citizens because their views are harmful or false. Others are only focusing on the injunctive relief rather than the court’s finding that these states are substantially likely to prevail on the merits in showing that the government uses social media companies as surrogates for censorship.
Here is the column:
“The most massive attack against free speech in United States history.” Those words by Chief U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty are part of a 155-page opinion granting a temporary injunction, requested by Louisiana and Missouri, to prevent White House officials from meeting with tech companies about social media censorship.
The July 4 decision came six months after I testified before Congress that the Biden administration used social media companies for “censorship by surrogate.” Despite furious attacks by congressional Democrats in that and later hearings, a court has now found that the evidence overwhelmingly shows systematic violation of the First Amendment by the Biden administration. Judge Doughty found that the two states “are likely to succeed on the merits in establishing that the government has used its power to silence the opposition.”
The question is, when will the evidence of systemic censorship force Democrats in Congress to drop their unified opposition to any investigation of this unprecedented partnership of government, corporate and academic interests? That triumvirate arguably has created the most extensive censorship system we have ever seen.
According to Judge Doughty, the government used layers of coordination and consultation to “assume a role similar to an Orwellian ‘Ministry of Truth.’” The court found that “the censorship alleged in this case almost exclusively targeted conservative speech.”
The government is now enjoined from speaking with social media representatives for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech.” Exceptions are made for criminal and national security concerns.
The judge’s order names various agencies, including the Department of Justice, State Department, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as individual officials like Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Jen Easterly, who leads the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Mayorkas not only attempted to create the infamous Disinformation Governance Board but has given grants to an array of controversial censorship programs. I also testified recently on the efforts of Easterly, who radically extended her regulatory authority by declaring “critical infrastructure” includes “our cognitive infrastructure” and “building that resilience to misinformation and disinformation.” That included barring “malinformation” that is “based on fact, but used out of context to mislead, harm, or manipulate.” You read that correctly: It can be true information which the government nevertheless believes is being used for a misleading purpose.
The injunction in this case is likely to face tough scrutiny and skepticism on appeal. Doughty was previously rebuked by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit when it blocked his order to compel former White House press secretary Jen Psaki to testify in the case.
However, the judge’s temporary-relief order is less important than the judicial scrutiny of this long-concealed network of censorship and blacklisting maintained by the government.
In February’s hearing before the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, I warned that “the massive censorship system employed by social media companies presents the greatest loss of free speech in our history.” The Trump administration had some back-channel communications with social media companies, but that was radically expanded under President Biden.
Democrats on the committee struggled to ignore the content of the then-recently released “Twitter Files” while attacking every witness who discussed those files.
Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) criticized me for offering “legal opinions” without working at Twitter. I later noted that it was like saying a witness should not discuss the contents of the “Pentagon Papers” unless he or she worked at the Pentagon. Wasserman Schultz tried to portray the Twitter Files allegations as mere opinions; she cut me off when I tried to explain that the Twitter Files contents — like those of the Pentagon Papers — are “facts,” while the implication of those facts are opinions.
Now, a judge has laid out 155 pages of such facts, in addition to the thousands of pages of the Twitter Files.
It is, however, unlikely to change the Democrats’ scorched-earth strategy of attacking every hearing witness who supported an investigation into government censorship. The attacks have continued in the media, too. Some of those objecting to this censorship were bizarrely denounced as protecting white supremacists and insurrectionists. For example, MSNBC contributor and former senator Claire McCaskill denounced subcommittee witnesses Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) as “Putin apologists.”
When two journalists testified before the subcommittee about their investigations of censorship programs, Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D-Virgin Islands), the subcommittee’s ranking member, called them “so-called journalists.” Plaskett later suggested one of them, Matt Taibbi, be criminally investigated. Rep. Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas) and other members pressed the journalists to reveal their sources.
These attacks reflect a growing problem for Democrats who have tied the party to the cause of speech limits, blacklisting and censorship. When the party controlled both houses of Congress, these members simply denied allegations of censorship as conspiracy theories and said there was no real evidence while opposing any effort to acquire evidence.
Then Democrats lost control of the House, and Elon Musk purchased Twitter, opening up its files for full public view. The resulting Twitter Files forced everything into the open.
This censorship system included funding groups to blacklist targeted individuals and sites. With the help of companies like Microsoft, federal agencies poured millions into efforts to target not just social media accounts but the advertisers for conservative sites.
As new details emerge, Democrats have doubled down. In one hearing, former Twitter executive Anika Collier Navaroli testified on how she and her staff approached censorship. Navaroli said they pushed to remove anything they considered “dog whistles” and “coded” messaging; she said they refused to prioritize the free speech of posters but, instead, asked “whose free expression are we protecting at the expense of whose safety.” She said they were unwilling to allow the safety of others “to go to the winds so that people can speak freely.”
It was a chilling account of ill-defined, biased censorship. However, committee Democrats heralded her censorship work.
They also clearly agreed with the standard of former Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal that the company would “focus less on thinking about free speech” and more on “who can be heard.” The Twitter Files showed that the federal government supplied thousands of names and sites of precisely who should not be heard.
The left was once the target of censorship and blacklisting during the Red Scare. Today, they have literally adopted the arguments used to target liberals and socialists.
In my hearing, Rep. Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.) quoted from the 1919 decision in Schenck v. United States to justify censoring those with opposing views. When I pointed out that he was quoting from a case justifying the arrest of socialists due to their political views during the Red Scare, Goldman shot back that “we don’t need a law class here.”
They may not “need” such facts — but they, and the public, are going to get them from Congress and the courts. The mantra of “Nothing to see here” is fast becoming an embarrassing case of willful blindness.
Jonathan Turley, an attorney, constitutional law scholar and legal analyst, is the Shapiro Chair for Public Interest Law at The George Washington University Law School.
Jonathan: Censorship comes in many forms. The Biden administration’s attempt at what you call “censorship efforts” is just part of the picture. Although, as in the case of the Twitter Files, there is no evidence any government agency actually censored any conservative critic, Judge Doughty seems to think so. The Biden admin. says it will appeal his ruling and that will take at least a year before we get a final ruling. In the meantime we should discuss some other censorship related issues.
Last week the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Mississippi’s 1890 law that bars former felons from ever having the chance to vote again. The law was implemented with racial animus–an attempt to keep Black people from voting. Mississippi is 38% Black but they make up more than half of those disenfranchised. This is a form of censorship that keeps Black people from choosing their elected officials. Prison reform rights groups have long sought to restore voting rights for those who complete their sentences. But the conservatives on the SC seem to think no amount of racism is sufficient to overturn Mississippi’s 1890 law!
Another form of censorship occurred last week when DJT announced, as part of his 2024 platform, he would prevent “foreign Christian-hating communists, socialists and Marxists” from coming to the US. FL Sen. Rick Scott was not to be outdone. In a video Scott declared: “If you’re thinking about coming to Florida and you’re a socialist or a communist, think twice. We like freedom, liberty, capitalism, things like that”. So, I suppose, if Bernie Sanders decided to run for president again next year Scott would prevent him from crossing the state line? The free exchange of ideas across the US border and state lines would not be allowed in the dystopian worlds of DJT and Rick Scott!
Finally, a more pernicious form of censorship is occurring every day in DeSantis’ FL and in other states controlled by the GOP. Book banning and the censoring of public school teachers is all the rage in FL. But that’s not a subject that is on your radar. Besides outright censorship DeSantis is also creating mischief for voting rights. Last spring he signed a new law (SB7050) that bans non-citizens from helping citizens to register to vote and other forms of voter suppression. The FL Chapter of the NAACP challenged the law in court. In a blistering decision Judge Mark Walker called the DeSantis law an “assault on the right to vote”. He ruled it violated the Equal Protection Clause to the Constitution.
But you apparently think what happens in FL should stay in FL. But when DeSantis silences teachers and bans books from public school libraries that’s CENSORSHIP in all caps!. Why aren’t you equally concerned about censorship where ever it occurs?
Book banning and the censoring of public school teachers is all the rage in FL
You keep repeating the same lie. IT. NEVER. HAPPENED.
Iowan2,
It is what they do. Spread misinformation, disinformation and out right lies.
Did we expect anything less? Just imagine what was censored during obama’s first two terms… The very thought that there are significant “citizens” who think this sort of censorship will not lead to a totalitarian regime is what frightens me. Just how do we disinfect our nation from such egregiously miseducated agents of our plotted destruction?
It’s a good start, but they already intend to appeal. Let’s hope SCOTUS does the right thing. And I still don’t know what the heck we will do with multiple generations so fragile, narcissistic, brainwashed, and lacking in self-control. That is very tough to undo. Assuming we make it through all of this, we will have on our hands lost generationS, plural. Utterly lost.
Our modern democratic party is at this point so clearly a totalitarian regime the likes of which the West hasn’t seen for decades it boggles the mind of anyone over 45. I personally think folks in denial are engaging in legitimate mind-blindness. Our next large scale conflict may not be a world war but rather a massive, Western revolutionary one intended to marginalize or eliminate aristocracy for good, this time.
Godspeed to the courts.
Well stated James.
James,
Well said.
I think it is obvious the leftists are doing everything they can to not only dumb down Americans but get them totally subservient to leftists control.
Thankfully we are seeing real push back from people who believe in not only the Constitution but in freedom, logic, common sense.
“Democrats … have tied the party to the cause of speech limits, blacklisting and censorship”.
Undeniably true. They are also the party of unchecked spending, unrestrained debt, higher taxes and government politicization, led by an increasingly embarrassing Washington time-server in visible cognitive decline. They are the party of no-rules abortion everywhere, the one that supports the gender mutilation of children and stealth ‘transitioning’ at school behind parents’ backs. They attack and seek to undermine the Supreme Court and other institutions that don’t follow their radical fringe agenda. They deny that Antifa exists and refuse to condemn its violence.
In short, Democrats have become the anti-America party and count on winning the next election by appealing to those who also hate the country and its history. There’s never been a party more deserving of an extended period in the political wilderness.
Professor, Thank you for your relentless battle against censorship and the war against truth and freedom of speech. The administration’s behavior in this matter is also very telling.
There is an interesting phenomenon happing with entertainment and media as well. Hollywood has been producing one terrible movie after another. They shun actors and producers who do not toe the line. A small independent studio has been crowdfunding some powerful and well produced programs and on the 4th of July they released another crowdfunded movie, “The Sound of Freedom” that stars Jim Caviezel. “Sound of Freedom is a powerful film based on a true story. It depicts the remarkable journey of Tim Ballard, a former Homeland Security agent, as he battles against human trafficking. His relentless pursuit of justice exposes the dark underbelly of this global crime, leaving an indelible impact on the fight for freedom.”
This independent movie paid for, several dollars at at time by many people beat attendance and sales of Disney’s Indiana Jones nationwide in ticket sales and attendance. This should say something about the state of affairs of Hollywood and modern media in general and the hunger that people have to hear true truth, even if the subject matter is hard such as human trafficking.
It is refreshing to see a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel.
There will never be protections of free speech for any online speech. Even if the strongest First Amendment laws were passed, there is a huge loophole.
About 20 years ago, e-mails and online communications were retained for 3-8 years (depending on each company’s policies). The future goal of these companies (and the federal government) is “lifetime archiving” of not just emails, online posts but entire telephone conservations.
So even if Congress created the strongest First Amendment and free speech protection laws, it only takes a single national emergency to undo all of it – and during national emergencies judges largely go along to get along. Judges won’t enforce the U.S. Constitution – a wartime governing charter – during national energies like wartime.
For example: Hypothetically, let’s we have a national emergency (like the January 6 coup attempt) – agencies have no laws whatsoever, they are totally lawless, judges will not put up many checks & balances.
After January 6, 2021 (based on 20 year old technology, not today’s technology) national security agencies and police agencies can grab all of your emails, online posts, telephone conversations, etc from as far back as 2013 – without a judicial warrant and without oversight by judges. No rules, no restrictions on any agency. In the future, they can grab entire digital phone conservations to 2013 or earlier – no warrant required.
This results in non-confrontational blacklisting. Usually lifetime punishments in the computer age – without your knowledge, without charge, without trial, without judge or jury and without a guilty verdict. This could happen from simply supporting the January 6 coup attempt, even if you didn’t participate or help fund it.
Since you are never confronted or charged with any crime (since it’s legal First Amendment activity – there is no crime) this robs the citizen of “Legal Standing” to challenge this punishment in court. You have the prove in court that the local policer and your state “Fusion Center” (funded by the federal justice department) have harmed you – which is near impossible.
This is not conjecture. In 2023, today, there are over 1 million persons on post-9/11 blacklists. Judges will it not enforce the U.S. Constitution [a wartime governing charter] during a national emergency. There will never be free speech protections for online speech! It’s not possible.
In the future, they can grab entire digital phone conservations to 2013 or earlier – no warrant required.
Its already happening in real time, and been happening since Obama.
702 lookups.
This is the govt data base, of every phone, text, email, browers search. all the govt does in type in a phone number and date range and get a return of all the contacts.
The latest audit. Conducted by SCOTUS found 1.4million of those searches are illegal. ~90% are under the FBI umbrella. This is the 5th? aduit and things are getting worse, not better.
Does anyone else find Dan Goldman to be one of the most arrogant light weights to hit the airwaves in a long time? You can almost see the knives he will have out for Gillibrand or Schumer in coming years. The only fun part will be watching this Trustafarian going up against the former bartender for the next senate seat in NY.
Despite all the evidence seen in the Twitter Files, the judges opinion, leftists still scream it is all a vast right wing conspiracy theory.
As Gen Chang said below, “We need new conspiracy theories! All our old ones keep coming true!”
Leftist Democrats ( I know that is a redundancy) and idiots (another redundancy) like Debbie Wasserman no longer even hide behind a façade that they are proponents of free speech. They are outright authoritarian if not totalitarian thugs who want to control all vehicles of communication so that they can maintain permanent power. In that respect Wasserman is no different from the Nazis and the Stalinists of 90 years ago. Except that they would have put her in a concentration camp or a gulag for who she is. But progressives like her don’t care much about history, only about their own powerbase. Consequences be dammed.
And is it possible to embarrass a lying liberal? I have never witness it.
Amazing to watch the leftists try to defend their position of Orwellian Ministry of Truth by trying to declare they are defending democracy . . . by destroying it.
Theyre appealing the decision!
It’s not “willful blindness” — don’t give them the excuse of ignorance, willful or not. What the Democrats are doing is a very willful, conscious power play to save their party at the expense of everything this country stands for. They are a disgrace to the nation.
GioCon, they are not driven by party. Only in as much as they see it as a a vehicle to attain and keep POWER.
Totally agree, GioCon!
Great Ruling on the attack on free speech and his findings and order. The DEM;s/BIDEN Admin/Global Elite-World Economic crowd and etc. are all in PANIC – they are appealing? Biden Admin has a very poor record on appeals and the Supreme Court. Let them run to the Supreme Court and the COurt ruling against them and finally make the ruling firm,
I do hope they appeal all the way to SCOTUS. Let the liberal justices be on record for supporting censorship by proxy. I grew up in the sixties and seventies and I thought those were frightening times with the threat of the Soviets and the Red Chinese. Of course, we are now seeing that like both Russia and China before totalitarianism took hold, the greatest threats come from within.
Chief U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty’s 155 page opinion says what many of us are already thinking. The government has absolutely NO legal basis to censor anyone despite their continued efforts to conflate “national security” with “disinformation”. Thank you, Jonathan, for an excellent article.
The government has absolutely NO
legal basisConstitutional power to censor anyoneSince we have such a large group claiming to support the constitutional rule of law, why are few people calling for things like closing Guantanamo Bay prison (most expensive taxpayer funded prison)?
What about pardoning and making whole the Bush era whistleblowers, like CIA official John Kiriakou, who was loyal to his oath of office when given illegal orders by his superiors (Nuremberg Defense precedent about “just following orders” used to prosecute Nazis from World War Two). Most Bush era whistleblowers attempted to exercise legal whistleblowing activities until Bush dismantled the secret internal system. Even Democrats, who once opposed Bush policies, are largely silent.
What about renaming the “Santa Anita racetrack” (America’s first unconstitutional detention camp) to “George Takei Park”? That’s when the federal government forced U.S. citizens into detention camps for up to 4 years, if their parents or grandparents came from Japan. U.S. citizens of German descent (other enemy nation during World War Two weren’t treated like this).
Takei says that when detained at point of bayonet rifles, U.S. troops didn’t even clean out manure from the horse stables. These innocent Americans were forced to sleep in horse stables with the stench of horse manure. Then relocated to detention camps in the swamps of Arkansas. As a child, Takei was forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance behind barbed wire fences.
Not a Trump fan, but if we had held earlier constitutional violations accountable (by Bush or FDR), Trump would have had a strong deterrent effect from planning his coup on January 6.
Why is everyone silent about these other cases, if we support the constitutional rule of law?
Torture
You do know that “whataboutism” is a pretty weak defense for what lefties are doing now?
Monument, when thinking about whatever the heck Torture is writing on just remember that the only thing worse than a one trick pony is a one trick pony whose one trick is bad.
RUTT,
How come you omitted Obama and Biden while going after Bush and Trump?
Oversight….or intentional lack of. mention.
Biden without any doubt has shown a persistent utter disdain towards the Constitution and existing Federal Law…..and continues to do so.
How about the Whistleblowers today…..you see any difference in the treatment of the Whistleblowers who have come forth with devastating revelations about the Hunter Biden/Joe Biden/Clinton cases?
Reagan’s Unenforced Torture Treaty, sometimes I agree with you and sometimes I don’t, so I’ll concede that you’re a legitimate commentor and not a troll.
I’m not happy with Trump, but when you write, “Trump would have had a strong deterrent effect from planning his coup on January 6,” I feel like this is overcharging Trump. Trump didn’t plan a coup. Whatever else he has done, there’s no evidence for a planned anything by Trump.
Overcharging has become one of the favorite dirty tricks of the Deep State. If you want to argue for the elimination of certain government tactics, you can’t resort to them yourself–a sincere suggestion.
“Since we have such a large group claiming to support the constitutional rule of law, why are few people calling for things like closing Guantanamo Bay prison (most expensive taxpayer funded prison)?”
Close it.
Catagorize those there as combatants – and subject them to military tribunals and the defenses they are entitled as enemy combatants.
OR
Catagorize them as terrorists and try them in civil courts according to civilian standards.
But end this nonsense that they are simultaneous both and neither.
“What about pardoning and making whole the Bush era whistleblowers, like CIA official John Kiriakou”
Only know some of the details, but it is my impression he was railroaded.
“What about renaming the “Santa Anita racetrack” (America’s first unconstitutional detention camp) to “George Takei Park”? ”
OK
The US concentration camps used for US citizens of japanese descent during WWII were a heinous violation of civil rights.
“Not a Trump fan, but if we had held earlier constitutional violations accountable (by Bush or FDR), Trump would have had a strong deterrent effect from planning his coup on January 6.”
No Coup on J6. A legitimate political protest. Those few who got out of hand should be prosecuted – just as those in the BLM riots and Kavanaugh “Peaceful Protests”
We also need to actually investigate the Governments role. I beleive 50 Feds have thus far been identified as part of this.
We need to know who they are and what they did .
And if as with the Witmer Kidnapping Nonsense – they were inviting violence – they need to be prosecuted.
Regardless, we need truth and transparency.
I’ve been writing about these kinds of issues for a while, here is a post from April.
We’ve seen this time after time since 2008 that if you’re against the political left’s anti status quo, anti-American, anti-Constitution changes or anything the political left proposes then you’re tarred in the court of public opinion as being evil. Period. End of discussion. Yes it really is just that simple in the minds of these cultish “progressive” (that’s an oxymoron, they’re regressive) that have infected our society like a cancer, they’ve resorted to pure persecution. Those of us that oppose the kind of complete social/cultural destruction that’s being rammed down our throats by the “progressive” left are faced with choices to reverse the trend but none of the common sense, critical thinking or logical choices seem to be working because the left has categorically rejected all those core concepts and pushed their absurd delusions as fact. Iy’s as if they have been collectively brainwashed and now we have epidemic levels of absurdities infecting our society. A reasonably predictable societal/cultural collapse is drawing near and a black hole of chaos is sucking everyone in, it’s getting harder and harder to be able to reasonably predict a positive outcome on the other end of this absurd cultural upheaval.
The left’s totalitarian war against the foundations of the United States of America must be stopped! Personally I think that ethical lawyers and judges using established law are ( stevewitherspoon.home.blog/2023/04/06/our-last-effective-non-violent-barrier-against-totalitarian ) is our last effective non-violent barrier against the totalitarian horde that’s actively trying to undermine every foundational concept that the United States is built upon. We need to employ the law in a very rapid fashion to effectively overturn the left’s efforts to create their delusional social “utopia”.
Great piece, JT. Please continue your noble crusade.
The money quote: “The most massive attack against free speech in United States history.”
The Democrat-media-corporate complex is at war with the First Amendment. Democrats on social media now regularly say “F— the Constitution” whenever it’s pointed out to them that a result they don’t like is based on the Constitution. That’s the mindset we’re dealing with.
Freedom must be defended in every generation. We are at the front end of a long war for the Constitution. The Democrats have trained their rebel army. The constitutionalist decisions last week are at most opening salvos, early wins for the good guys. But there’s a long war ahead.
oldmanfromkansas,
Well said.
Hear, hear.
Democrats on social media now regularly say “F— the Constitution” whenever it’s pointed out to them that a result they don’t like
Yes they have been open and clear the Constitution is an impediment to their goal of nirv theana.
This is not new. Unless you are a leftist, meaning Zero historical grounding.
Court Packing, was an invention of FDR. FDR had lots of solutions for the Depression….unfortunately the FEDERAL Govt only has those powers enumerated in the Constitution. That is why SCOTUS slapped down most of his early attempts. Simply, the Fed Govt lacked constitutional power. FDR’s solution to that was simply put a bunch of leftist on the court to ignore the Constitution….it was an emergency after all. The threat worked and SCOTUS started to allow small violations of the Constitution. Since then, the die has been cast.
Where is Pinochet when we need him?
Kudos for knowing Latin American History. Few US Americans do. It is unlikely most on here know what you are referencing. Indeed the similarities between Chilean Communist Dictator Salvador Allende and Marxist ventriloquist dummy, Joseph Biden, are similar. Lets hope the US does not follow Chile’s trajectory with producing a Pinochet, as it would be horrific for all of us. Shudder the thought. US secondary education ignores Latin American History to the great poverty of US Americans. Ive met few, very few, who could discuss with me LA History politics, to their great shame. Biden is indeed another Marxist tyrant like those of Latin America.
NB: In Miami I had many friends who came from Chile, none of whom glorified their country’s political history. They came to America for a reason.
Letters to the Editor: Salvador Allende’s failed Chilean presidency is nothing to celebrate
Allende, who was elected after receiving a plurality of votes (36.6% against his conservative opponent’s 35.3%) started his reign by forced redistribution of land and property and by nationalizing the copper mining industry, most large manufacturing companies, banks and large estates. Predictably, during Allende’s presidency, demand outstripped supply, the economy shrank, deficit spending snowballed, new investments and foreign exchange became scarce, shortages appeared, and inflation reached an annual rate of more than 600%. By mid-1973, the economy and the government were paralyzed.
Augusto Pinochet, who deposed Allende in the 1973 coup, was indeed a tyrant who tortured and murdered his opponents. His coup was a backlash, an opposite swing of the pendulum, to the election and reign of Allende. Had Allende not come to power, neither would have Pinochet.
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2020-09-10/salvador-allende-failed-chile-no-reason-to-celebrate-his-presidency
Every government official from the local police officer to Department of Homeland Security to the military swears a constitutional Oath of Office to NOT violate anyone’s First Amendment rights (or any other constitutional right).
If we had properly trained and educated government employees with a culture of proper loyalty to their Oath of Office, citizens would have far less to worry about.
The reality: America, by and large, doesn’t have this culture of proper loyalty by our officials. It’s highly likely America will never have First Amendment (or Fourth Amendment protections) on online speech. The agency leaders don’t support the American loyalty oath and they set the culture for their agencies.
“Unconstitutional-Authoritarianism” is the natural inclination of all government bureaucrats, without this loyalty culture.
Credit where credit is due: I agree with you on this one.
“If we had properly trained and educated government employees with a culture of proper loyalty to their Oath of Office, citizens would have far less to worry about.” And therein lies our responsibility for allowing decades of progressives access to and control over so much of our education/media industries. Point the finger at the conservatives because we were too polite to stand up and say “Hell No! this is not going to happen” way back when the dems proffered the Great Society legislation that has led to our national and cultural demise.
Willful ignorance of activist clowns.