If you feel as though the walls are closing in on you, you’re not paranoid — you’re merely observant. If you feel that you have to edit everything you’re about to say, you’re not alone.
Cancel culture has gone into hyperdrive, and now that it has the full faith and credit of the Biden administration, corporate America has followed suit.
And at stake is our First Amendment freedom of expression.
When the White House failed at its attempt to establish a Disinformation Governance Board last May — its own version of an Orwellian Ministry of Truth — President Biden didn’t give up on the idea: he just reimagined it, beginning with his appointments.
One of them is Gigi Sohn, Biden’s nominee to fill an open seat on the Federal Communications Commission. This is an important appointment given that the FCC is currently deadlocked with two Republican and two Democratic commissioners.
This is the president’s third attempt to get Sohm on the commission, and it speaks volumes about his view of “communications.”
The previous two attempts failed because of her extreme partisanship against conservative thought. Biden gave it another try now that we have a new Congress.
Sen. Ted Cruz asked viewers to “Meet Biden's FCC nominee Gigi Sohn,” in a video he posted on Twitter.
“She suggested if you don’t like someone — if they’re a conservative outlet — the federal government should revoke their license to broadcast,” the Texas Republican said. “That’s scary stuff. That’s a willingness to abuse government power to go after and target those views you disagree with.”
He concluded, “someone who wants to abuse government power like that has no business being anywhere near governmental authority.”
Cruz revealed to the Senate Commerce Committee that Sohm tried to stack the deck in her favor this time around.
"Just this past year, while her nomination was pending, Ms. Sohn was making multiple financial donations to senators who were charged with voting on her confirmation,” he said. “Had this been done by a Republican nominee I have no doubt that my Democrat colleagues and their media allies would be apoplectic at this point.”
Axios reported that the Senate Commerce Committee still hasn’t held a vote.
Maria Araujo Kahn is another recent Biden nominee, this one for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
Judicial appointments are especially important because when Congress, the president or an agency (like the FCC) gets it wrong, we rely on the courts make sure they conform to the Constitution and set things right.
Kahn, who currently serves as an associate justice on the Connecticut Supreme Court, has some twisted views of the First Amendment freedom of speech and press.
The Washington Free Beacon reported last month that Kahn “has argued for curtailing the First Amendment and conducted training sessions that say ‘microaggressions’ can ‘kill you.’”
So what’s a “microagression?” One example she offered was a white person telling a Black person that they’re “well-spoken.” We used to call that being complimentary. Another was a career counselor suggesting that a college student "try a less challenging major.” We used to call that being helpfully honest.
Kahn extends that belief to her work on the bench. She suggested in a 2020 opinion, for example, that “courts should criminalize speech that offends ‘oppressed groups.’”
In Kahn’s world, the “sticks and stones” rule no longer applies.
The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared Kahn along party lines on February 2; approval by the full Senate is still pending.
But because of First Amendment restrictions, the government can only go so far, and now private entities going where government cannot.
AT&T recently deplatformed Newsmax TV from its DirecTV satellite service. Last year it did the same to another conservative news outlet, One America News Network (OANN). What’s next? Nickelodeon?
Rep. Andy Biggs told Newsmax TV last week that he expects the House Oversight Committee to address the issue some time later this month.
"I'm not the chairman, so I don't know when, but I believe they're probably going to happen within three or four weeks," the Arizona Republican told Newsmax's Prime News. "We're trying to fit everything in and get everybody together on the same page time-wise when other things have been scheduled, so I do believe it's going to happen sooner than later.”
All of this demonstrates an arrogance. Thomas Jefferson once observed that "When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny."
We no longer have a government "of, by, and for the people” — it's become a malignant tumor whose sole function is to grow and to protect itself.
And if we continue electing leftist progressives into positions of power, it’ll only get worse.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and an enthusiastic Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.