Censorship is the Beginning of Mind Control, and the First Step to Fascism

Op-ed by TheWiseOldFart

 

It began with Ron DeSantis in Florida, and is quickly spreading throughout every red state. The men and women who call themselves Republicans in the 21^st century understand that the truth is the enemy of autocrats and their efforts to end democracy. The accurate term is censorship and is being conducted by traitors to our way of life.

The past is of greater importance than immediate concerns about the future. If we fail to learn from our mistakes, we will make them again and again. Nothing proves this fact more accurately than the four years between 2017 and 2021. During those dark years, Donald Trump and his fake Republican Party attempted to move our nation backwards into its vile and racist past. Freedoms, guaranteed by the Constitution, were gradually removed. The second Civil War had begun. Advances in human rights over the previous 60-70 years were under attack and the future of America remains in the balance.

The path to fascism begins with the removal and distortion of factual accounts about a nation’s history. Hitler gained control of the German people in the 1930s by eliminating facts and replacing them with his own views of current events and history. All “information” came from the government.

As DeSantis ordered the removal of books about Black history, and the scientific facts about the LGBTQ community from libraries and schools, an entire generation became threatened with being raised in a vacuum where the truth would be hidden forever. This theoretical act of “book burning” is spreading to other red states. The results include laws and regulations such as voter suppression, and the refusal of medical assistance for transgender Americans. This attack on free speech is spreading like a deadly fungus.

“We are seeing tremendous attacks on First Amendment freedoms across the country right now, at all levels of government. Censorship is proliferating, and it’s deeply troubling,” said Joe Cohn, legislative and policy director with the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression.

“This year, we’re seeing a wave of bills targeting drag performances, where simply being gender nonconforming is enough to trigger the penalty. We’re also seeing a wave of bills regulating what can be in public or K-12 school libraries,” Cohn said. “On college campuses, we have been tracking data about attempts to get faculty members punished or even fired for speech or expression and the numbers are startling — it’s the highest rate that we’ve seen in our 20 years of existence.”

This is a direct on the very fundamental beliefs of our Founding Fathers. This is not my America.

Members of the House Freedom Caucus openly support Putin and his policies. In the Senate, Josh Hawley and a few other “pretend” Republicans are using President Biden’s efforts to support Ukraine in their fight against the invasion by the “Great Bear,” claiming that this offers support to China.

“I just I think they’ve not come to grips with the fact that China is truly a pure competitor to us,” Hawley told the Kansas City Star, referring to the Biden administration and Ukraine-backers in Congress. “They are not like anything we’ve seen since the fall of the Soviet Union. And, really, they’re not even like the Soviet Union in the last 20 years that it existed. I mean, their economy is bigger, their military is bigger, their growth potential is greater.”

A quick note here. Fact: the military of the United States remains five-times larger than all other nations combined.

This is a thinly disguised effort to offer their fealty to Trump’s handler. The truth is, Russia remains America’s greatest enemy. Anyone in our government who directly or indirectly supports Putin is a traitor to the United States of America.

This internal war within our nation is a fight for the survival of the American dream, and support for the Constitution, against those who wish to end free elections and establish an autocracy intended to protect the current plutocracy.

Refuse to choose ignorance. Vote wisely. Refuse to vote for a political party and choose women and men who will work for you and those you love.

Op-ed by James Turnage

Sources: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/experts-say-attacks-on-free-speech-are-rising-across-the-us

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/15/2193510/-Republican-Party-has-to-make-a-choice-Putin-or-democracy

Find my novels here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/James-Turnage/author/B00LOCJ2Z2?ref=ap_rdr&store_ref=ap_rdr&isDramIntegrated=true&shoppingPortalEnabled=true