WhatsappFreedom of speech is a basic aspect of life in the United States of America. Dennis Prager makes a fascinating connection between the fact that America has become more secular and the weakening of freedom of speech today. He is right.
The reasons and causes for freedom of speech that the founding fathers instilled into the Constitution were based on a firm understanding that totalitarian monarchies were intrinsically corrupt. The founding fathers understood that concentrated power among the few posed an existential threat to the health of any political system. Therefore, power needed to be diffused between the masses via freedoms that are guarded by law.
There are many freedoms that are precious – such as freedom of religion and freedom to carry a weapon. But the most precious freedom of all is freedom of speech. Because without freedom of speech, all of the other freedoms wither away, and the few who have concentrated all of the power dominate the masses. This is what has been going on now via social media companies that have amassed a dangerous amount of power. Now that they have begun to silence those who they deem a threat to humanity, the masses are waking up and realizing that they have lost their most basic of all freedoms – the freedom to express themselves and hear what they want to hear.
So why doesn’t Congress enact laws to limit the power of social media companies? Because enough Congressman and Congresswomen are scared of taking on the social media companies. Facebook and Twitter are now the most powerful forces in shifting elections. Any decision by Facebook to slightly tilt Facebook results in a specific district will have a profound impact on election results. Therein lies the Kafkaesque situation the USA is in. The safeguards that have been instilled in the political system are failing in this instance. The only solution is a massive uprising of people who will demand an end to the power of social media companies coupled with effective competitors that begin to eat away the dominance of Facebook and Twitter. The solutions will take years to implement, but the stakes are too high to ignore.
