Free media have always presented a problem for liberal Democrats. Despite their love affair both with technology and with the fawning media that has helped keep them in power, it does not take much to earn their ire. The typical Democrat expects, as his or her right as a member of the lib elite, to be served up only softball questions from a sympathetic media. Such Democrats are quite comfortable manipulating both popular culture and the infotainment news cycle to spread, unquestioned and without criticism, their liberal propaganda.
The existence of a single dissenting voice is something the libs cannot abide; the temerity with which a single reporter might dare challenge a liberal for any reason drives them to heights of rage. This is behind every attempt by the left to clamp down on free speech or, more accurately, free speech that does not favor them. It is this urge behind repeated attempts by liberal Democrats to revive the euphemistic censorship of the "fairness doctrine" to silence conservative talk radio. More recently, it is this urge behind the FCC's power grab to control the Internet and, ultimately, clamp down on speech of which Democrats do not approve.
The thing about Democrats is that they've given up any pretense of representing all Americans. In recent years, and particularly since President Obama's corrupt and racist administration seized control of the White House, the liberals have been more than happy to come right out and tell us that they hate free speech. They hate free thought. They hate the idea of dissent. And if you won't agree with them, if you won't bend to their will, if you won't toe their line, they'll gladly tell you in just so many words that you'll either be re-educated or punished. Yet they'll also very happily demonstrate that they intend to exempt themselves from the rules they would impose on everyone else.
When Obama famously refused to give up his beloved BlackBerry – national security issues be damned – the tone was set for the years to come. When Hillary Clinton famous shrieked that we are Americans, and we have the right to "debate and disagree" with any administration, she conveniently forgot to add that debate and dissent are only "American" if they are critical of conservatives and Republicans. Debate and dissent that is critical of libs is misogynist hate speech that is also racist and unfair. Ask any liberal; they'll gladly tell you.
But wait; we don't have to ask just any liberal. We can ask President Obama and Hillary Clinton to explain their hatred of free speech in their own words. Both figures have used the bully pulpit of the sympathetic news media – a technological cudgel that dominates Americans' connected lives because it pervades all corners of the news and entertainment we read and view – to inform us, solemnly, of the ways we, the American people, have so gravely disappointed the Democrats. We disappoint them because we refuse to be persuaded by their brilliance. We disappoint them because we insist that freedom of speech and freedom of thought apply to the Internet and to people on both sides of the political aisle. We disappoint them because we won't bend to their will ... and they delight in telling us, perhaps not in so many words, that it will be our backs against the wall when they finally get around to dealing with those on their enemies lists.
Speaking at a typical media-friendly lib-darling event, the 2015 "Women in the World Summit," Hillary barked that "Far too many women are denied access to reproductive health care and safe childbirth, and laws don't count for much if they're not enforced. Rights have to exist in practice – not just on paper … Laws have to be backed up with resources and political will. And deep-seated cultural codes, religious beliefs and structural biases have to be changed."
Yes, you read that right. Your "deep-seated religious beliefs," where they do not conform to liberal and progressive narratives of victimhood and unfairness, must be "changed." No woman in the United States is being "denied access" to reproductive health care and safe childbirth. There is no "war on woman," despite how hard liberals work to perpetuate this myth and hang it around the necks of conservatives. Yet these fictional crimes are all the justification Hillary Clinton needs to tell you to your face that you bitter religious fanatics desperately clinging to your guns and religion (to paraphrase His Eminence, Lord High Emperor Barack Obama) must change your ardently held beliefs. And what happens to you if you do refuse to change your religious beliefs to suit the likes of Hillary? She hasn't yet been brave enough to say, but given how much hatred liberals heap on conservatives, libertarians and white males in general, we can guess.
And what of Emperor Obama? Never you mind that the welfare and unemployment rolls have swollen to unprecedented levels under his rule. Never you mind that the national debt has grown more under Obama than under all presidents before him, combined. No, Obama is very angry that Fox News would dare to suggest that people who vote for a living, rather than working for a living, might be better served by becoming productive citizens.
"I have to say that if you watch Fox News on a regular basis, it is a constant menu," Obama said during a recent event. "… If we're going to change how [Republicans] think, we're going to have to change how our body politic thinks. Which means we're going to have to change how the media reports on these issues. ..."
So, there it is. The most prominent liberals active today – Obama and Hillary – have said explicitly what they think of you and what they think of free media. If you disagree, you must change your beliefs. If you speak out critically, this must "change." Any narrative that does not serve the Democrats must become "broader." Any opinion that does not serve the libs must be silenced.
This is how the Democrats will compel you to live and to think. Don't take my word for it. Turn on your tablet or your phone sometime.
The libs will gladly tell you so.
Media wishing to interview Phil Elmore, please contact [email protected].
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