GOP leaders (loosely defined) in Congress have been paying a lot of lip service to the concept of free speech since around 2018 when Silicon Valley conglomerates began openly discriminating against conservative/libertarian dissidents on social media.
The unfortunate reality is that the party allegedly committed to constitutional ideals has historically suppressed popular speech and silenced journalism under the guise of national security.
It seems like a lifetime ago. Have we already forgotten, or forgiven, the Orwellian PATRIOT Act passed in the aftermath of 9/11, the unprecedented expansion of the surveillance regime in the Bush War on Terror years, the bipartisan persecution of hero whistleblower Edward Snowden in the Obama era, and Julian Assange before him, and so on?
It’s true that the modern-day security state directly targets the right as “domestic terrorists” – but, ironically, Republicans built the infrastructure and legal precedent that allows First and Fourth Amendment abuses over decades.
Sen. Tom Cotton – a modern-day neocon in the mold of Dick Cheney and his corrupt daughter – continues the grand tradition. He recently rejected a bill designed to protect the practice of journalism.
Here’s the summary of bill S.2457 — 117th Congress (2021-2022), which Cotton killed in the Senate:
This bill prohibits the federal government from compelling journalists and providers of telecommunications services (e.g., phone and internet companies) to disclose certain protected information, except in limited circumstances such as to prevent terrorism or imminent violence.
Specifically, the bill protects from disclosure any information identifying a source, as well as any records, contents of a communication, documents, or information obtained or created by journalists in the course of their work. Further, the bill protects specified third parties, such as telecommunications carriers or social media companies, from being compelled to provide testimony or any document consisting of a record, information, or other communication that relates to a business transaction between the third party and a journalist.
In other words, journalists should be allowed to do what journalists have done for centuries. It’s the most straightforward and common-sense piece of legislation possibly in American history.
The press unfortunately has a long and sordid history of publishing sensitive information from inside the government that damages our national security. During the Vietnam War the New York Times published the Pentagon Papers in an effort to demoralize the American people and turn them against the war effort… The Press Act would immunize journalists and leakers alike from scrutiny and consequences for their actions. his bill would prohibit the government from compelling any individual who calls himself a journalist from disclosing the source or substance of such damaging leaks. This effectively would grant journalists special legal privileges to disclose sensitive information that no other citizen enjoys. It would treat the press as a special caste of crusaders for truth who are somehow set apart from their fellow citizens.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. If America’s publicly funded, privately profitable wars are on the up and up, and truly benefit American national security, the question is: why is Cotton afraid of a little sunlight?
Is Sean Hannity, chief GOP cheerleader, going to hit Cotton in a segment for hypocritically flaunting the party line on free speech?
Is Trump going to do a Truth Social thing about it when he’s not busy selling his NFT scam?
Or will GOP leadership stay committed to partisan hackery with no regard for principle?
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