A Political Realignment is Necessary – The Real Struggle is Liberty vs. Authoritarianism

Until the American public ceases bickering amongst itself along Democratic and Republican or “left” vs. “right” lines, we’ll continue to be divided and conquered by authoritarians who wield tremendous power throughout both sides of the traditional political spectrum. This isn’t to say there aren’t real, meaningful differences between those who classify themselves on the “left” or the “right,” but it is to say there’s a much bigger battle afoot and nothing’s going to get better until we frame the new political reality for what it is. The most significant, existential struggle at play in these modern United States is a battle between Liberty and Authoritarianism, and it’s extremely important you know where you stand.

While the entire Bill of Rights of the U.S. Constitution is crucial to our civil liberties, no right is more significant than the First Amendment. If we lose freedom of speech, it’s game over for our society, and we have to understand that authoritarians on both the “right” and “left” are taking shots at freedom of speech as I write this. As such, differences between “right” and “left” should be deemphasized because if we lose the First Amendment, we lose everything.

A major political realignment is not simply a good idea, it’s absolutely crucial to the survival of a thriving civilization here in the U.S. The historical struggle we face today is not Democrat vs. Republican, or right vs. left, but Liberty vs. Authoritarianism. 

Let’s get started by highlighting an extremely creepy proposal recently published, titled, Fool Me Once: The Case for Government Regulation of “Fake News. One of the authors is Ann M. Ravel, who was previously a Democratic Commissioner on the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

For the most part, the proposal outlines how social media should be regulated in order to track and categorize how advertisements on the platforms are created and distributed. It’s not until the end that the authors’ more Orwellian objectives become apparent. They write:

Government regulations to help voters avoid spreading disinformation

 

Educate social media users. Social media users can unintentionally spread disinformation when they interact with it in their newsfeeds. Depending on their security settings, their entire online social network can see items that they interact with (by “liking” or commenting), even if they are expressing their opposition to the content. Social media users should not interact with disinformation in their feeds at all (aside from flagging it for review by third party fact checkers). Government should require platforms to regularly remind social media users about not interacting with disinformation.

Similarly, after a social media user clicks “share” on a disputed item (if the platforms do not remove them and only label them as disputed), government can require that the user be reminded of the definition of libel against a public figure. Libel of public figures requires “actual malice”, defined as knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. Sharing an item that has been flagged as untrue might trigger liability under libel laws.

Nudge social media users to not view disputed content. Lawmakers should require platforms to provide an opt-in (or, more weakly, opt-out) system for viewing disputed content and periodically remind users of their options. We think the courts should uphold this as a constitutional regulation of political speech, but we acknowledge that it is a closer question than the more straightforward disclosure regulations above. The most analogous cases are to commercial speech cases (AdChoices and Do Not Call Registry, which was upheld). Commercial speech receives less protection than political speech.

Think about how creepy all of that is. They want social media companies to warn its users when they’re apparently interacting with “disinformation,” which I assume government will enthusiastically define at a later date. Even worse, a simple warning isn’t enough for them, the authors actually want social media companies to warn citizens they might be exposed to libel laws if they share a particular piece of content.

As such, it becomes crystal clear that when it comes to libel laws some Democrats have a lot more in common with Donald Trump than they’d like you to believe. Which basically proves my point — there’s a lot more agreement between authoritarians on the “right” and the “left” than meets the eye. Both types want the power to control what you see, what you read and how you think. Don’t let political labels fool you, anti-free speech is anti-free speech whether it comes from a Democrat or a Republican. The real battle is Liberty vs. Authoritarianism.

If that’s not creepy enough, let’s take a look at what’s currently happening at Facebook. From the Bloomberg article, Facebook Is Looking for Employees With National Security Clearances:

Facebook Inc. is looking to hire people who have national security clearances, a move the company thinks is necessary to prevent foreign powers from manipulating future elections through its social network, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Workers with such clearance can access information classified by the U.S. government. Facebook plans to use these people — and their ability to receive government information about potential threats — to search more proactively for questionable social media campaigns ahead of elections, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because the information is sensitive. A Facebook spokesman declined to comment.

Job candidates like this are often former government and intelligence officials or contractors. The status can carry over to private-sector jobs, as long as the position still requires access to sensitive information. Previously granted clearances become inactive when intelligence workers leave government employment, but they can be reactivated on Facebook’s behalf, the person said.

Facebook is about to be swarming with CIA personnel, assuming it isn’t already.

Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said last month that Facebook plans to add more than 250 people across its teams that deal with security and safety for the social network and to more than double the team working on election integrity. He also said the company would seek to work more closely with government officials to get information on what to investigate ahead of elections.

It’s common for private companies, such as military contractors, information technology and engineering firms, to hire employees with U.S. government-issued security clearance. Candidates with top-secret clearance have been in high demand for years.

These types of employees are needed when private companies interact and share information back and forth with government agencies. If Facebook is going to cooperate with intelligence agencies to identify potentially problematic ads and share that information with the government, it will likely need workers with security clearance.

I’m not sure how to describe the above, but free market capitalism it’s definitely not.

Moving along, this post wouldn’t be complete without pointing out how much Donald Trump, and in particular his deranged Attorney General Jeff Sessions, despises the First Amendment. Here’s some of what he had to say on the topic yesterday.

From The Hill:

Attorney General Jeff Sessions on Wednesday said he could not make a “blanket commitment” to not putting journalists in jail.

During testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) asked Sessions if he could pledge to not place “reporters in jail for doing their jobs.”

“Well, I don’t know that I can make a blanket commitment to that effect. But I will say this, we have not taken any aggressive action against the media at this point,” Sessions replied.

“But we have matters that involve the most serious national security issues that put our country at risk,” he said, “and we will utilize the authorities that we have legally and constitutionally if we have to.”

The comments from Sessions come after President Trump, unhappy with a story published by NBC News, said last week that network licenses should be challenged. While the major networks do not have licenses themselves, their local affiliates do.

Finally, I want to provide the following tweets in case you’re still in denial regarding Trump’s authoritarian nature and his clear determination to launch more wars in the Middle East.

A lot of you voted for Trump because you knew Hillary was a disaster and so you held out some hope he’d be better. I get it. This isn’t about lecturing anybody about how much of a con Trump is, it’s about asking you to accept reality and be part of a political realignment which must be birthed into existence.

We need to recognize that the battle is much bigger than you’ve been taught. It’s not Democrat vs. Republican or right vs. left, it’s Liberty vs. Authoritarianism, and if we don’t accept this and come together, we’ll lose everything.

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In Liberty,
Michael Krieger

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21 thoughts on “A Political Realignment is Necessary – The Real Struggle is Liberty vs. Authoritarianism”

  1. I just read a piece in German about the false democracy that exist, citing Switzerland as the only country that allows citizens to have a voice (vote) in major laws, compared to us, with things run by lobbys, power groups, but not us. Our sysrem has been taken over by the money controllers.

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  2. Although we refuse to use Facebook and the like because we have always felt they were being used as a tool of those data collecting ABC groups and only post a few places as on this blog, and although they are probably collecting data on the e-mails and posts we do make, we do everything out in the open and could care less if they get every text, phone call and such we do make. We know the malignant mind at work in our nation and around the world, and if it isn’t in control, then they find a way to gain that control. We have seen this control freakishness or authoritarianism, as you say, coming on for years, wanting to play God and be Omniscient and Omnipotent.

    What is interesting is that we lived with a man who was an empath and he could see into the spirit world. He said there were demons standing at the entrances of most buildings, public places, and he said they watched everything and what people were thinking and doing. This malignant mind which these demons must have been a part of work together by mind, unlike most of humanity where we all feel somewhat separate from each other, each with our own egos. We actually do belong to a Speciel Mind of which we are all a part, but we have not evolved enough to gain that Oneness of Mind, which higher species have. Humanity is not at the end of its evolution, but until we learn to live in peace and are not a threat to anyone or anything, including our planet, which we were told to Dress and to Keep, which is to Prepare it for use for future generations, and to Protect it from harm, we won’t be given that ability.

    Anyway, we are sure it is this demonic and malignant mind which encourages this police state, an extension of itself by working through those in authority positions to control the “collective” mindset.

    You made a good point about not labelling others, Michael, because that does create a differentness which can separate us. Dividing people is the manifestation of the malignant mind called Asmodeus. People like Soros do it all the time. Do you think they’ll let him and his gang infiltrate social media? We suppose it will depend on if the powers that be see it to their advantage.

    We were told to Keep our Own Counsel, and not to let any man Take Our Crown, and we find it best to seek understanding through God. I would like to post a letter about the insidious Thought Projection devices sometime. It was first engineered by Thomas Edison as a receiver of thoughts, but after his death the device was stolen, and this man we mentioned above saw how the technology was turned around and used to transmit thoughts. They do a lot of it at night when we sleep, and we have caught several in our dream world where they were trying to influence us politically. We have no idea what is coming down the pike for humanity.

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    • No mystery…. this king demon has a name … Mammon. Which is the Aramaic word for ‘Wealth’… that’s who has bought and paid for ‘our’ government. So now you know who the devils work for… remember who warned us, 2K yrs ago? (Unfortunately, most American citizen also worship the same ‘master’.)

  3. They say, in key, “the Heine is political” and “the Heine is REAL error”. It’s a dominant form of organized crime, that murders opponents, & typically replaces them with new imposters in order to control that identity, the murdered persons assets (material & intellectual/reputation). Secrecy prevents public outcry or investigation; it prevents blow back from other Heine gangs. Heine gangs cooperate by not ratting on each other or spilling their common secrets. Nowadays, they are all hard crime and all authoritarian. None are lawful, humane, for the public. None are for truth, or for anything other than their toxic whims. In people go along with it because they see that as their only chance to prolong their survival. The net result is death for civilization. Liberty is not consistent with abetting arbitrary Heine gang crime.

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  4. You’ve been crushing it even more so lately!

    Personally, I’ve found that my family/friends/acquaintances/social media peeps can’t break the left vs right paradigm for some or many reasons. We shouldn’t give up because what else is there to do…give up? Submit? Not a chance!

    However, I don’t see how we’ll be able to “red pill” enough folks (8%?) to a deep enough level WITHIN THEIR OWN MINDS so that when the next financial crisis (or worse happens) they’ll be ready to forge ahead in liberty; not go back to their foundations crying for mommy and daddy (dictator) aka the road to serfdom.

    Guess we’ll keep cranking one person at a time.

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  5. “We need to recognize that the battle is much bigger than you’ve been taught. It’s not Democrat vs. Republican or right vs. left, it’s Liberty vs. Authoritarianism, and if we don’t accept this and come together, we’ll lose everything.”

    Until enough people understand this, there will be no coming together:

    The Hegelian Dialectic

    http://www.rooshv.com/what-is-the-hegelian-dialectic

    “Many of us are already aware of what the elite is doing to society in order to maintain control. The Hegelian dialectic allows us to see how they are doing it, adding an important piece of the puzzle to more easily recognize their authoritarian schemes.

    Whenever a crisis occurs that politicians, governments, world organizations like the United Nations, IMF, World Bank, US Fed, or countless other quasi-governmental entities have a solution for, three things are certain:

    1. Their solution will not solve the original problem.

    2. The problem was possibly created themselves in order to introduce their desired “solution.”

    3. The engineered process of Problem-Reaction-Solution is reducing your liberty and making you more dependent on the state.”
    ___________________________________________________

    As was discussed in Michael’s Wednesday post, this has to be spread virally person to person.Explain the dialectic to people and it’s amazing how they react. Especially younger people who haven’t become so addicted to partisanship (tribalism) that they can’t let go of their security blanket.

    I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to understand the dialectic and then to stop falling for it over and over again.

    That is the authoritarians greatest fear.

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    • We call it create a need and fill it.

      One thing we have noticed though is the disinformation being so blatantly used to confuse those who haven’t caught up. Someone told us about a great Movie on Netflix called “What the Health”. We know Netflix slings shit and lies, and so we decided to give it a try; Oh, the lies, Fat is bad, carbs are so good, processed meat cause cancer (well, maybe if you eat a lot of it and we would never eat hot dogs) and we exited it as soon as we could lest more devils get out in the air ways.

      The only counter force to use against the forces at work is education. Teach, teach and teach. thanks to all of you for sharing. We learn something from everyone.

    • Agree, Jennifer. The good intentions of the ‘plant-based’ (formerly vegetarian and vegan) adherents are being co-opted by the Soy Industry, from what I can tell… with a vengeance, and to the detriment of our general health. This is one to watch.

    • Jennifer> Teach, teach and teach. thanks to all of you for sharing

      Well, Lenin called it “Learn, learn and learn”

      Frankly, this fair proposal is sadly idealistic.

      1) Teaching is expensive. Who would do it and why? Government, elites, powers that be? Well, they eventually get corrupted themselves and stop educating. They first de-fang the education, shifting it into less relevant topics, then they drop it altogether.

      2) Learning may be dull. When being taught is imposed upon everyone, most start feeling it as a tedious slavery, rather than enhancing themselves.

      So your T&T&T proposal may have a rocket start in the times of absolutely dare crisis. But give it few no crisis decades – and the whole concept would be frowned upon and sabotaged both by 1% and 90%

    • We realize that you can lead a horse to water and he may not drink, but if we do not teach and share and make inroads into the minds of our youth, we won’t get ourselves into the future.

      We find we did best when we asked of God what to do. Surprisingly, He helped in His ways which are mysterious but nonetheless there if we watch for them. This is also what our mentor did under God’s guidance, he published The American Sunbeam for 14 years or so, sharing the truths he was given. Don’t read what wikipedia has to say, they won’t change their lies, but our government finally had to silence him because he told too much truth. Our government can’t have the truth, but the sharing of truth is really the only counter-force to use against the forces used against us.

  6. Trump calling at wars with everyone and overstretching Pentagon forces by that hopefully may be a trick to sabotage any real practical war preparation with some chosen one target. Judo kind. If you can not stop war addict movements, then amplify their moves until they totally exhausted out of any practical action.

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  7. The only avenue for the sad sack middle class is the complete destruction of the market forces that created this futile position we now find ourselves in .

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  8. Yup.. the R/D’s use their ‘differences’ for the oldest magic trick.. distraction… look here, not there where the unified pluto’s are pulling the strings. That’s where the real ‘bipartisanship’ lies.

    Aren’t these heart-warming signs of plutocratic hysteria? I.e. the brand new ‘Alliance to Secure Democracy’, packed with Rs and Ds (including B Kristol!)… because ‘democracy’ is the easiest way to manipulate the sheep.

    I agree it’s now or never, but ‘Authoritarianism’ doesn’t roll off the tongue, and ‘Liberty’ is a code word for Sessions-types. Anyone got better labels? ‘We can’t have a Democratic Republic (see… both sides : ) can’t have Liberty without Truly Free Speech… i.e., the kind you don’t like!’ … now to shrink it down ?

    I’d also suggest consideration of a new book by Monbiot “Out of the Wreckage”, with psych. research showing that humans feel good when they help others and cooperate. He suggests a new ‘narrative’, because stories are the best communication; now for a sound bite, or two, (brief, crisp, memorable, and packed with strong emotion) that paints a picture that tells the story of how good we feel when helping & cooperating … and get happier and ‘richer’! How we can use ‘our’ gov to make us ‘feel good’… or some such. Thanks again, Michael.

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  9. Sorry, have to fix that:
    ‘We can’t have a Democratic Republic (see… both sides : ) guaranteeing Liberty without Truly Free Speech… i.e., the kind of speech you don’t like!’

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  10. most people recognize the problem is corporate control of the global economy, but buy into it for convenience, comfort, and pleasure

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  11. ..they also ‘buy into it’ because they cannot ‘see’ an alternative, and we are wage slaves. No one has told them that Thatcher’s ‘TINA’ (There Is No Alternative) was wrong. The entire corporatocracy (media, legal, money, education, etc) has saturated our culture with ‘compete or die’ …. or the Republican motto “I’ve got mine; screw you”. And chattel slavery was very carefully replaced by wage/debt slavery. ‘The Empire of Cotton’ lays out the historical, wide sweep of capitalism’s birth in colonial/slavery ‘accumulation’.

    However, the ‘blind’ non-choir cannot read up on all this stuff…. we need ‘memes’ that present the picture of real, (historically proven) feasible, affordable, gratifying alternatives. If ‘we’ can get them circulating… the non-choir might be able to make the good ‘turn’ when the crash comes. If not… we’ll get another you-know-what.

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  12. OK, I’ll stop … soon, but Michael is laying this out so CLEARLY, I have to jump in. Plus I just read this now… apparently Malcolm Gladwell pointed out research that shows a ‘tipping point’ does not occur at a meme’s 51% ‘saturation’ point… but at 8-12%. So… thanks a bunch, Michael!

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  13. This utopian wisdom by American citizen is approaching. It will take time but the American will have to face real truth soon just as after 9/11.God bless.

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