A wise quote from the venerated Benjamin Franklin found application in recent days. Reflecting on the gravest threats facing human liberty, the elder statesmen of that generation we call our Founders expressed,
Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.
The Musk-initiated Twitter exposé has generated intrigue on a host of topics, including a front seat reveal of just how the left-wing, Democrat/media cabal works. I could be wrong, but I think some of the revelations of FBI involvement in suppressing contrarian voices that the current regime disliked will not be passively swept under the rug, and could result in substantial consequences for involved parties.
But for now, maybe the most significant thing to come from the so-called Twitter files, at least when it comes to our immediate future, is to recognize what was done regarding Covid. Remember the parameters of what we're talking about – people were convinced to give up their most basic liberties and freedoms. Citizens were:
- Locked in their homes.
- Locked out of their businesses.
- Locked out of their churches.
- Those who resisted were shamed and were arrested.
- Those who questioned were berated and silenced.
The degree to which that last point occurred is slowly being revealed, and the Twitter files are doing a great deal in that regard. And for those paying attention, the question continues to arise: What might the pandemic might have looked like if dissenting voices were allowed to speak freely and be heard?
Might we not have pursued impossible Covid-zero policies? Might lockdown demands have been less prevalent? Might the draconian shot mandates have been less compulsory and more voluntary if people were permitted to counter the pseudo-science of television experts like this:
It's ironic that Wen's recent desperate attempt to rewrite the history of her arrogant demagoguery probably would have worked absent a Musk Twitter takeover. Ditto for those who forced – without any scientific justification – the masking of the masses, including young children.
National Review's Michael Dougherty has been blowing the whistle on that issue for some time, suggesting it is not far short of a crime to have masked young children who were receiving developmental therapy, even when the therapists were far from at-risk, and even vaccinated. Nothing in the scientific literature ever supported such an outrageous policy. It was driven, like most all mask mandates, by unfounded, ungrounded hysteria.
Consider all this in light of Franklin's quote and you'll see his words were anything but hyperbolic or exaggerated. In the name of public safety, the civil liberties of Americans were wrenched away by an unholy alliance of public health officials and elected representatives. To ensure that they got away with it, that alliance knew one thing was necessary: silence any opposition.
"Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech." Nailed it, Ben.
