The ongoing purges and restrictions of social media accounts by Big Tech are continuing, with Ron Paul's own main social media outlet having been restricted yesterday for a vague charge of "violation of community standards." In today's Liberty Report Ron Paul reflects on the dominance of social media and Big Tech in our daily discourse and how we can still promote peace, prosperity, and liberty.
By Ron Paul
Last week’s massive social media purges – starting with President Trump’s permanent ban from Twitter and other outlets – was shocking and chilling, particularly to those of us who value free expression and the free exchange of ideas. The justifications given for the silencing of wide swaths of public opinion made no sense and the process was anything but transparent. Nowhere in President Trump’s two “offending” Tweets, for example, was a call for violence expressed explicitly or implicitly. It was a classic example of sentence first, verdict later. Many Americans viewed this assault on social media accounts as a liberal or Democrat attack on conservatives and Republicans, but they are missing the point. The narrowing of allowable opinion in the virtual public square is no conspiracy against conservatives. As progressives like Glenn Greenwald have pointed out, this is a wider assault on any opinion that veers from the acceptable parameters of the mainstream elite, which is made up of both Democrats and Republicans. Yes, this is partly an attempt to erase the Trump movement from the pages of history, but it is also an attempt to silence any criticism of the emerging political consensus in the coming Biden era that may come from progressive or antiwar circles. After all, a look at Biden’s incoming “experts” shows that they will be the same failed neoconservative interventionists who gave us weekly kill lists, endless drone attacks and coups overseas, and even US government killing of American citizens abroad. Progressives who complain about this “back to the future” foreign policy are also sure to find their voices silenced. Those who continue to argue that the social media companies are purely private ventures acting independent of US government interests are ignoring reality. The corporatist merger of “private” US social media companies with US government foreign policy goals has a long history and is deeply steeped in the hyper-interventionism of the Obama/Biden era. “Big Tech” long ago partnered with the Obama/Biden/Clinton State Department to lend their tools to US “soft power” goals overseas. Whether it was ongoing regime change attempts against Iran, the 2009 coup in Honduras, the disastrous US-led coup in Ukraine, “Arab Spring,” the destruction of Syria and Libya, and so many more, the big US tech firms were happy to partner up with the State Department and US intelligence to provide the tools to empower those the US wanted to seize power and to silence those out of favor. In short, US government elites have been partnering with “Big Tech” overseas for years to decide who has the right to speak and who must be silenced. What has changed now is that this deployment of “soft power” in the service of Washington’s hard power has come home to roost. So what is to be done? Even pro-free speech alternative social media outlets are under attack from the Big Tech/government Leviathan. There are no easy solutions. But we must think back to the dissidents in the era of Soviet tyranny. They had no Internet. They had no social media. They had no ability to communicate with thousands and millions of like-minded, freedom lovers. Yet they used incredible creativity in the face of incredible adversity to continue pushing their ideas. Because no army – not even Big Tech partnered with Big Government - can stop an idea whose time has come. And Liberty is that idea. We must move forward with creativity and confidence!
Big Tech has taken radical action over the past few days to cancel and de-platform thousands of social media users, including President Trump himself. Free speech alternative social media site Parler has been blown off the Internet by Amazon. Free speech advocates, including the ACLU, are warning about the effect of such a purge. Is it possible that this over-reach, with its apparent political overtones, might actually benefit free speech advocates once all the smoke has cleared?
After four years of a Republican-dominated government sinking the U.S. financial situation further towards bankruptcy, it's now the Democrats' turn to step firmly on the spending and debt gas pedal. As the "stimulus," and "help" and "bailouts" continue to ratchet up, the standard of living for the American people will continue to ratchet down.
Was it "treason"? A "coup attempt"? What happened on Capitol Hill yesterday? There is plenty of speculation about out-of-control Trump supporters - and Federal prosecutors are champing at the bit to begin prosecuting. Were there violent infiltrators who led the charge? Were there any other strange factors that deserve attention? We take a look at some of the various reports and examine the question "cui bono?" - who benefits?
Soon-to-be Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has Tweeted out this morning "Buckle up!" after Democrats appear to have won both Georgia US Senate seats. Shellshocked Republicans now face losses in both Houses of Congress and at the White House. Also today, Assange denied bail by UK judge - even though he faces no UK charges. Finally, as Iran hawks watch the sands of the Trump Administration run out, will their endless provocations finally bring their long-desired war?
Stansberry Research journalist, Daniela Cambone, joins the Liberty Report to discuss crypto, gold, silver and other metals. With the Fed feverishly counterfeiting dollars, are we headed for a big year for these assets?
Here is the bitcoin chart that was mentioned in the program: https://www.tradingview.com/symbols/BTCUSD/
By Ron Paul
World Economic Forum Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab has proposed using the overreaction to coronavirus to launch a worldwide “Great Reset.” This Great Reset is about expanding government power and suppressing liberty worldwide. Schwab envisions an authoritarian system where big business acts as a partner with government. Big business would exercise its government-granted monopoly powers to maximize value for “stakeholders,” instead of shareholders. Stakeholders include the government, international organizations, the business itself, and “civil society.” Of course, government bureaucrats and politicians, together with powerful special interests, will decide who are, and are not, stakeholders, what is in stakeholders’ interest, and what steps corporations must take to maximize stakeholder value. People’s own wishes are not the priority. The Great Reset will dramatically expand the surveillance state via real-time tracking. It will also mandate that people receive digital certificates in order to travel and even technology implanted in their bodies to monitor them. Included in Schwab’s proposal for surveillance is his idea to use brain scans and nanotechnology to predict, and if necessary, prevent, individuals’ future behavior. This means that anyone whose brain is “scanned” could have his Second Amendment and other rights violated because a government bureaucrat determines the individual is going to commit a crime. The system of tracking and monitoring could be used to silence those expressing “dangerous” political views, such as that the Great Reset violates our God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Great Reset involves a huge expansion of the welfare state via a universal basic income program. This can help ensure compliance with the Great Reset’s authoritarian measures. It will also be very expensive. The resulting increase in government debt will not be seen as a problem by people who believe in modern monetary theory. This is the latest version of the fairy tale that deficits don’t matter as long as the Federal Reserve monetizes the debt. The Great Reset ultimately will fail for the same reason all other attempts by government to control the market fail. As Ludwig von Mises showed, government interference in the marketplace distorts the price system. Prices are how information about the value of goods and services related to other goods and services is conveyed to market actors. Government interference in the marketplace disturbs the signals sent by prices, leading to an oversupply of certain goods and services and an undersupply of others. The lockdowns show the dangers of government control over the economy and our personal lives. Lockdowns have increased unemployment, caused many small businesses to close, and led to more substance abuse, domestic violence, and suicide. We are told the lockdowns are ordered because of a virus that poses no great danger to a very large percentage of the American public. Yet, instead of adopting a different approach, politicians are doubling down on the failed policies of masks and lockdowns. Meanwhile, big tech companies, which are already often acting as partners of government, silence anyone who questions the official line regarding the threat of coronavirus or the effectiveness of lockdowns, masks, and vaccines. The disastrous response to Covid is just the latest example of how those who give up liberty for safety or health will end up unfree, unsafe, and unhealthy. Instead of a Great Reset of authoritarianism, we need a great rebirth of liberty!
By Chris Rossini
Choice. It's the essence of being a human being. Not only the ability to choose, the inescapable responsibility. All-day, every day, we choose...and choose...and choose. What we each choose is what we will each experience. What we sow is what we will reap. Take a look at the choice between Liberty & Authoritarianism below. Choosing one side of the ledger will produce a completely different life and experience for you than choosing the other side. When it comes to society as a whole, one of these two sides must always dominate the other. At one time (and for a very long time) the ideas of Liberty dominated in America. We've benefited immensely from the results of those choices that were made by our ancestors in the past. Today, we live and experience a time when the ideas of Authoritarianism dominate. These ideas have been embraced by our more recent ancestors, and many who live today. We're suffering from the results of those choices.
Here at the Ron Paul Liberty Report, we believe that the superior choice is Liberty.
Liberty is only a choice away....that's it. But the power to choose rests entirely with you. The choice really is yours alone. Others will follow. |
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