Ending Free Speech and the protections enshrined in the First Amendment is both a journey and a destination for the Left. Message control is essential to any authoritarian rule. You must make examples of anyone who dares to contradict the approved narratives.
So, why not “hide” your ministry of truth inside the IRS?
And I use the word hide with a touch of sarcasm. The political left is proud of its speech suppressing powers, but repeated efforts to ensconce a ministry of truth under the executive branch have been unsuccessful. Obama tried it repeatedly (remember AttackWatch?), and now Biden’s effort failed to take flight.
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See something, say something, rat out neighbors who have parties during the lockdown. Calling the cops on businesses that don’t enforce mask mandates or individuals who are unmasked. These are all progressive shades of the authoritarian tick.
Do what we say, or there shall be consequences. Hello, IRS!
It started with Hate Speech (which is whatever they say it is), and it has elevated to arming a battalion of IRS agents (you thought that was to collect taxes?). We’re getting an additional 87,000 Lois Lerner’s with urban combat training. All, I posit, to establish the ministry of truth by other means. Sure, they’ll audit a few returns, but most of them will belong to people who lack the ability to remain silent.
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Those among us whose words can be construed or misconstrued as a threat to the Republic. Think, Mar-a-Lago but instead of a former President, it’s your neighbor’s house or maybe yours. J6 but from your laptop or smartphone instead of contrived on the Capitol campus.
Swatting will become a matter of public policy because the Left will do anything to shut you up. Compliant AGs will determine that the shootings were justified. Agents of the regime may end up dead.
I’m not hoping or asking that’s just a likely side-effect of the coming storm. And no, those will not be deemed justified self-defense. That’s another right to which they believe you are not entitled, so if you are talking up 2A, the IRS will be coming to visit you too.
They may pick on a few rich folks, but parents speaking out at school board meetings should expect to get audited first, followed by school choice advocates and homeschoolers. The government’s monopoly on education is essential to securing the minds of future generations.
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They won’t go after anybody too terribly high-profile, mind you, not at first. That might raise red flags. And I’m not saying I’ve got this nailed, but I think I’m close to the mark.
It will be up to the states to push back. Local sheriffs, AGs, State Police, and your chief executive. If they don’t step in and defend you from this federal overreach, you’ll be defenseless. They will come to make examples of you (CNN will probably be there, their ratings could use some help). The cover story will be about tax evasion, or along that vein, but I’d bet money that the real threat is free speech.
They can’t make the amendment disappear, but they can terrorize people until they shut up, and a free-standing ministry of truth has proven difficult to pull off. So, why not embed it into the ministry of finance? Pretend that politicians who could care less about debt and spending want to ensure everyone pays their fair share.
They’ll take the money but what they are after is Free Speech.