The Cost of a Free Dialogue

We’re in the early days of a new administration. Joe Biden is officially the 46th president of the United States and Kamala Harris his second.

What is yet to be seen, what will be proven as time goes on, is how free we are.

When was the last time we had, by appearances at least, more military presence than elected officials, VIP invitations and public in general at an inauguration? News feeds spent much of 2020 overwhelmed with videos of events labeled as protests that quickly resulted in destroyed business districts and personal property, people accosted while having quiet dinners in a restaurant, some denied service because of their perceived political alliance.

Then, as former President Donald Trump’s protests of the election waned, there was an eerily quiet period until… until there was a rumor, a suspicion of a group planning to storm the Capitol on January 6. People who were there talked about an enormous crowd filling streets, not just a greenbelt, in support of President Trump and reviewing the election. Meanwhile news sources ran photos and videos of the Capitol being stormed like a coup was being staged.

Following this, President Trump was almost immediately blacklisted, removed from social media platforms under the allegation his speech incites riots. My question: like him or not isn’t the issue, when and how did he encourage not just action but what could be taken as a violent revolution? If the “Right Wing” are that easily manipulated, the millions in the street could have made The Capitol Complex look like any of the other burned out cities seeking millions to rebuild.

Free speech includes the uncomfortable facts of life as well as the whimsical and self-assuring. It means allowing the person from a different viewpoint to have the stage as well as someone who thinks the same as you. If all you have is a mirror reflection, learning doesn’t really happen.

There are checks and balances. There needs to be. Freedom unchecked is a close cousin to anarchy. The concern now is certain people appear to be more free than others. Some can share their viewpoints publicly with the press corps almost silent while a different person is criticized for wearing the wrong color of shirt.

When Facebook and Twitter first announced it was suspending Trump’s accounts and any in support of him, my thought was if he is legally in the wrong, if, then when did private industry start doing the bidding of government? Are we actually the kind of aristocracy where business sets the rules, and it is ok for those rules to be arbitrary?

Quite honestly, I don’t know anyone who thought Trump was perfect all the time. There are many who quietly thought he needed someone to monitor his social media feeds. But that does not take away his right, under the Constitution, to do so. Other examples of business infringing on Constitutional rights have landed in court. People want to dismiss this one.

President Biden has issued an order that masks shall be worn in all federal buildings, then a photograph is published of him not wearing one in what appeared to be a federal building, with the caption that he has bigger things to worry about than a mask. Yet, President Trump was frequently criticized for not leading by example.

We need to remember the Bill of Rights are not rights given to us, but rights verified by the writers of the Constitution. They need to be revered and protected, no matter who is in office.