After reading about the announcement of the Disinformation Governance Board, I thought about my hero James Madison and what he wrote in Federalist No. 55 “In all very numerous assemblies, of whatever character composed, passion never fails to wrest the scepter from reason.” In the paper Madison is talking about power and groups, how power consolidated in too small a group is easily corrupted, and power corrupted is hard to uncorrupt.
In all human history we have not seen a government successfully control truth because truth cannot be controlled. Truth can only exist with freedom. When the government decides what is real and what isn’t, then freedom no longer exist. The Biden Administration has been a master stroke in failed reactionary government leadership so far, but this move sets a new bar. MAGA wants a wall, so Biden gives them open borders, the right wants local control over restrictions, Biden makes them federal. The administration is acting like a bitter scorned lover hell bent on destroying themselves to make their ex miserable. There is space for reasonable government if only there was reason in the government. And now they want to tackle disinformation in our society. It is a problem, but it is not a problem for the government to solve. Biden is making a catastrophic mistake.
If you are on the left you might be concerned with the “Big Lie” that Trump won the 2020 election, or maybe you are concerned with health disinformation. In any case I have one question for you, what happens when the other side holds the scepter? Will reason prevail? Our government was built on a foundation of debate and ideas, enshrined in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It is a government built on reason and precedent. The Disinformation Governance Board sets a dangerous precedent by creating a government-controlled manipulation instrument and it places that power into the hands of the few. Which makes me think of something else Madison wrote in Federalist No. 55 “It is said, in the first place, that so small a number cannot be safely trusted with so much power.”
Governments job is to create guardrails for our society, it is not meant to control it. Government should balance power, not grasp it. Americans need to take off their partisan red and blue glasses so they can see the world as it is. A world in an uproar with two sides battling for power. Two sides worried about today and not thinking of tomorrow. Americans need to stand up and use our voice. Stand up for truth.