“They’ve taken the Bill of Rights and boiled it down to just one.You have the right to remain silent.” – Swami BeyondanandaWatch the most recent Front & Center with Mike and Steve podcast here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXL_WYJzrbMIn December 2008, Bruce Lipton and I were writing the final chapter of Spontaneous Evolution. Barack Obama had just been elected President, and I had just returned from a trip to Washington, D.C. – where people were literally dancing in the streets.And why not?We were done with Bush and Cheney, the Iraq War, and the neocon con. It was time for hope and change.So in this last chapter, A Whole New Story, Bruce and I proclaimed that Obama’s election was a sign that “evolution” was at hand. Made sense to us. We were, however, completely surprised – shocked actually – when one of Bruce’s colleagues told us that it was a mistake, that we were limiting our audience by taking a political side. We looked at each other incredulous. That woman – she must be … a REPUBLICAN!Although we softened the “endorsement” a bit when we published the paperback edition a year later, still neither of us could imagine it possible that Republicans were even a part of our audience.My perspective sharply shifted during COVID when I saw colleagues I knew and respected being de-platformed, and things I knew to be lies being sold as truth. I felt even more alienated and disheartened when other close colleagues ghosted me because I chose not to take the shot, and they began spouting the phrases implanted by mainstream media (“safe and effective” …“follow the science”) as if it were gospel truth. Given the disparity between what I knew and what I was being told, I felt like the subject in Solomon Asch’s conformity experiments in the 1950s (go here https://signsoftheupwising.substack.com/p/yes-we-do-have-a-choice and read the section on “Herd Immunity Or Herd Mentality”).Those same progressives who supported the free speech movement back in the day, who had been proud members of the American Civil Liberties Union, said nothing when viable treatments were de-platformed from the web, and even a Facebook group for vaccine-injured individuals to share stories and remedies was taken down. A new Orwellian term was invented – mal-information, meaning something that is factually true but “narrative inconvenient.”So, to go back to the opening paragraph of this post, I speak from my own experience of being so blinded by my progressive blinders that I dismissed and discounted any alternative perspective as irrelevant, if not downright dangerous.I was one of those who compared Donald Trump to Hitler, and I have now been humbled enough to see the jackboot is now on the other foot. While I recognize all the “existential threats” of a Trump Presidency, the most important of which is a President who believes himself above the law, we must – all of us – face the clear and present danger of losing our right to free speech, not at the hands of Trump but by the administration currently in power.This loss is invisible to many progressives for a couple of reasons. First, too many insist on only believing what their side says, and instead of investigating the whole story, they settle for listening to what they are told.As the Swami says, “it’s one thing to have smoke blown up your ass. It’s another to have second-hand smoke blown up your ass.” Secondly, censorship is not just what is blatantly broadcast for all to see – like the right-wing book banning in Florida and other red states – but that which is so under the radar, it can be conveniently ignored. So, regardless of who you plan to vote for – or against – this November, I implore you to get the whole story and recognize that free speech is THE existential issue in this election. It’s time to remove the blinders of “our side is right, and therefore we should be able to impose our narrative on everyone else.”We encourage you to watch these video clips to gain a better understanding of what is happening in America.U.S. Senator John Kerry - "First Amendment stands as a 'major block'..."hammer it out of existence...so you're free to implement change…” https://tinyurl.com/45jx9468Hillary Clinton: Censor Speech Or 'We Lose Total Control'! Part of RonPaulLibertyReport. They give many examples of the Democrats demanding that the government crack down on free speech. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZco2BiII8I&t=249sThe Constitution, Unplugged: Matt Taibbi on DarkHorse This is an excellent podcast where Bret speaks with Matt Taibbi on the subject of the censorship industrial complex. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YL_lobY3bKMJust tell me the Truth! Debunking The Biggest Lies Told About Trump Amir Odom shows numerous clips of MSM taking out of context remarks made by President Trump and blatantly lying about what he said to fit a narrative. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=...
