The more I read about or hear about Elon Musk, the more I like the guy. Oh, I don’t agree with him on every issue, but then, if two people agree on everything, one of them isn’t necessary. But I like his tenaciousness, I like his grit, and I admire his First Amendment absolutism.
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So, when Clinton creature Robert Reich, the former Labor Secretary (because of course he was), opines that Musk should be threatened with arrest by regulators for “disseminating lies and hate” – meaning anything Robert Reich doesn’t agree with – well, I’m inclined to tell Robert Reich precisely where he can place that idea, and that would be in a place where the sun indeed never shines.
Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, who served during Bill Clinton’s presidency, wrote in a column published Friday that Elon Musk was “out of control,” and argued he needed to be reined in.
“He may be the richest man in the world. He may own one of the world’s most influential social media platforms. But that doesn’t mean we’re powerless to stop him,” Reich wrote, including a list of six things people could do to rein in Musk.
After Musk purchased Twitter in 2022, now known as X, Reich deemed the purchase “dangerous nonsense.” He argued Musk’s purchase was “just about power,” rather than free speech.
Reich called on people to boycott Tesla and X and added, “Regulators around the world should threaten Musk with arrest if he doesn’t stop disseminating lies and hate on X.”
Reich isn’t just calling for a boycott, which honestly won’t happen – nor is he just talking about regulators in other nations. He’s in favor of the United States government putting a muzzle on Elon Musk.
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“In the United States, the Federal Trade Commission should demand that Musk take down lies that are likely to endanger individuals – and if he does not, sue him under Section Five of the FTC Act,” Reich argued. “Musk’s free-speech rights under the first amendment don’t take precedence over the public interest.”
Mr. Reich could not be more unbelievably wrong. Elon Musk’s First Amendment rights do take precedence over whatever Reich might nebulously define as “public interest.” Do you know what’s in the public interest? The rights of the citizenry to speak, write, and think as they please without interference from some bureaucrat with a grudge.
There’s just this one problem, Mr. Reich. It’s a problem that you may not be aware of, since it comes from a document that few on the left understand or apparently have even read. But here it is anyway:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
“But I’m not talking about Congress!” Reich might yap. Well, there’s also Article 1 of the 14th Amendment:
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No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
That means that the Bill of Rights, including the First Amendment, applies to the states as well.
See Related: Elon Musk Notches Legal Victory As TX Judge Rules X Suit Against Media Matters May Proceed
People like Robert Reich, a sad former apparatchik who now finds himself out of power and longing for the good old days, tend to define “lies and hate” as “anything I disagree with.” Being on X myself, I’ve read a thousand or more of Musk’s statements on that platform. I’ve heard him in interviews.
Never, not once, have I seen Musk espouse any ideas that could remotely be considered “hate.” And even if he were: The First Amendment still applies. Freedom of speech has to apply to everyone; it’s the reason we let the Kukluxxers, neo-Nazis, Black Panthers, and other nasty groups have parades. If free speech doesn’t apply to everyone, it applies to no one; if one person can be silenced by the heavy hand of government, then all of us can.
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Reich clearly doesn’t care about that.
Yes, Musk is currently scrapping with Brazil, and Brazil doesn’t have a First Amendment. But here’s the thing about natural rights: They apply to everyone, everywhere. Some nations – most, these days – illegitimately deny their subjects those rights. Brazil does. Canada does. The United Kingdom does. But we don’t have to put up with that here. And we don’t have to put up with sad, outdated apparatchiks like Robert Reich proposing the American government use STASI-like tactics to silence someone he doesn’t like.