The Russians are coming!
Sure they are, and the sky is falling too.
Based on rhetoric, you’d think the United States government was now stealthily undermined by Russians. With never-ending allegations of Russian interference/collusion and even the absurd implication that the duly elected president might be a Russian agent, along with all the other continual anti-Russia references these days, the Red Scare is again alive and well.
But unlike the comedic The Russians are coming! The Russians are coming! movie of 1966 in which a Russian submarine innocently gets caught on a sandbank off our coast, the threat is real – but it’s not the Russians who are the threat.
The irony of this latest fear tactic suggesting a Russian is hiding behind every tree is that the very people touting it with feigned outrage are the ones who are the actual threat. While pointing fingers at all but themselves, those of such ilk seek to increase the leftist/socialist/Marxist agenda in this country.
The time of a conservative alleging widespread subversion/infiltration, as U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy did, is gone. These days, those with the loud voices screaming about Russians are the leftists themselves. No matter that the Mueller Report determined that no American committed any crime in collusion with Russia, they’re going to ride the same narrative for the next 16 months.
Of course, there shouldn’t be collusion between candidates/political parties and foreign powers, and based on Mueller’s report there wasn’t any. But why should I care about Russian meddling anyway?
At a time when American politicians are proposing the crazy “Green New Deal,” reparations for descendants of slaves, abortion/infanticide, advocating the elimination of the constitutional electoral college, gun control, Supreme Court expansion, making promises of higher taxes, guaranteed incomes, Medicare for all, and free college, Russian meddling is the least of my concerns. Such liberal “progress” is characteristic of the development of a totalitarian society. Leftists stand for such “progress,” while clamoring for more investigation of Russia this-and-that nonsense.
If you think Russian propaganda on social media is concerning, your priorities are out of order. No Russian has ever marked my ballot, and no Russian ad could sway my political views, much less persuade me to vote for a candidate I fundamentally reject. Any foreign propaganda is no different than good ole American partisan propaganda — maybe it could be filled with hype, exaggerations, distortions, or maybe it could be filled with some actual facts. The case is the same, it’s just political propaganda.
It makes no difference to me whether a foreign state paid for it or that it was paid for by some philanthropist or a conservative or liberal group or candidate committee. As with all advertising, I accept or reject anything based on content. Did Russians post political statements regarding the 2016 election and might they do it in 2020? What effect did any such statements have on voters? Did it persuade some to favor one candidate over another? Did it encourage some to vote third party, taking those votes away from a major political party candidate? Who knows and who cares? Only those unable to accept personal responsibility for an election loss make it an issue.
An advertisement or comment doesn’t control you. It is mere words. Words do not threaten national sovereignty. It matters not who paid for those words. Frankly, that’s the beauty of social media, we communicate with people from all over the world. People worldwide have a stake in the American political arena due to our economic and military might. Their expression of opinion or even attempted persuasion, be it true or false, no matter how presented, is simply speech. We’re a nation which celebrates free speech, thus it matters not who wrote it. It is mere words, not bullets or bombs.
As for hacking into political party databases/organizations/campaigns, that need not be an area of concern of the federal government either. It should be a concern for those responsible for securing their own electronic/computer network infrastructure. Candidates and political parties, not the federal government, should be the ones safeguarding their data. Every individual and business in this country must pay for cybersecurity. A partisan entity should be no different.
The argument about prohibiting a foreign power from influencing an election in this country is a moot point, as anything done with the exception of changing vote counts or direct assistance to a candidate/party, doesn’t amount to anything significant. But you might ask: Isn’t there a genuine concern for our voting integrity? Sure there is, but it pales in comparison to the sinister anti-freedom agenda proposed by many politicians. The only valid concern the government should have is prohibiting voter fraud and any potential hacking/adjustment of vote tallying. All else about protecting Americans from Russian influence is a bunch of nonsense.
Interestingly, there’s also irony in American politicians clamoring over Russian meddling. If you want to talk about meddling in elections and foreign political affairs, look no further than the election interventions and at worst regime changes (some involving military force and installment of evil dictators) the U.S. government has been involved with in the past. The sad truth is that America has become mired in deadly military interventions worldwide in which we had no business being involved in — some continuing today. More Americans have died and been maimed in such wars than will ever be harmed by any foreign propaganda during an election year.
Unlike a secret submarine in a movie, there’s nothing hidden about this operation undermining our nation. The domestic threat from leftists is greater than any foreign meddling. These people are not just silly ignorant masses protesting, the people with this nonsensical and evil ideology occupy Congress and includes candidates who seek to one day occupy the highest office of our land. We’ve seen individuals like this in the political arena before, but never so many and with such support from the American people.
Our country has become a place where many young people view socialism and even communism as preferable to capitalism. In our present day, there is no greater threat to the freedom we cherish than the proud anti-American leftist politicians intent on eliminating the foundation this country was built upon — the individual and his freedom. Those who love freedom and seek to protect liberty must devote themselves boldly to the truth, exposing those who seek to destroy our country from within. Identify socialism for what it is, its historical results and fundamental anti-individual flaw. Use no euphemisms. It’s time to rebuild the stigma it once had.
Americans, don’t look to Russia for your boogieman, look to the socialists here whose goal is greater power over your life in the guise of giving you everything. Swallow that bait and America dies.
