Politicians tend to get every answer wrong. They also ask the wrong questions because they view everything through the warped lens of government supremacy.
Texas representative Dan Crenshaw is a prime example. Politicians are squaring off for or against TikTok, an addictive digital drug from China. Some, including Crenshaw, are looking to ban TikTok in America or force it to become an American company. Like the other digital drug, Facebook..
TikTok can be harmful to the mental health of vulnerable people; it manipulates their minds in ways that are not good for the individuals or for society. It promotes toxic political ideologies and spreads destructive social contagions among young people. It's probably no worse than other antisocial social media. However, as a company based in China, it's subject to the control of the Chinese Communist Party-- a group which doesn't have your best interests in mind.
Do I think this is a problem? Yes. Do I think government should ban it? No.
Crenshaw opposes any objection on First Amendment grounds as he explained on the X platform."You’re not defending the First Amendment. Our First Amendment doesn’t apply to the CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY." In typical political fashion, he is both right and wrong.
Politicians don't understand the Bill of Rights. They continuously argue over who it applies to-- or doesn't-- and completely miss the only entity it does apply to. The First Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, only applies to the US federal government. It forbids this government from banning speech. Even speech controlled by enemies. There's no wiggle room in there, even if government employees keep hallucinating some.
Until politicians face this inconvenient reality, they'll keep getting the wrong answer to every wrong question. Especially if the question concerns what their job allows them to do.
Politicians seek government jobs because they lust for power. Power over your life. Power they have no right to possess. They'll misinterpret every question in whichever way gives them this power. They'll miss the correct answer because it would not allow them to run your life as they wrongly believe they have the right to do.
Any time any politician states that some amendment in the Bill of Rights doesn't apply to someone, agree with them. Then remind them they work for the only institution the Bill of Rights does apply to-- by removing its option to do most things politicians hunger to do.
