“If they can censor me, they can censor you.” That was former President Donald Trump’s warning to America when he announced a blockbuster class-action lawsuit this week against the titans of Silicon Valley. Harnessing all of the outrage and grassroots anger over the treatment of conservatives these last several months, the 45th president is coming for the Big Tech Leftists at Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, with legal guns blazing. As far as he’s concerned, they may be able to silence conservatives — but they won’t be able to stop them.

Of course, the CEOs of these platforms will argue that this is about stopping misinformation or overt threats of violence. But after the last several years of obvious targeting, it’s impossible to argue that this is anything but a small group of overly powerful companies banding together to shut down their opponents. They’ll do anything or use any justification to sideline ideas, information, or people that might hurt their Leftist cause — even if it violates what our country and Constitution stand for. They’re “shameless,” the former president writes in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal. “They are manipulating and controlling the political debate itself,” he argues — all while “Chinese propagandists and the Iranian dictator spew threats and hateful lies on these platforms with impunity.”

If the internet is our new public square, then it needs to operate freely and fairly for all. Instead, platforms like Facebook and Twitter are weaponizing social media to achieve their political goals. And as traditional liberals like Alan Dershowitz have argued, that’s “unacceptable.” Everything that Big Tech is doing, he insists, is “inconsistent with the spirit of free speech,” and his hope — and others’ — is that this lawsuit “will shake things up.” Otherwise, the American conversation will continue to be controlled by a monopoly of woke, unaccountable CEOs, who have no respect for the First Amendment. Big Tech, Trump reminds the country, is not the official censorship arm of the U.S. government — and it shouldn’t be allowed to act like it.

Republicans in Congress, who’ve been trying to take away these companies’ immunity for years, agree. And on Wednesday, they announced that they’re going to strike while the lawsuit is hot, and work to hold the Silicon Valley speech police accountable. As Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) explained on “Washington Watch,” the first priority is wiping out the old shield that’s insulated and shielded these CEOs from the country’s legal wrath. “Until you go after their liability protections in Section 230, you’re not going to be able to address all of the things they’re doing to censor conservatives.” Right now, if Twitter or Facebook pulls the plug on someone, there’s nothing they can do about it. They can’t sue, they can’t take action — all because of an outdated telecommunications law that’s letting the bullies at these companies dictate the terms of American debate.

“…[I]t’s time Big Tech faces the music,” Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) agreed. “And House Republicans are ready to lead.” The same day Trump announced his lawsuit, the conservative members of the Judiciary Committee rolled out a new framework to stop the bias and check Big Tech. With special emphasis on accountability, transparency, and strengthening anti-trust review, the group plans to fight for floor time and address the situation. In the meantime, they’re hoping that state leaders — like the coalition of conservative attorneys general — will help carry the fight on the local level.

Frankly, McCarthy said, “I have more faith in elected state leaders than in the unelected federal bureaucracy, which is as ideologically homogeneous as Big Tech. I think our former colleague Jeff Landry will more effectively prosecute anti-competitive behavior than Lina Khan.” And it’s no wonder. The new head of the FCC, Chairman Lina Khan, has a radical resume that includes everything from working on Donald Trump’s impeachment case to serving at a far-Left think tank. She’s about as unlikely as George Soros to step up and demand accountability from online platforms — especially when they’re serving Democrats’ political interests.

While it’ll be an uphill climb for Republicans to get anything done in the minority, their crusade is still laying some important groundwork. Without the gavel, they can still move this agenda forward just by creating a sharp contrast to the leadership Americans have now. Voters can choose: do they want to support a party that’s content with Big Tech, which is throttling back and silencing free speech — or a party that supports free and fair speech for all people in the virtual town square?

Originally published here.

Teachers Learn the Wrong Lesson

America’s largest teachers’ unions must be competing to see who can most offend parents with their woke ideology. “How to Be an Antiracist” author Ibram X. Kendi delivered the keynote address at the American Federation of Teachers’ (AFT) annual meeting Wednesday. Kendi’s book says, “There is no in-between safe space of ‘not racist.’ The claim of ‘not racist’ neutrality is a mask for racism.” Only last week, the National Education Association (NEA) made it clear: “we oppose attempts to ban critical race theory and/or The 1619 Project,” celebrating CRT in dozens of resolutions. The NEA and AFT combined have over 4.5 million members.

Rep. Dan Bishop (R-N.C.) says it’s no accident that both major teachers’ unions endorsed CRT within a week. “The Left is in disarray about this,” he pointed out, so “they are changing their answers almost on a daily basis…. They know they’re losing, and they’re trying to find some solid ground to plant a flag on.” First, they said CRT opponents didn’t know what it was. “Then they [said] it’s just an academic doctrine, and then they [said] it’s not being taught.” Now the unions have not only admitted to teaching it, but have promised to “litigate to defend teachers who teach it in defiance of bans by state legislatures.”

The Left’s search for solid ground continues. In the same speech that she subtly promised to defend teachers for teaching CRT history, AFT President Randi Weingarten also said, “Let’s be clear. Critical race theory is not taught in elementary schools or middle schools or high schools.” The AFT initially published the keynote address by “antiracist” academic Kendi to YouTube, but after backlash they made the video private. In an eerie parallel last week, the NEA published the resolutions endorsing CRT to their website before removing them.

Teachers’ unions have criticized state efforts against CRT as restricting free speech. Bishop disagreed. “This is a question of prescribing curriculum for public schools,” he explained. States have directed that “all honest history should be taught.” The woke Left is “not really explaining critical race theory. What they’re doing is practicing critical race theory.” They are slipping in CRT by the backdoor, and that’s dishonest. Teaching history warts and all is the only way to guard against past mistakes. But the Left is determined America is nothing but warts. They insist that America is irredeemably racist, that children should be judged based on their skin color. On Independence Day, the Utah chapter of BLM called the American flag “a symbol of hatred.” This is unacceptable in America’s public schools.

The teachers’ unions are resorting to duplicity because they fear parents. “They are seeing moms and dads across the country coming at them with everything they got,” said Bishop. In a June poll 61 percent of registered voters agreed children should not be taught “that America is structurally racist and dominated by white supremacy.” In a brand new poll, 52 percent of likely voters said it is “very important” for schools to “teach the traditional values of western civilization,” and another 26 percent believe it is “somewhat important.” The first half of 2021 saw more school board recalls than any year since 2006. All across America, parents are standing up and taking action. “Do not pass up this opportunity. This is the time to double down and make yourself heard,” Bishop told parents. “This is a spiritual war,” he warned. Our children’s souls are at stake.

Originally published here.

This is a publication of the Family Research Council. Mr. Perkins is president of FRC.