Frequently I hear conservatives going off about the attack on 1st amendment rights in America. But I’d like to cue my Republican readers into an open secret that most conservatives don’t realize: this is code for “I am being prevented from spreading a lie”. No doubt this statement will stir up some anger initially, but I challenge you to stick with me, as I’d like to share why I think this is true, and why understanding it can literally save American democracy. You should first know a little about myself; I grew up listening to Rush LImbaugh, and talking politics with my parents. I was raised an evangelical Christian with hard right values. I voted Republican down the ballot for 20 years and was through and through as Republican as you can get on any issue, from abortion, military support, faith in the police, and opposed to taxes at all costs. In 2016, I voted for the former president. I have argued the merits of conservatism for decades and really couldn’t understand why anyone would vote for the “other side”. I talk more about some of the things that have since changed my mind in other posts on this site, so please check them out if you are interested. My point in mentioning it here is to establish some credibility with you by showing that I’ve walked and lived in that conservative culture, and am thoroughly familiar with it.
Things conservatives believe
As a former conservative Republican, I am well aware of the headspace that is common to the majority of that group. When I was conservative, there were many things I believed. See how many you identify with:
Democrats want to kill babies/don’t care about human life
Democrats want “illegals” [sic] to become citizens so they will vote for them [Democrats]
Democrats are socialists
Democrats don’t love this country/are ashamed of this country/hate this country/think other countries are better than us
Democrats are passivists who will always oppose war
Democrats want to take away our guns – this way we can be unarmed and can’t resist government overreach/authoritarianism/destruction of America
Democrats don’t care about election security – and so can’t be trusted to hold secure elections (because they don’t agree we need all the security processes advocated by Republicans, they must have nefarious motives with regard to holding fair elections)
Democrats want to tax the rich out of existence.
Democrats want to increase my taxes to pay for their liberal programs/give it to poor/lazy/addicted citizens.
Democrats hate/don’t believe in God – this is why they often oppose things like school prayer, putting the 10 commands in public spaces/Christian statues/memorials in public spaces. This is also why they get upset when Islam and other religions are denigrated/treated less than in culture and media.
They want to destroy the family, as shown by their hatred of religion and embrace of LGBTQ+issues. They want to force everyone to accept things that they don’t agree with and want to limit people’s free speech to speak out about things that they disagree with.
Democrats don’t love their country / are not true Patriots. Evidence of this comes in the form of them criticizing the country for past wrongs which have lasting impact (slavery, colonialism) or holding the country to account for past wrongs. Also they don’t seem to encourage explicit displays of nationalistic pride and can be critical of wars we engage in. They also support leaders who prevent wars or utilize tools like NATO or the United Nations to hold countries to account instead of showing aggressors the sharp end of the spear.
Democrats, and especially Democratic politicians, despise this country, feel no pride or respect for its foundations, and want to erase what is and form a socialistic society, spurning the work of our founding fathers. Therefore, they cannot be trusted to govern at any cost, and must not be elected, no matter what.
Democrats are fine with racism against white people
I’m sure most, if not all of the above ideas resonate to some degree with you, if you are or have been a conservative at any point in your life. The list isn’t exhaustive, I know there’s more. Those are all things I have believed at some point in my life. And here’s the thing: Every single one of those things is a lie.
The lies are a feature, not a bug
Every single one of the false ideas presented above are categorically false. Leading up to the subject of the 1st amendment and its relationship to conservatives, we need to talk about the false ideas that conservatives share. And this is the part that will make you angry, but I ask that you stay with me for a short while so that you can judge whether there is any merit in my points. It’s not an accident that we all have believed many of these things. In fact, it’s required that we believe them if we want to remain a part of the Republican party. If your average voter were to question or cease believing these lies, they would have no reason to remain in the Republican party. The party needs the members to subscribe to the lies. I will say it another way: the Republican party as we know it would be destroyed if its members were to cease believing even some of those lies. Do you notice that I’ve not really said anything about Republican policy? It’s because their policies exist to serve the aforementioned lies. I can’t actually think of any policies which aren’t based on outright lies or are not built to drive a wedge between people. And that presents an enormous weak spot – as all those lies are easily proved false with an open mind, a lot of humility, and a little reading. As Stephen Colbert famously stated, “Reality has a well known liberal bias”. And so my proposition is that conservatism’s greatest weakness is the truth. Without these lies being used to justify their policy positions, the Republican value proposition drops to zero. There’d be no reason why someone should put a Republican in office, as everything they propose is to solve problems which don’t exist or have been twisted so much as to be unreliable to even try to engage with. Sounds kind of arrogant, I know. But let’s think a little more about what this might mean. If this is true, then we should expect that Republican leadership and media are well aware of this mortal danger. As such, we would expect them to do everything in their power to shore up support for and further these lies. I will show later how they do this. I will say upfront, they use some of the things that sets America apart as great (love of country, freedom of speech) and pervert them for their own gain to the detriment of the very country which gave it to them in the first place.
I am being prevented from spreading a lie
The 1st amendment is used by conservatives as a shield for misinformation. It’s a cynical tactic, for it pretends to love the things we have as citizens (the right to free speech), and then they abuse it to spread false information without regard for the truth. It’s cynical because rather than showing a love of country or freedom, it shows a willingness to abuse them for selfish gain. I will distinguish the leaders from the average citizens in how they utilize the lies. They both engage in it; but I believe that the leaders almost always do it intentionally, whereas the average citizens are more just repeaters of the nonsense they hear without discriminating whether what they are parrotting is true. But I think they all understand instinctively that unless they parrot the points, they’ll continue to lose people to more realistic positions. I’ll give a couple examples which follow a predictable pattern. It goes something like this:
1. conservative says something untrue
2. Someone controverts it or limits its dissemination
3. Conservative claims 1st amendment right is being infringed
Take as an example the various misinformation that flew around on social media around covid-19, masks, and vaccines. Information spreads like wildfire, and in this case it impacts people’s health/lives. There were countless back and forths in social media from people fighting with one another over the veracity of claims. In response, many of the social media companies began trying to supplement posts with additional context, which oftentimes would show that a post was misinformation or at best, point the reader at a verified and truthful source of information. Conservatives then cried censorship. Average citizens would joke about going to “facebook jail”, a reference to them posting something that they knew would either be flagged for removal or supplemented with supporting context. I’ve had conversations with Republicans who will complain that this violates their 1st amendment right. They have the right to post whatever they want. I’ve asked if they think they should post something that isn’t true, to which I’ve been asked in retort, “What is truth?” (Sidenote, as this is what Pontius Pilate asked Jesus before he handed him over to be executed, I have to question why he would be anyone’s role model). This person’s point though was reflecting another conservative trope, which is distrust of sources of information which are reliable, try to be unbiased, or are generally scientifically accurate. Ironically, often in response to the pushback they receive when posting a lie, they are emboldened to continue to try to spread it by any means necessary. Which serves Republican aims nicely. A corollary to this is the following: the bigger the lie, the more explicitly conservatives will say the 1st amendment is under attack. Take the 2020 election. Lies and misinformation were utilized heavily before the election even took place. The former president began suggesting months before the election that he’d only lose if there was fraud. (Obviously knowing from advisors that there was a good chance he would lose, he began hedging his bets ahead of time) It was well discussed in normal news outlets that election results would be delayed due to the high number of mail in ballots, etc. We all know the suspicion that conservative outlets and the former president cast on the fact that it took several days for the election to be called. After President Biden was called as the winner then the lies really began to fly. I’ve detailed in other articles some examples of these election lies and the ways that stupid video clips taken out of context were promoted by Republicans high and low to sow confusion and doubt. But for our purpose it is enough to mention that these posts too were being “facebook jailed”, removed, or just given accurate context. Fox News took part in it as well, and they were taken to trial for allegations of defamation against Dominion voting systems, a frequent target of social media posts and conservative outlets. In their planned defense of allegations of publishing false information about Dominion voting systems, would you care to guess what the defense was to be? Yup, 1st amendment, freedom of press – they planned to say that they were just reporting on newsworthy things that newsworthy people were saying about a company. They ended up not going to trial; Fox News settled with Dominion for $787 million – they knew they wouldn’t be able to hold their own in court of law where actual facts come into play. The former president has been indicted by the federal government on charges of conspiracy against rights, conspiracy to defraud the United states, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. His defense, and the excuse continually stated in news cycles by the majority of congressional republicans and senators who support him? Freedom of speech. And they’re touting it more heavily than I’ve seen them do it before. The last thing they need is a public spectacle of their ecosystem of lies being dismantled in the courts. So it behooves them to cast as much doubt and stir up as much misplaced controversy as possible, lest their voters begin to understand the breadth of the lies that they’ve been led to believe. These are examples of the ways republicans will complain about their “right” to spread lies being infringed upon.
These aren’t lies, you just listen to too much fake news
In response to what my conservative readers are thinking, I’d like to say – go find out for sure. It really is super simple to do. I know that the topics around covid-19 and election are highly charged, so start with the simple ones that I led the post with. Go down the list and actually find out what Democrat positions are. I’m not going to do it here or now, but my hope is that you’ll at least be interested to know how the things you believe about Democrats are actually not really accurate. In so many cases, I believe we probably think similarly on many issues – what gets in the way though is the Republican lies, and to me this is the ultimate cynicism and hatred of America; to create and maintain lies that make people think they are completely at odds with their friends, family, and fellow citizens, and that for the sake of gain. They don’t have to act this way, but they’ve created a monster which is already out of their control and I fear will destroy our country. They created this monster to help them get elected and stay elected. It is used to create a brand that helps them to stand apart from others, and the lies are what they use to create the market demand. Destroy the lies and you destroy the demand. Attempts to destroy the lie will bring accusations of trampling on free speech. This is a defensive mechanism, and it is understandable; no one likes having their very essence attacked. For republicans, free speech is a trojan by which lies are smuggled. You may doubt this and wonder why anyone would purposely utilize lies to drive a wedge between citizens – you may feel that this wedge is truly a result of vastly different morals and beliefs. The key here is trying to figure out if the things you believe about Democrats are actually true. You may wonder what a way forward might look like. The alternative way that Republicans could engage in politics might look something like this:
1) Agree that gun violence needs to be addressed in meaningful ways, ways that would impact but not eliminate gun sales
2) Agree that systemic racism plays a role in people’s lives and that’s not fair; what can we do address this
3) Agree that it is improper for a president who loses an election to stir up the base, refuse to concede, and allegedly conspire against the citizens of the United States
4) Agree that abortion is a medical and personal decision, religious texts don’t address it, and we need to give doctors and women the latitude to make decisions which they are best equipped to do. In the absence of this, we must at least engage fairly and understand that even within a religion, there are various positions and no “one” right perspective on it. Religion tells its adherents what they may do – it shouldn’t be used to tell everyone else what they should do.
5) Agree that all citizens should be allowed and encouraged to vote; cease from trying to discourage and and prevent people from voting. Change your policies to appeal to more voters rather than trying to prevent those with whom you disagree from voting.
6) Agree that truth matters, and maybe that means each party’s candidates have very similar positions but differ slightly on how they’d prefer to make rules and laws. This would also mean there is less to distinguish you from a field of candidates, making your chances at getting elected or reelected greatly reduced.
There are many other ways beyond what I listed, but those are just to give a taste at how Republicans could move forward. The good news is that it’s actually up to you. Republican leadership, candidates who win primaries, etc, are a function of what the base of Republican voters believe. This is a direct result of the lies that people create, spread, and consequently, believe. We are all in a position to affect the latter two. Will you continue to give oxygen to lies on social media, or will you thoughtfully pause, research, and consider whether what you are consuming is true? Will you learn to identify the hallmarks of conservative lies – memes that generate strong emotions like rage and anger. Will you try to understand what Democrats really propose for rules and policy in the country, even if they aren’t rage inducing or conspiracy laced? Will you refuse to vote for extremists who lie to win at all costs, even if that means Republicans might not win for a couple of cycles until we clear out the nut jobs? And when you hear a conservative pundit or social media influencer mention free speech, will you ask yourself whether they mean deceitful speech or truthful speech? To love this country requires no less.
Merely Xtian 