• Surgeon General of Public Health Service, in uniform of vice admiral, poses with government pamphlet titled “Confronting Health Misinformation.”
• White House Press Secretary announces government is telling Facebook which posts to take down because they are “misinformation.”
• Prime Minister of New Zealand discussing pandemic declares, “The government will be the single source of truth.”

So now the government has the power to decide what is true and what isn’t – and to enforce this decision on social media. In “1984” George Orwell wrote about the Ministry of Truth. But we thought he was an alarmist. In Nazi Germany Hitler appointed Dr. Goebbels “Minister of Propaganda and Public Enlightenment.” But we thought only Nazis would believe that the government should enlighten the public. In the Soviet Union the Communist Party newspaper was named Pravda, “Truth.” But we thought only Communists would believe they had a monopoly of truth.

We were wrong. Megalomaniacs who believe they have the power and the wisdom to decide what is true have wormed their way into government and big tech. It is our job to worm them out again, or freedom will die a slow, painful death, choking on the “truth.”

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