A question for free people: What do you fear more, our nation’s external enemies or an out-of-control and weaponized US government that has the capacity to take your God-given rights?

I look at our nation’s enemies like I do rattlesnakes or rabid dogs. Rattlesnakes are crafty and dangerous, and if you know what they are, you can manage them. Rabid dogs are other things, but if you know what they are and the dangers they pose, you at least have a fighting chance. In both instances, you know they don’t mean you well.

An out-of-control government is something entirely different.

Government has the capacity to take your rights, to take your property, to make you THINK they’re protecting you when, in fact, they’re setting up things that might harm you. A couple of recent exhibits are the Patriot Act and COVID. In both instances, the government said they were trying to protect you. In both instances, you lost liberties.

I say all of that to say this: Pay careful attention as we process through these debates surrounding TikTok and what the government can and should do.

TikTok has ties to our nation’s largest and most powerful enemy. From what I read in the media, China has the capacity to aggregate and absorb everything that is on the platform. That might not sound dangerous, but it is. The Chinese Communist Party doesn’t have the time, nor do they care what someone is doing in rural Louisiana—generally. But, to get it ALL and piece together a macro picture of all sorts of things is mind blowing. It’s dangerous. But this info in the hands of a wicked CCP who wants to do us harm, and it’s a problem.

The danger is why we in the State of Louisiana banned the devices on government phones. I don’t want the PRC collecting stuff near our police stations or National Guard locations. I just don’t. It’s none of their business.

But what private citizens do is something entirely different. China is wicked. They’re evil. Just like the Russians, Iranians, North Koreans, and others. They bear watching and if necessary, confrontation. But the US government has an abysmal track record when the discussion comes to turning over your civil liberties under the guise of protecting you.

The 4th Amendment to the US Constitution is on life support at best because of the Patriot Act. Some believe a weaponized US government has the capacity to collect and archive every digit you type or possibly speak. Without a warrant. The warrant comes later if they need to get after you. The First Amendment and other rights were shredded during Covid when you told the US government to protect you.

Empowering the government to shut down a source of information harkens to a much more complex time. IF you’ve never heard of what has been done by THIS government over time in moments of crisis to shut down the voices that were not “government approved,” then I recommend you read up on. Read up on Woodrow Wilson’s Sedition Act. I dare you. We’ve done bad things before and we don’t need to do them again.

I hope our policy makers move slowly and deliberately as they make these important decisions.

For the record, I’m VERY fearful of a weaponized US government. That’s all I have to say about that.