Democratic politician John Kerry described the First Amendment as a “major block” to the federal government stopping what it deems to be “disinformation” and suggested he hopes — should progressives retain control of the White House — they will “implement change.”
The former secretary of the U.S. Department of State made the bold declaration last Wednesday, during a session of the World Economic Forum focused on “green energy” (beginning at the 45-minute mark). Kerry’s remarks came in response to an audience member who asked what the federal government can do to push back against those who call the legitimacy of climate change into question.
“You know, there’s a lot of discussion now about how you curb those entities in order to guarantee that you’re going to have some accountability on facts, etcetera,” he said. “But look, if people only go to one source, and the source they go to is sick, and, you know, has an agenda, and they’re putting out disinformation, our First Amendment stands as a major block to be able to just, you know, hammer it out of existence.”
He then admitted his hopes should Democrats succeed in the November presidential election.
“So what we need is to win the ground, win the right to govern, by hopefully winning enough votes that you’re free to be able to implement change,” Kerry said.
The problems posed by the freedom of speech and of the press, Kerry argued, are unique to democratic systems because there is no singular “truth arbiter.” He seemingly suggested that should be the role of the federal government, led by the Democratic Party.
“The dislike of and anguish over social media is just growing and growing,” he said. “It is part of our problem, particularly in democracies, in terms of building consensus around any issue. It’s really hard to govern today. The referees we used to have to determine what is a fact and what isn’t a fact have kind of been eviscerated, to a certain degree. And people go and self-select where they go for their news, for their information. And then you get into a vicious cycle.”
The 80-year-old politician continued, “Democracies around the world now are struggling with the absence of a sort of truth arbiter, and there’s no one who defines what facts really are. If we could strip away some of the fear-mongering that’s taking place and get down to the realities of what’s here for people, this is the biggest economic opportunity.”
While the exchange at the WEF occurred several days ago, mainstream media outlets have failed to report on it. In fact, according to Straight Arrow News, which analyzes media bias, Kerry’s comments were not reported on by any outlet it considers to be center or left-leaning. Only conservative media organizations picked up on Kerry’s criticism of the First Amendment.
The former U.S. special presidential envoy for climate ended his remarks by stating that the election is — at least in part — about figuring out how to deal with the difficulties created by the First Amendment.
“I think democracies are very challenged right now and have not proven they can move fast enough or big enough to deal with the challenges they are facing,” he said. “And, to me, that is part of what this election is all about. Will we break the fever in the United States?”
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