March 18, 2024 - Washington, D.C. - Last week, Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered the following remarks on the House floor.

Tom McClintock Official Portrait 2020Mr. Speaker:

Do we really want to give the President the power to declare “foreign adversaries” and then require a communications platform within them to be banned or sold to a government-approved owner?

If there are data privacy concerns, we should warn consumers and trust them to make their own decisions.  If there are propaganda concerns, we should defend the free and open debate that our First Amendment protects, confident that the best way to judge truth from lies is to put the two side by side and trust the people to know the difference.

The last thing we should do is take that power AWAY from the people and give it to the government.
                
The answer to authoritarianism is NOT more authoritarianism.  The answer to CCP-style propaganda is NOT CCP-style oppression.

Let us SLOW down before we BLUNDER down this very steep and slippery slope.
Source: Congressman Tom McClintock