“A civil proceeding by the government, as well as a criminal one, is a form of prosecution. While we strongly believe humans are contributing to climate change, it is our position that disagreements about policy issues and scientific theories should not be turned into grounds for investigations by government officials into supposed fraud, because that undermines the First Amendment and has a chilling effect on free speech. We believe, with the founders who listed this essential freedom first in the Bill of Rights, that open discussion and disagreements are healthy, allowing people to learn, grow and embrace or reject new ideas, as well as to safely challenge the misconduct of government officials and other forms of injustice.”Whitehouse should be especially sensitive to concerns that his actions as a senator would endanger free speech and open debate. When he became a senator, he swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States, which includes the First Amendment that ensures, among other things, the rights of free speech and association and the right to dispute government policies.
In addition, the state that Whitehouse represents was founded by dissenters—people fleeing neighboring states (colonies at the time) where their religious and political views were being suppressed through the force of law.
Media talking heads all too often decry the First Amendment’s acknowledgment of an inherent freedom of speech, while cloaking themselves in its protections of press freedom when it comes to expressing their own opinions or protecting sources. Social networking platforms such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, and YouTube often and openly censor speech or positions—including the view that humans may not be causing dangerous climate change—that their founders or advertisers don’t like, despite claiming under law that they are neutral platforms for the free exchange of ideas.
This is troubling and should lead people to question the value of continuing to listen to or use such media outlets or social media platforms.
Even worse, though, is when people in political authority, people with guns and prisons backing them up, call for suppressing scientific or political speech. That should spark outrage in Americans of all political and social persuasions.
For centuries, educated people believed illnesses were caused by an imbalance of “humors” (fluids) in the body, the world was flat, and the Earth was the center of the universe. Those people were wrong; however, they were not frauds.
Everyone who currently disputes that humans are causing dangerous climate change could be completely wrong and may be shown to be so as more evidence comes in. Similarly, those who believe fossil fuel use is causing a climate apocalypse could be wrong. But being wrong on a scientific matter doesn’t constitute fraud. Debate is the scientific method in action.
By raising the specter of prosecution, Whitehouse and his ilk are trying to silence those who disagree with them on climate matters. This vile effort undermines free speech and open debate, the underpinnings of successful democracies and the scientific method alike.
When government can dictate which questions are open or closed—in either the political sphere or the scientific realm—the gulags cannot be far behind.
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