For decades, academics, elites, and many in the mainstream media have mocked conservatives for their traditional views and political beliefs.
However, after the events of January 6 at the U.S. Capitol, some are taking their anti-conservative views to a whole new level, calling for conservatives to be “deprogrammed or even “re-educated.”
Perhaps most ominous among the growing anti-conservative storm is the call by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to have the government “deradicalize” Trump supporters, most of whom she deems to be white supremacists. According to AOC, “There are people who are radicalized right now. It’s going to take a very long time to deradicalize these people and a lot of effort.”
To accomplish her goal, AOC says we “need to double, triple or quadruple the funding for these programs.” She also calls for heavy-handed government censorship of media sources she accuses of peddling “misinformation.” AOC believes that Trump supporters and conservatives are being brainwashed by misinformation and disinformation, therefore, she says the U.S. government must stop the dissemination of this so-called “disinformation.”
Obviously, this flies in the face of the First Amendment, but since when has the far left ever cared about protecting free speech rights? Certainly not in the past two decades, that’s for sure.
AOC is far from the only prominent progressive who supports such un-American, unconstitutional actions.
Katie Couric, while appearing on HBO’s Real Time With Bill Maher, asked rhetorically, “How are we going to really almost deprogram these people who have signed up for the cult of Trump?”
Couric’s insult shows her contempt for those who disagree with her liberal political vision. It also shows that many on the left are not interested in listening to those with different political beliefs. They want to change their opponents’ beliefs to align with their liberal point of view.
Another example of this illiberal thinking by those on the left occurred when Eugene Robinson, a frequent liberal commentator on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, said, “There are millions of Americans, almost all white, almost all Republicans, who somehow need to be deprogrammed … It’s as if they are members of a cult, the Trumpist cult, and have to be deprogrammed.”
Robinson’s comments also highlight the racial element to all of this, which only further stokes the deep divisions in the country.
What AOC, Couric, Robinson, and the countless others who are calling for deprogramming of conservatives fail to realize is that silencing one’s political opponents is never the answer. It is how authoritarian regimes handle political dissent, not elected representatives in a free society.
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is the editorial director and a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, as well as a researcher and contributing editor at StoppingSocialism.com.
