During the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Sustainable Development Impact Meeting, John Kerry made a bold acknowledgment, pointing out that the First Amendment poses challenges to government authority.
Kerry highlighted that free speech, especially on social media, poses a risk to ‘democracies’ because it hampers the government’s ability to shape a unified viewpoint through controlling information.
“…I think the dislike like of and anguish over social media is just growing and growing and growing, and that’s part of our problem particularly in democracies — in terms of building consensus around any issue, it’s really hard to govern today.”
He further elaborated on the difficulties governments face in managing information due to the vast number of information sources accessible online.
“The referees we used to have to determine what’s a fact and what isn’t a fact, it kind of, you know, been eviscerated to a certain degree…”
Interestingly, Kerry softened his statement with “to a certain degree.” This choice of words raises the question of whether this was an unconscious slip, given that many conservatives believe that speech is already heavily regulated on social media platforms.
Nevertheless, Kerry and other figures in positions of power appear frustrated with their inability to fully control public opinion online, and the relatively small group of independent information providers who manage to circumvent the system is seen as a significant threat.
“…And people go and people self-select where they go for their news and for their information, and then you just get into a vicious cycle. So it’s really, really hard, much harder to build consensus today than any time in the 45-50 years I’ve been involved in this.”
Kerry ended his comments by openly acknowledging that the First Amendment obstructs the government’s attempts to control the narrative and form a unified consensus.
”Look, if people go to one source and the one 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 the ability to just hammer it out of existence,” he said.
“What we need is to win the ground, win the right to govern by hopefully having, winning enough votes that you’re free to be able to implement change.”
Kerry’s phrasing suggests that for the government to gain ‘rights,’ the public must surrender some of their own — a notion that resonates with many.
The COVID-19 pandemic revealed how easily people may give up their rights when convinced that government officials are acting in their best interest. However, this reality underscores the importance of citizens defending their rights rather than relying solely on the government to protect them.
The Constitution was designed to prevent the government from infringing on individual freedoms, but its preservation depends on the vigilance of the people.
