Dakota Beacon

This past week everyone was atwitter about Elon Musk – well, acquiring Twitter.

The Right says, “Finally. Free speech and a level playing field in social media!”

The Left retorts, “Robber baron! With all his money, Elon Musk is nothing but a robber baron! Nobody gets that wealthy without cheating and ripping off the little guy.”

A few headlines. “Elon Musk’s Vision for the Internet is Dangerous Nonsense,” Robert Reich, The Guardian, 4/12/22. “Robber Baron Elon Musk Takes His Toys and Stomps Off to Texas,” Words and Deeds, Doug Porter, 10/11/21. “Elon Musk’s Growing Business Empire and Influence Over Media and Culture Have Put Him In A Different Class of Robber Barons,” NBC, 4/27/22.

Liberal heads exploded producing a strange phenomenon. Media heaped vitriol on Musk because he dared to advocate Twitter’s future as a free speech platform! Imagine media taking an anti-free speech position. The height of irony! Taken by surprise and not knowing what else to say, the left reflexively branded Musk a “robber baron.”

More irony as the left tries to change the subject. “Robber baron:” a pejorative term for “capitalist.” True, Musk is a capitalist and those who oppose his acquisition of Twitter identify as socialists of various stripes. The term “robber baron” was made up in the early 1900s to portray any rich entrepreneur whose wealth was presumed to be gathered by greed and exploitation of lower class workers. Such a broad brush treatment unfairly tarnishes all entrepreneurs and, by extension, all capitalists in general.

Distinguishing between types of entrepreneurs makes all the difference. Market entrepreneurs try to succeed by creating the best product at the lowest cost in an attempt to please the customer. Political entrepreneurs try to succeed through federal aid, vote buying, lobbying politicians for favorable legislation, and monopolistic practices. The customer takes second place. Neither category fits their description perfectly. There has always been a mix of self-made men and women as well as political connivers and manipulators. But political entrepreneur best fits the definition of “robber baron.” That said, the market entrepreneur demonstrates the beauty of capitalism by the millions of lives improved providing newer and better products and services at lower prices. Two excellent resources for further reading include “The Myth of the Robber Barons” by Burton W. Folsom, Jr., and “How Capitalism Saved America” by Thomas J. DiLorenzo.

Without the old Twitter model and its censoring of content, who would be up to the task of ridding lies and disinformation from cyber space? Why, the Democrat-led federal government, of course. They care. A Disinformation Governance Board headed by leftist activist Nina Jankowicz would purportedly focus primarily on Russian disinformation and illegal immigration. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told a House Appropriations subcommittee on April 27 that his department will create the new board designed to counter "misinformation" related to domestic security. "The goal is to bring the resources of the department together to address the threat of disinformation,” he said.

In essence, the free speech suppression Twitter used to provide may no longer be exercised under Musk. So, what is a good leftist in power to do? Why, of course! Propose to do what Twitter used to do, only this time do it by force via the federal government.

The following reflect the predispositions Jankowicz brings to the board leadership. As reported by Newsmax 4/30/22, "Here is Biden's new Disinformation Commissar claiming militarized Trump supporters were going to show up to the polls with weapons,"…[showing] a video from a 2020 CNN interview with Jankowicz a month before the presidential election.

           Furthermore, Jankowicz was concerned that Twitter had decided in early 2022 to stop limiting discussion surrounding alleged election fraud in the 2020 election. "Considering the long-term damage these lies do to our democracy, I’m dismayed about this decision," Jankowicz tweeted on Jan. 29. She continued: "Elections aren’t an end point. They’re an inflection point. Policies need to reflect that."

Jankowicz also weighed in on the now-proven New York Post’s story on Hunter Biden's laptop. She maintained it contained Russian disinformation and that "the free speech vs. censorship framing is a false dichotomy."

Here is a great word for our times. C. S. Lewis in “God in the Dock” pointed out, “Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons (sic) than under omnipotent moral busybodies...[T]hose who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.”

Dennis M. Patrick can be contacted at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)