As American citizens, it seems to be hardwired in us not to want the government to control us in pretty much any way. And that means things like an “internet kill switch” in the hands of the president is very scary.
It’s also precisely why Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is bringing attention to and opposing a 1930s law that does just that.
Paul brought it all up during a recent interview with Dr. Scott Atlas on the latter’s podcast.
He noted that, like most control-seeking laws, this one was put in place to be used in very rare and serious situations, you know, like in an emergency or national crisis.
But as Paul points out, the COVID-19 pandemic proved just how easily most of those “emergency powers” could be abused.
For example, a law from the 1930s gives the CDC “emergency powers” do “this and this for certain diseases, quarantine, and then it had a clause in there ‘and whatever else is necessary,’” Paul said.
Given the unprecedented pandemic, the Trump administration used this to give mortgage owners, renters, etc., a break, saying they could not pay for a few months or so. But then Biden took over and continued that, abusing the law.
As you know, he also used those very same powers to keep some businesses closed for years, keep masking in place, and execute orders to vaccinate despite “science” that proved faulty.
By now, most of those “emergency powers” are no longer in play. But the very idea that they could be is quite terrifying.
And it’s even more terrifying that one of those emergency powers also supposedly gives the sitting US president the power to “shut down all communications and control all communications in the US.” This is according to the Communications Act’s Section 706.
👀 Sen. Rand Paul on Limiting the U.S. Government’s Emergency Powers, Including the ‘Internet Kill Switch’
“Some emergencies have been going on 50 years. They’re still on the books. There’s actually an emergency power that was given to the FCC in the 1930’s that gives the… pic.twitter.com/udkBCve4NU
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) October 14, 2023
As Paul says, it’s basically an “internet kill switch,” given how important the internet is to our daily lives.
It’s also something he and others are working hard to either add some serious limits to or completely get rid of.
“No president of either party should have this kind of power.”
I have to say, I wholeheartedly agree. How about you?
