By Gretchen Garrity
David Rice has written a scathing article on his Substack, Hick Christian. It was a long time coming. I can identify with David's anger because I've experienced similar situations as a local writer who reports on politics.
Politics is a very dirty business, even among virtuous people. Politically active constituents sometimes get tangled up in the drama. The best of motives can go bad very quickly. It is fraught with good and bad intentions, with desire for power, influence, money. The stakes are high, even in local races. It is easy for politicians to lose their way almost from the start.
Try being a conservative writer in this atmosphere. Reporting a truth that doesn't make a local politician shine can make a lot of people uneasy and angry because there is so much at stake. Elections, re-elections, personal relationships, favorite issues, pet political projects, lobbyists, PACs--the list is endless, and the easy solution is to write fluff, to not report controversy, to protect your party's darling. In short, the temptation is to...play politics.
Most people are aware that the local, state, and national press are all bought-off propaganda outlets. No one really reads them to get any news. At best, these organizations occasionally print enough truth that if you read three or four articles from different outlets you might have a good idea of what is going on with one issue or another.
On the other hand there are numerous local "chitchat" Facebook pages that allow some local news to be shared. However, most anything controversial is immediately censored. Right to Win Ozarks was quickly deemed "domestic terrorists" right out of the gate. Nowadays we've been downgraded to "Spam." Any account that tries to link to our blog is blocked from doing so. It's a shame.
The same thing is happening to David Rice. Local groups are not courageous enough to allow his article, "The Truth about Rep. Jamie Gragg" to be published. In Christian terms, they are pleasers of men. They have not the courage of their convictions. Are they not as committed to free speech as their forefathers?
We live in a world where British citizens are being jailed for social media posts that merely question the out-of-control immigration to their country. Do our local chitchat groups think this kind of Orwellian censorship and persecution is not headed here? Is it not already here, both with government and big tech censorship, and the craven self-censorship of local social media accounts?
After reading David's article, perhaps readers might reflect on what they look for in a politician. How should our elected officials behave when they get some bad press? What do you expect from them? How should they react when they are held to account for a bad vote or behavior? And who is to hold them to account, since the "press" is no longer functioning in its proper role?
Click through and read David's article. He's being censored. Share it around. And be damned glad there's a few voices out there willing to speak up.
