1. Starting with Robert Taft in the 1930s, a defining message of the @gop (esp. the most conservative elements within it) was that THEY were the defenders of "liberty" against the growing power of the New Deal state. This was the Goldwater/Reagan message too. And now this.
2. Just to give one example, this is Taft in 1951 when he was a Senator from Ohio and chief spokesperson for GOP conservatism: "When I say liberty…I mean liberty of the individual to think his own thoughts and live his own life as he desires to think and live."
3. How did the @gop became a party in 2018 comprised of millions of people who want the state to shut down news organizations? In lieu of offering an answer (others are far more qualified than I to do that)...I'll offer some consolation regarding those scary poll numbers.
4. Registered Republicans comprise <30% of the US population. So the 43% of Republicans who want the government to shut down certain "enemy" press outlets add up to about 13% of the total US population. It's not even close to a majority.
5. So the American people as a whole are pretty clear on this question--they do NOT want the government squelching the press. But there is a war on within the Republican Party between an ascendant authoritarianism and an increasingly vestigial libertarianism.
6. And let's remember that the Republican party currently controls all three branches of the federal government and has staffed the federal judiciary with a raft of very conservative, Trump-picked judges. The @gop also controls the majority of state gov'ts.
7. So what if that 43% of Republicans who are cool with shutting down press outlets continues to drift upward to 60 or even 75% over the next year? And what if the Republicans retain control of both houses of Congress and most states?
8. The Constitution is a powerful document, but it does not enforce or interpret itself. It is enforced by institutions staffed by specific people. If those institutions and people are beholden to a party whose base is cool with federal censorship, then it can happen here.
