“The solution to bad speech is more speech,” Sarwark added. “The registration law was created in the wake of allegations that Russia meddled in the 2016 presidential election campaigns, but violating the First Amendment further erodes our free speech rights and doesn’t even solve the problem of potential meddling. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Leadership from the party are ready to explain the ideals of libertarianism on all major mainstream American media outlets, such as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN and MSNBC among many others, according to Benedict, and although that offer will always stand, those outlets almost never include Libertarian Party officials or candidates.
“The hypocrisy of the Justice Department’s strong arm tactics is mind-boggling,” Benedict said. “The Voice of America has been broadcasting news in Russian and 40 other languages since 1942. I’m sure that Russia considers those VOA broadcasts to be propaganda.”
According to political scientist Dov Levin of Carnegie Mellon University the United States attempted to influence foreign elections at least 81 times between 1946 and 2000, and it did not stop then. In 2014, while Hillary Clinton was secretary of state, a high-ranking State Department official named Victoria Nuland was caught in a taped conversation with the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, conspiring together on how to affect an election in that country.
The U.S. Justice Department’s violation of freedom of the press for RT will not only set a terrible precedent for the rights of Americans, there will undoubtedly be retaliatory consequences elsewhere, including censorship of American news outlets in Russia. According to Russian State Duma Chair Vyacheslav Volodin, the Russian legislature will probably extend regulations on foreign agents in Russia to include news media organizations.
“Less consumer choice in news in both the United States and Russia is a lose-lose proposition for the people of both countries,” Sarwark concluded.
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