Oklahoma Senator Thinks Journalists Need Licenses, Should Be Trained By PragerU
“They’re not sending their best.”
I hear ya, Donnie. Just look at the jamokes you’ve inspired to set fire to the Constitution, if only because they failed to set fire to Capitol Hill following the 2020 election.
Florida’s full of them. The state legislature is infested with people who think fascism is something to aspire to. As far as they see it, the Constitution protects the rights of white males. Everyone else should just get used to their faces being stamped on forever.
Florida may be the worst, but state governments all over the nation are filled with people too stupid to govern but savvy enough to get elected. The residents that support them love them for their stupidity and performative lawmaking. Everyone else is reduced to looking on in disbelief, at best. At worst, they’re now the target of laws meant to further elevate white, straight males at the expense of everyone else.
But let’s not short-sell these legislators. They’re willing to cross the line to punish white, straight males if these outliers are unwilling to bend the knee. Critics of these government figures are also being pushed up against the wall by legislators, a disturbing number of which are willing to rewrite the First Amendment in their own image. If “free” speech doesn’t make the people in power happy, then that speech should no longer be “free.”
That brings us to the latest bit of anti-Constitutional thuggery being pushed forward in a state legislature. This time is yet another state with a panhandle hosting the idiocy, as Walter Einenkel reports for Daily Kos.
On Wednesday, Oklahoma state Sen. Nathan Dahm has proposed a bill that would require journalists to submit to drug tests, take courses in being “propaganda-free,” and get a license from the state.
Senator Dahm is not only an idiot when its comes to crafting law, but he’s also incapable of coming up with his own ideas.
This isn’t the first, second, or third time that conservative lawmakers have attempted to control the free press by demanding some sort of licensing requirements. In 2016, a South Carolina Republican introduced a bill that would require journalists to be registered and vetted by the state. An Indiana Republican tried to do a similar thing in 2017, arguing it was the same as licensing Second Amendment rights. And in 2023, a Florida lawmaker attempted to force bloggers who write about Gov. Ron DeSantis, people in his administration, or state legislators to register with the government.
About the only thing new in Dahm’s attack on the First Amendment is the entity he wants to aid and abet in this mass violation of rights. The bill [PDF] mandates cultural readjustment at the hands of Dahm’s preferred brainwasher.
Each individual reporter, producer, writer, editor, or any other employee involved in the production of content distributed by a media outlet is hereby required to:
a. complete a criminal background check conducted by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation,
b. receive a license as prescribed by the Corporation Commission as provided in subsection C of this section,
c. complete a propaganda-free safety training course of no less than eight (8) hours as prescribed by the State Department of Education, which shall be developed in coordination with PragerU,
d. provide proof of liability insurance no less than One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00), and
e. submit to quarterly drug testing for illicit substances to be administered by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation;
Holy shit. We’re on the other side of reality now. “Propaganda-free safety training courses” developed by a performative “school” whose inability to comprehend the First Amendment and/or Section 230 immunity has seen it lose lawsuit after lawsuit. The Senator doesn’t want the state’s journalism to be “free” of “propaganda.” He wants it to parrot the propaganda he likes and is willing to use the government’s power to ensure this happens.
If you don’t think that set of mandates is ridiculous enough, there’s more. These are the ravings of someone who read 1984 and came to the conclusion the government didn’t punish Winston Smith enough.
The list above is just for individual journalists, whether or not they work for larger news agencies. The list of requirements for journalist entities demands $50 million in liability insurance, mandatory PragerU “propaganda” training for all employees (whether they’re journalists or not), and this fever dream of a disclaimer to be attached to anything published by journalists:
“WARNING: THIS ENTITY IS KNOWN TO PROVIDE PROPAGANDA. CONSUMING PROPAGANDA MAY BE DETRIMENTAL TO YOUR HEALTH AND HEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC.”
Welcome to Trump’s America, as legislated by long-time bootlickers like Senator Nathan Dahm. And if you really enjoy deep, dark levels of irony, you should definitely check out Dahm being absolutely crucified on a cross constructed entirely of his own hypocrisy by Jon Stewart. In this interview, Dahm argues against gun registration:
JON STEWART: You want to say I’m a Second Amendment purist and I’m making it safer? You’re not. You’re making it more chaotic. And that’s not a matter of opinion. That’s the truth.
STATE SEN. NATHAN DAHM: That is a matter of opinion, Jon.
STEWART: But why take away their tools?
DAHM: Because certain of their tools that they’re using would be infringements upon the people’s right to keep and bear arms upon their constitutional rights upon due process, upon other things.
STEWART: So you’re saying that registering is an infringement?
And there it is. Dahm thinks people exercising their Second Amendment rights shouldn’t have to be subjected to government interference like registration. But with this bill, he feels people exercising their First Amendment rights should be subjected to registration requirements.
This bill won’t make it far. I mean, I would hope. Even his allies in the state senate are unlikely to support a law that not only pretends the First Amendment doesn’t exist, but allows PragerU to come along for the ride. Unfortunately, Dahm is representative (no pun intended) of legislators being elected all over the country. These people are a threat to democracy and the nation itself. And yet it appears a sizable percentage of voters are ok with a descent into fascism, just as long as it hurts other people first.