Wherein author Alex Hellene speaks authoritatively on a subject that weighs heavily on my mind, as well: busting the Big Tech trusts.
Get over your knee-jerk “Muh private businesses!” conditioning and realize these tech giants do not care about the Constitution, fair play, freedom of speech, competition, or any classical definitions of what we call “capitalism.” The Masters of the Universe are unelected individuals with gigantic organizations that have as much power and influence as governments.
“Build your own platform!” “Vote with your wallet!” “Use something else!”
Loser talk! These attitudes are why we are where we are. You can’t just “build your own Google.” The way things are structured are anti-competitive.
And Google, Facebook, et al. have more information about you than even the government. Why do you trust big tech with that?
Oh, right: “Because all businessmen are heroes!”
Put down the Ayn Rand for a second and realize no they are not. They may start as heroes, and small business owners and entrepreneurs–who represent the majority of Americans–are amazing people. But there comes a point in the cycle where corporations do amass too much power and influence and get to throw their near-limitless money around to bend the rules to favor them. Bye-bye competition!
Some call this “crony capitalism.” Others “corporatism.” I call it “inevitable.” Whether the system is a democratically representative republic or a socialist autocracy, the end result is the same.
You may not like to hear it. The prospect may offend your deeply ingrained free market sensibilities, but Alex is absolutely right. Big Tech delenda est.
To those who object, “But we shouldn’t give the government any more power than they already have!” I answer as follows:
- The government already has the power to break up Big Tech.
- Big Tech kommissars are already acting as de facto bag men for the government. Why go to the trouble of burning books when you can have Amazon ban them?
- “Business good. Government bad,” is a simplistic false binary made wholly irrelevant by Big Tech’s ongoing rampage against dissenters.
Contrast that answer with two Democrat candidates’ positions.
On a positive note, it is encouraging to see both wings of the uniparty pushing back against Big Tech censorship. Hopefully something will come of it.
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